Cavs crush Warriors by 30 in Game 3
CLEVELAND — LeBron James scored 32 points, Kyrie Irving added 30 and the Cleveland Cavaliers, pushed for 48 minutes by a delirious, championship-starved crowd, hammered the Golden State Warriors 120-90 in Game 3 on Wednesday night to pull within 2-1 in the NBA Finals.
On their home floor, where they have been dominant all post-season, the Cavs pulled their season from the brink of disaster following back-toback blowout losses in the Bay Area.
“Coaching staff gave us a great game plan and we executed it for 48 minutes,” James said.
They did it without starting forward Kevin Love, little help from their bench and by keeping Stephen Curry penned in.
The league’s MVP was mostly MIA, scoring 19 points — two in the first half — on 6-of-13 shooting. Harrison Barnes scored 18 and Klay Thompson 10 for Golden State, which had won seven straight over Cleveland — the first two finals games by a combined 48 points — and came back to Cleveland looking to party like they did after winning the title here last year.
The Cavs, though, have made this a series after it appeared the Warriors were on the fast track to another crown.
James had called it “do or die” for Cleveland. Well, done and living. “We’ve got to give the same effort on Friday,” James said. “It started defensively and it trickled down to the offensive side.”
Irving bounced back from two rough games out West, J.R. Smith made five three-pointers and Tristan Thompson did the dirty work inside, getting 13 rebounds for the Cavs, who improved to 8-0 at home and can even the series in Game 4 on Friday.
The Cavs hardly missed Love, out due to a concussion sustained in Game 2. He wanted to play, but Love is still in the NBA’s concussion protocol and has not been cleared to return by league and team doctors.
Coach Tyronn Lue started veteran Richard Jefferson and moved James into Love’s power forward spot, giving the Cavs a smaller lineup better equipped to run with the Warriors.
The 35-year-old Jefferson gave the Cavs a huge boost in 33 minutes, scoring nine points with eight rebounds.