That’s all for now. Thanks as always for following along and be sure to check back later for Les Carpenter’s full report.
What a state of affairs for the Cavaliers. Steph Curry (11 points) and Klay Thompson (10 points) both had off nights, LeBron James powered his way to yet another triple-double (33 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds), but it wasn’t enough to stave off the Golden State fightback as the Warriors become the first team to stake three-games-to-none leads in consecutive NBA finals – with both Game 3 wins coming on Cleveland’s home court.
Kevin Durant becomes only the fifth player in NBA finals history to score 40 or more points on 23 or fewer shots. The others are Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal. Maybe those five could find a way to beat these Warriors because nobody in today’s league seems to have much luck.
Final: Golden State 110-102 Cleveland
Curry hits a pair from the stripe and that will be that. The Warriors have finished off a come-from-behind victory over the Cavaliers behind a magnificent 43-point, 13-rebound, seven-assist effort by Kevin Durant.
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Golden State 108-102 Cleveland; 12.3, fourth quarter
JR Smith misses a three out of the time out, Iguodala grabs the rebound and the outcome is all but a handshake away as the fans make a beeline for the corridors.
Golden State 108-102 Cleveland; 25.0, fourth quarter
James coming out of the timeout deposits a driving lay-up to close it to 106-102 with 40.4 seconds left and Cleveland elects to play defense rather than foul, but Draymond Green cuts to the rim, collects the pass and puts down a critical two, extending the Golden State lead to six points with 25.0 seconds remaining. Squeaky bum time in Cleveland, who are out of timeouts.
Golden State 106-100 Cleveland; 49.8, fourth quarter
James hits from three on a Cleveland possession extended by a pair of offensive rebounds (first Smith, then Love) and the Cavaliers cut the deficit to 101-100. But Iguodala drives for a dunk on the next possesion, Tristan Thompson misses on the other end and Durant drives in a three-point dagger for his 41st, 42nd and 43rd points of the game. You can hear a pin drop in Quicken Loans Arena as the Lue calls a 20-second timeout.
New #NBAPlayoffs career-high. Same spot 👌. #NBAFinals | #DubNation pic.twitter.com/72qkfJ47C6
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 7, 2018
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Golden State 101-97 Cleveland; 2.38, fourth quarter
Curry finally hits one from mid-range, then Iguodala strips Love and Curry hits in transition from three-point range after missing his first nine shots from downtown. The Golden State lead is four.
Golden State 96-97 Cleveland; 3.11, fourth quarter
Love drives the lane and Iguodala reaches in, sending him to the line for pair. Iguodala doesn’t like the call but it was a good one. Love sinks the first and then the second and Cleveland are back on top.
Golden State 96-95 Cleveland; 3.19, fourth quarter
Durant hits again and he’s got 40 points on 14-for-22 from the floor. Golden State back on top. Smith misses a three, Durant misses a turnaround fadeaway, James misses a three and we break for the under-four TV timeout. Weirdly, the Warriors were 0-4 during the regular season when Durant scored 40 or more.
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Golden State 94-95 Cleveland; 4.24, fourth quarter
LeBron James: 26 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds. That’s his 10th career triple-double in the NBA finals. The combined total of every other player in league history is 27. Draymond Green picks up his fifth foul then Iguodala picks up his fourth on the same possession, putting the Cavaliers in the bonus. James hits a pair and the Cavaliers are back up by one.
Golden State 94-93 Cleveland; 6.04, fourth quarter
Steph Curry set an NBA finals record with nine three-pointers in Game 2, but he’s now 0-for-9 from long range after missing just now. LeBron gets to the line on the next possession, missing the first but making the second, and the Cavaliers have cut it down to one. Iguodala has entered the game, but watching him lumber up and down the court it’s clear he’s not at 100% fitness. The teams trade misses a few times until LeBron drives the lane and puts down a bucket. Lue calls timeout with the Cavaliers trailing by a single point.
LeBron is 11-for-19 in the paint, 0-for-4 from 3, & hasn't attempted a mid-range shot.
