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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
DJ Gallo

Golden State Warriors 90-120 Cleveland Cavaliers – as it happened

LeBron gets away from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
LeBron gets away from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Photograph: Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports

Here’s Les Carpenter’s game report:

One final bit of context for Steph Curry’s struggles. He’s been historically bad ... for someone who was historically good all season.

FINAL: Cavaliers 120-90 Warriors

Game 3 mercifully ends as Cleveland wins by 30 points to tighten the series. Golden State leads 2-1. Kyrie Irving got it going for the Cavs in the 1st quarter and LeBron took it home in the 2nd half. Kevin Love, well ... poor Kevin Love.

Cavs are now 8-0 at home this postseason, and have won 7 of those games by double-digits. Cleveland is clearly a sports wonderland!

Even with a 30-point win, the Cavs are minus-18 in the Finals so far: more proof every game has been, unfortunately, awful.

We’ll be back here liveblogging for Game 4 on Friday night when there will have to be a competitive game in this series finally. Right? Please?

See you then.

Updated

Cavaliers 120-89 Warriors, 0:51 4th quarter

Mo Williams just hit a three in the 2016 NBA Finals. Just wanted to type that.

If scoreboards had crotches, Draymond Green would do something about this.

Cavaliers 111-88 Warriors, 2:57 4th quarter

There have been 19 games this year in the NBA playoffs decided by 25 points or more, a new record. The next best (worst)-ever was 11. Never do this again, NBA.

While he is sleeping tonight, he will be placed on a raft and pushed out into Lake Erie.

Cavaliers 110-83 Warriors, 4:10 4th quarter

The starters are out.

Warriors tonight have more:

  • missed shots
  • turnovers
  • fouls

... than the Cavaliers.

And fewer:

  • rebounds
  • steals
  • points

There was no shortage of people who picked the Cavaliers to win Game 3. But after two games that were mismatches in Oakland, no one predicted Game 3 would be the biggest blowout of the series in favor of Cleveland.

Updated

Cavaliers 103-79 Warriors, 6:11 4th quarter

Steph Curry has 6 turnovers, 4 fouls and is a minus-21 tonight.

J.R. Smith has 20 points, is 5-for-10 from three, has 0 turnovers and is a game-best plus-32.

Looks like we voted unanimously for MVP for the wrong guy!

Updated

Cavaliers 101-77 Warriors, 6:35 4th quarter

Cleveland is running a very slow, deliberate offense to eat clock ... and still scoring with ease. Two more from LeBron on a great pass from Kyrie Irving and Golden State is getting closer to emptying the bench.

Updated

Cavaliers 95-72 Warriors, 8:33 4th quarter

Steve Kerr timeout. Almost a third of the way into the fourth quarter now and the lead has grown from 21 to 23. Chances are Kerr is trying to prime his team for one push to try to cut the lead to something manageable. If that fails, look for far end of the bench to get some playing time over the final six minutes or so.

Cavaliers 95-72 Warriors, 9:40 4th quarter

J.R. Smith with another three. He’s 5-of-10 from three on the night. Maybe he used his Kickstarter money to buy Curry and Thompson’s powers.

Cavaliers 92-69 Warriors, 10:50 4th quarter

Shumpert hits a three to extend the Cavaliers lead. Cleveland now has more points than they scored in either game in Golden State. There are still more than 10 minutes left.

End of the 3rd quarter: Cavaliers 89-68 Warriors, 3rd quarter

Remember how the Warriors bench dominated the Cavaliers bench in Games 1 and 2?That is still happening. Cleveland has zero (0) bench points tonight. It just so happens that their starting five has been outstanding.

Updated

Cavaliers 87-68 Warriors, 0:31 3rd quarter

Steph Curry now has 13 points in the 3rd quarter and 15 in the game. Odd that he picked up his scoring, yet the Warriors have gone from trailing by 8 at the half to trailing by 19.

Updated

Cavaliers 81-61 Warriors, 1:57 3rd quarter

While it would be nice to see Steph Curry at his best in the Finals, his latest turnover did lead to ... this.

