Warriors set NBA Finals record in hot-shooting first quarter
Warriors make nine 3-pointers in opening period of Game 3
CLEVELAND — The Warriors came out firing in Game 3 of the NBA Finals and added their names to the record books with their red-hot shooting.
Golden State was 9 of 14 from beyond the arc in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 118-113 victory, with the nine made 3s setting an NBA Finals record for treys made in a quarter. They finished the first half with 12 3s, also an NBA Finals record.
Klay Thompson, who broke out of a playoff-long shooting slump in Game 2 with 22 points, had 16 in the quarter and made four of his five 3-point attempts early on his way to a 30point night.
Kevin Durant made both of his attempts from long distance in the first and Stephen Curry was 2 of 4, with his two in the final two minutes of the period giving them the record. The old mark was seven.
The nine 3s is also a franchise playoff record for a quarter, beating their old mark of eight that they had accomplished three times.
The hot shooting helped keep the Cavaliers from jumping out to an early lead. Cleveland scored the first five points, including J.R. Smith hitting a 3 for his first points since the opening minutes of Game 1.
But Thompson answered with a quick 3 of his own, Durant made his first to give the Warriors a lead and kick off an entertaining first quarter. The Warriors led 39-32 after a period.
“It was huge early in the game because we knew Cleveland was going to bring that force, we knew the crowd was going to be into it,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I thought the three-point shooting was critical just to keep our head above water while we were trying to get some traction in the game.”
Their pace from beyond the arc slowed in the second quarter when they attempted only six, but they made half of those and took a 67-61 lead into halftime. They finished the game 16 of 33 from beyond the arc.
The arena turned dead n silent for a few minutes midway through the opening period when Cavaliers star LeBron James was leveled to the ground by teammate Tristan Thompson.
James stayed on the ground for a couple minutes and was quickly surrounded as they went into a time out. He gathered his bearings and walked off the court and remained in the game coming out of the time out. He quickly showed he was fine by driving to the hole for two of his 15 first-quarter points.
Draymond Green picked n up his third technical foul of the playoffs with 2:07 to play in the second quarter. He was initially upset for not getting a foul call down on the offensive end, then he got whistled when he slapped Kyrie Irving’s hand as he went up for a shot.
The foul call on Green was legitimate, but he was still frustrated and let the referees have it and got the technical. He’s still well short of being in the danger zone in regards to technical. It requires seven before he would be subject to a suspension.
The Warriors 13 assists n the first quarter matched the franchise playoff record for a quarter set in 1994 against the Phoenix Suns.
James’ scored 39 n points and moved past Elgin Baylor and into fourth on the NBA Finals career scoring list. With 1,175, he’s now one point away from Michael Jordan at No. 3.