Was Game 3 a blueprint for Game 4?
Fast start on road has Golden State eyeing a sweep on Tuesday night
DALLAS — With the Golden State Warriors a win away from a return to the NBA Finals, here are the key takeaways from their 109-100 win over the Dallas Mavericks in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday at American Airlines Center.
Fast starts fuel Game 3
win: The Warriors came roaring out of the gate offensively in Game 3, building a 16-7 lead with 6:47 left in the first quarter. Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was forced to call an early timeout, and Stephen Curry screamed “Yessir” toward the Mavs’ bench, knowing that his team had quickly snatched the upper hand.
“I think that first-quarter good start propelled us to the victory, to be honest,” guard Klay Thompson said.
The Warriors were poised and were unfazed by the American Airlines Center crowd. They knocked down shots and took care of the ball, forced Luka Doncic to give up the ball early, and it helped the Warriors that his teammates couldn’t contribute. It was the exact type of start Golden State needed on the road, because the Mavericks came storming back, as a heavily contested Doncic 3pointer from just inside of halfcourt cut what had been a 12-point Warriors lead midway through the first quarter to three at the end of the period.
After trailing by as many as nine points in the second quarter, Golden State pushed back and went into the locker room at halftime up by a point. Then it channeled some of its early first-quarter energy in the third, outscoring Dallas 22-12 over the first 10 minutes of the period to make it a 70-59 game. Leading 78-68 entering the fourth quarter, the Warriors were able to keep the Mavericks at bay, outscoring them 22-18 over the first nine minutes of the period to create just enough separation to survive a late Dallas push. In Game 3, Golden State did its work both early and in the third quarter to take control, and it allowed the Warriors to emerge victorious.
“I felt very confident that if we’d just settle down, we’d be in good shape,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said. “And the guys did a great job of getting control of the game back.”
In a game full of scoring flurries for the Warriors, Curry led the way with 31 points on 10-for-20 shooting, with five rebounds and 11 assists. Andrew Wiggins continued his impressive postseason play with 27 points, 11 rebounds and a highlight dunk over Doncic in the fourth quarter that’s sure to be among the top plays on “SportsCenter.”.
And what were Wiggins’ immediate thoughts after the dunk?
“Just feeling the energy,” he said. “All I saw was the rim. They tried to take it away from me, but Steve challenged and we won, so I was thankful for that.”
Golden State shot 46.9% from the floor as a team and limited Dallas to 40% shooting, and outrebounded the Mavs again, 47-33. The Mavericks attempted 45 3-point shots and made 13 (28.9%).
The Warriors are in position to complete a Western Conference finals sweep and advance to the NBA Finals with a Game 4 win Tuesday.
“No one gets to the conference finals and quits. Never happens,” forward Draymond Green said. “Being one win away from the Finals means absolutely nothing . ... Closeout games are always the toughest. We have to come out and win the game. They’re not going to give it to us.”
Green improves: Game 2 wasn’t Green’s best outing this postseason, as the Warriors were minus-19 with him on the court despite winning 126-117. And Green didn’t get off to a great start in Game 3, either.
The roughest stretch for Green came in the second quarter, in which the Warriors’ early 12-point lead evaporated. In a span of 10 seconds, Green got pushed into a backcourt violation off a bad Curry pass, got slapped with a technical foul with 5:51 left in the half for arguing with the referee, then got whistled for a personal foul.
That sequence clearly got a rise out of Green, because he picked up his intensity at both ends of the court shortly thereafter. Just more than two minutes after picking up the technical foul, he was hanging on the rim after throwing down a dunk and screaming at the top of his lungs.
“I got really upset,” Green said. “Clearly that wasn’t a backcourt (violation) and then I got a tech for saying, ‘That’s wack.’ So yeah, I was pissed off. But it helped me play a lot better, so (I) appreciate it.”
Green’s activity at both ends in the second half gave the Warriors the boost they needed to get a win. He finished with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block in 37 minutes, with Golden State finishing plus-19 with him on the court.