Wow.

Updated

Cavaliers 77-59 Warriors, 3:14 3rd quarter

Steph Curry hit a three-pointer. (Yes! He’s warming up!) And then followed that with an airball. (Oh.)

While the “70%” thing his camp put out when he was struggling in the OKC series seems a bit much, he clearly has some lingering issues with his knee. It’s a shame for basketball fans that he isn’t playing well this year on basketball’s biggest stage, because he was unbelievable most nights during the regular season.

Cavaliers 72-56 Warriors, 4:19 3rd quarter

Six in a row from the Warriors, including a basket by Steph Curry. Remember him?

Despite J.R. Smith’s big game tonight, his Kickstarter is still stuck on $637.

Cavaliers 70-48 Warriors, 5:49 3rd quarter

A three-pointer from LeBron and the Cavs have their biggest lead of the night. James is up to 18 points on the night, two more than Curry, Thompson and Green combined.

Tyronn Lue doesn’t look clueless on the sidelines tonight. It’s a good look for him.

Cavaliers 67-46 Warriors, 6:15 3rd quarter

The Cavs are back to dominating like they were in the 1st quarter, but now it’s LeBron and J.R. Smith (!!!) and not Kyrie Irving. Steph Curry now has 4 turnovers and 2 points.

Updated

Cavaliers 62-46 Warriors, 7:37 2nd quarter

LeBron James hits a deep two on one end and then comes right back down to swat the ball away from Draymond Green underneath the basket on the other end of the court. That was a brief glimpse of 2015 NBA Finals LeBron.

Cavaliers 60-46 Warriors, 9:14 3rd quarter

Harrison Barnes has 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting on the night. The leading scorers for the Warriors in the Finals so far:

G1: Shaun Livingston

G2: Draymond Green

G3: Harrison Barnes

Sports remain impossible to predict.

Cavaliers 58-43, 10:26 3rd quarter

Tristan Thompson now up to 12 points on the night. The Warriors aren’t starting halves too well in this game, huh?

2nd half underway!

Cavaliers 53-43 Warriors, 11:47 3rd quarter

The Cavaliers open the second half with two free throws from Tristan Thompson. With almost half the game left, he already has a double-double: 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Updated

NBA commissioner Adam Silver was just interview during the halftime show. If you didn’t see it, you can recreate the interview with a popsicle stick and a few craft supplies.

At the end of the 1st quarter, Cleveland was shooting 71% and the Warriors were at 35%

At the end of the 2nd quarter? Cleveland is at 43.8% and the Warriors are at 50%.

Oh, and your mandatory LeBron update: He’s not having a good game (for him) so far. Eleven points, 5-for-14 from the field, as many turnovers as assists. Despite that, the Cavs are still up 8.

And despite Curry being pretty close to awful in all aspects, the Warriors are only down 8.

Both teams have to like their chances in the second half.

Do you miss Nickelback jokes? In Cleveland, they’re still fresh.

Here is J.R. Smith’s disallowed three from the end of the 1st half.

Halftime: Cavaliers 51-43 Warriors

J.R. Smith hits a half-court shot at after the buzzer. He was dribbling up the court for a few second, seemingly unaware how much time was left. This is not surprising, as it was J.R. Smith.

And so after being outscored by 17 points in the 1st quarter, the Warriors best Golden State by 9 points in the 2nd quarter. The third quarter will be ... even? The Cavaliers turn again to dominate? Who knows. This game hasn’t exactly fit any sort of predictable model.

Cavaliers 48-41 Warriors, 1:48 2nd quarter

Two more from Thompson on a nice drive to the basket where he jumped, hung, and banked it in. Things definitely going the Warriors way ... except now Curry picked up his third foul of the night.

Cavaliers 48-39 Warriors, 2:49 2nd quarter

Despite his contusion, Klay Thompson is heating up. He just hit a three and now has 8 points. It seems that at least one Splash Brother can still hit shots at 70%.

Cavaliers 48-33 Warriors, 3:19 2nd quarter

Curry finally scored, but the next time down dribble directly into three Cavs, got the ball taken away and then the Cavs headed down the court where J.R. Smith hit another three.

This is not an attempted hot take ... and this game is an aberration ... but so far tonight the MVP has been the worst player on the court.

Cavaliers 43-31 Warriors, 4:40 1st quarter

J.R. Smith hits a three to push the lead to 12. The Cavaliers are 3-for-17 from the floor in the 2nd quarter, but still lead by double-digits. They’ll take it.

Cavaliers 40-29 Warriors, 6:20 2nd quarter

Klay Thompson scores after taking Tristan Thompson to the basket. The 68th and 69th point of the game are the first ones scored by a Splash Brother.

Cavaliers 39-27 Warriors, 6:56 2nd quarter

Steve Kerr calls time after the Cavaliers extend their lead a bit. Perhaps he’s telling his team a funny story about a time the Warriors two star scorers didn’t show up for a Finals game on the road, yet Golden State was still in the game.

Klay Thompson has returned to the game

He enters again with 7:18 remaining in the half.

Cavaliers 36-27 Warriors, 8:15 2nd quarter

And now the lead is down to single-digits. Harrison Barnes has 10 points, 10 more than Curry and Thompson combined.

Cavaliers 36-23 Warriors, 8:52 2nd quarter

Kyrie Irving hits another three to stop the bleeding ... if you can be bleeding up double-digits. And a Klay Thompson update: he has a thigh contusion, hasn’t returned, and is getting treatment on the bench.

Cavaliers 33-23, 9:45 2nd quarter

Harrison Barnes gets three more points on three-point play. The Warriors have now scored 10 in a row. The crowd? Yeah, it’s quieter now.

Maybe the Kevin Love-for-Carmelo deal is still on, though?

Cavaliers 33-20 Warriors, 10:26 2nd quarter

Barnes has the Warriors last four points, and the 20-point lead is quickly down to five ... and now here’s a turnover by the Cavs, a transition dunk by Draymond Green and ... Cleveland is feeling Clevelandy again.

Steve Kerr asked by ESPN’s sideline reporter what he thought about his team’s first quarter performance:

Not a whole lot.

End of the 1st quarter: Cavaliers 33-16 Warriors

NBA Finals Game 3: Everything you thought you knew was wrong.

The Cavs were 15-for-21 in the 1st quarter, led by Kyrie Irving’s 16 points. The Warriors went 7-for-20 and were “led” by Curry and Thompson combining to go 0-for-8. More bad new for the Warriors? Thompson limped off in the final minute after getting what appeared to be a charlie horse on his upper leg.

The big winners so far:

2- Cavaliers

1- Warriors fans who have tickets for Game 5

Cavaliers 33-13 Warriors, 0:45 1st quarter

What is happening. Kyrie Irving just hit back-to-back threes -- he now has 16 points -- and the Cavaliers are up by twenty. Twenty points. Okay, sure.

So much for my prediction that LeBron would put up 30-plus shots. Let Irving shoot 60 times.

Cavaliers 25-10 Warriors, 2:10 1st quarter

Steph Curry just got his second personal foul. He’s looked bad so far trying to guard Kyrie Irving tonight. Maybe we’ll hear from his people after the game that his knee has been downgraded to just 7%.

Updated

Cavaliers 21-8 Warriors, 4:18 1st quarter

LeBron is 4-for-4 from the field, Kyrie Irving is 3-for-5 and Richard Jefferson is 2-for-3. Who knew Richard Jefferson has been the superstar LeBron has been missing in his Big Three all this time?

Cavaliers 17-4 Warriors, 5:40 1st quarter

Remember how in Games 1 and 2 the Warriors were stifling the Cavaliers on D and then slicing through them with ease on offense? The same thing is happening here, but the opposite. And somehow to a much greater degree.

Cavaliers 11-4 Warriors, 7:30 1st quarter

Klay Thompson got fouled going to the basket and earned two free throws. He then missed both, got the rebound and clanged a three-pointer. Yikes. He’s 0-for-4 from the field now in this game and 10-for-29 in the series.

Cavaliers 9-4 Warriors, 8:38 1st quarter

Two more points from Bogut, who hits a left-handed hook shot after scooping up a loose ball in the lane. Golden State’s offense continues to get a lot of scoring from people who aren’t Curry and Thompson.

Cavaliers 9-2 Warriors, 9:06 1st quarter

After a Steve Kerr timeout, the Warriors get an easy one underneath from Andrew Bogut. They had missed their first four shots until that one.

Cavaliers 9-0 Warriors, 9:30 1st quarter

Kyrie Irving scores again on a great pass by LeBron. Six points is the biggest lead Cleveland has had the whole series ... and now they’ve upped it on a corner three by Richard Jefferson. The Cleveland crowd is going crazy. Good for them. This series has been pretty depressing for Cavs fans until these past 150 seconds of game time.

Updated

Cavaliers 4-0 Warriors, 10:35 1st quarter

Kyrie Irving hits a jumper followed by a LeBron layup. On Golden State’s side, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson both have shot airballs so far. This is - obviously - the start Cleveland wanted.

Tip-off!

We’re underway in Game 3. The Warriors open with a deep missed three by Draymond Green and Richard Jefferson gets the board.

Steph Curry is clearly very nervous about tonight’s game.

LeBron took 17 shots in Game 2 and 21 in Game 1. He didn’t take more than 29 field goals in a game all season.

Last year’s NBA Finals? He shot 33 or more in five of six games. Get ready to see that guy again.

Very important Iman Shumpert hairdo update: He reportedly will try the man bun in hopes of turning the series around. You will be missed, perm.

A counterpoint to the argument that the Cavaliers will be better without Kevin Love:

Fun Fact: Despite beating the Cavaliers in Games 1 and 2 by a combined 48 points, the Warriors are 1.5-point underdogs tonight.

[shrugging emoji guy]

With Kevin Love out and Kyrie Irving shooting an abysmal 12-of-36 so far in the NBA Finals, conventional wisdom is that LeBron will go into Destruction Mode to try to make this a series.

The only problem is that LeBron did that last year, too. And he was by far the best player in the series. Yet Cleveland still lost in six games.

These have been put up around the city of Cleveland. It’s pretty cool. Unless you’re Tristan Thompson and they misspelled your name.

If you’re looking to kill some time before tip-off -- and if reading my column on the status of this series doesn’t do it for you -- consider donating some money to Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith.

He’s looking to get $450,000 through Kickstarter to fund a reality TV show. So far he has, as of this writing ... $637. Pretty close!

If you have a spare $449,363 laying around, you can send it to J.R. Smith here.

Updated

Good evening

Welcome to the liveblog of Game 3 of the 2016 NBA Finals!

The big storyline tonight -- outside of everyone wondering if the Cavaliers can compete -- is that Kevin Love remains out due to concussion symptoms. It can be argued that Love is overrated. Or that he doesn’t give enough on defense. You can even make a case that the Cavaliers may do better tonight without him.

But the idea that Love is “soft” because he’s out of the Finals again due to injury?

Last year he missed the Finals because he had his shoulder ripped out by Kelly Olynyk.

This year he’s out because Harrison Barnes elbowed him in the base of his skull and, despite wanting to play Game 3, Cleveland’s doctors won’t let him.

Kevin Love may have a lot of flaws, but lack of “toughness” isn’t one of them. He’s just unlucky.

End rant.

Updated

DJ will be here shortly, in the meantime here’s Les Carpenter on the happiest team in sports:

These were the NBA finals that the Golden State Warriors were losing last year, and yet they acted as if the whole thing was a joke. They were supposed to be practising in Cleveland’s arena, trailing the Cavaliers 2-1 in the series, but this hardly looked like basketball practice.

Music boomed from mini-speakers the team brings on all road trips as players kicked balls around like they were on a soccer field. Several of them lined up for half-court shots. They were laughing. Anyone who walked into the arena that day would have gazed at the spectacle, more open gym at the Y than NBA workout, and decided the Warriors didn’t care.

Read the full article here:

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