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) June 7, 2018
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Golden State 88-87 Cleveland; 9.17, fourth quarter
Hood strikes again on the opening possession of the fourth – that’s 11 points in 14 minutes off the bench – and the Cavaliers have tied it. Bell hits back on the other end, Cleveland misses, then a trapped Curry dribbles out of bounds and his nightmarish Game 3 presses on. He misses again and he’s an anemic 1-for-13 on the night. Then Hood hits on the other end with a floater and Cleveland are back on top! The crowd comes alive but Durant pulls up on the next trip down and now the Warriors lead. Durant has 36 points and 13 rebounds on 12-for-18 shooting and a perfect 7-for-7 from the stripe. There’s about nine minutes left but this one feels like it’s coming down to the wire.
End of third quarter: Golden State 83-81 Cleveland
LeBron James is on the bench for the first time all night, but for all of 68 seconds before Lue re-inserts him for the last shot of the quarter. Given how the Warriors have stampeded over opponents during third quarters all season, it could have been worse for the Cavaliers: their six-point half-time lead is gone, but they trail but only a bucket entering the quarter that could very well decide their season. Here’s a fun nugget from Basketball Reference: Steph Curry is shooting 1-for-11 from the floor tonight. Since 1984, no player has shot 1-for-10 or worse in an NBA finals game and won.
Golden State 79-78 Cleveland; 2.42, third quarter
Kevin Durant is unconscious. He’s poured in 34 points on 11-for-15 shooting and has now made 21 of his last 29 shots from the floor going back to the start of Game 2. Curry is walking back to the locker room now, but he’s not being trailed by medical staff so it could be just a bathroom break. Hood cans a pull-up jumper on a LeBron assist to cut the Golden State lead to one.
KD is snatching hearts right now
— Francis Kaminsky III (@FSKPart3) June 7, 2018
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Golden State 72-72 Cleveland; 5.33, third quarter
Kevin Durant has 29 points (on 12 shots!) to go with 12 rebounds less than halfway through the third quarter. Cleveland’s transition defense is a shambles. The big surprise: JaVale McGee (10 points) is Golden State’s second leading scorer and their only other player in double figures. But just like that: LeBron hits a runner followed by back-to-back threes by George Hill and JR Smith and Cleveland have tied it.
Golden State 69-64 Cleveland; 7.44, third quarter
LeBron James assists on a Tristan Thompson bucket and he’s got a double-double early in the third (17 points, 10 assists). Thompson is fouled in the act but can’t convert the three-point play. McGee scores in the paint again and he’s got eight points in this quarter already. Like the Cavaliers didn’t have enough to worry about with Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green. Durant and Green score on back-to-back trips and Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue quickly calls a timeout as the crowd has gone quiet at Quicken Loans Arena. The Warriors have taken a five-point lead on a 15-3 run.
JR is worse than useless rn
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 7, 2018
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Golden State 63-61 Cleveland; 9.57, third quarter
Stephen Curry gets to the line and hits a pair and the Warriors have their first lead of the night. Nine straight points for Golden State, who have erased a 13-point deficit.
Golden State 61-61 Cleveland; 10.13, third quarter
One hundred seven seconds. That’s all it took for the Warriors to make up their eight-point half-time deficit and to tie it at 63-all. Six points from the rough-and-tumble JaVale McGee and another three from Durant. Here we go.
Half-time: Golden State 52-58 Cleveland
The Warriors have the ball with the last shot and Durant calmly drains a three-pointer from the fifth row with eight-tenths of a second left. Wow. He’s finished the first half with 24 points (on 7-for-10 shooting) and eight rebounds, shouldering the load on a night when Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson (seven combined points) have come up short. At least for now.
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Golden State 49-56 Cleveland; 57.9, second quarter
LeBron is whistled for an offensive foul while being guarded by Curry on the elbow but the referees come together and reverse the call, dinging Curry with his third of the night instead. Oh boy. Jordan Bell with a put-back dunk closes it to 54-46: he’s chipped in seven points off the bench on 3-for-3 shooting. Hood answers on the other end for Cleveland, but Durant answers on the other end coming off the high pick and roll to score the bucket while drawing the foul. He drains the foul shot for the three-point play and it’s down to seven.
Golden State 42-52 Cleveland; 2.31, second quarter
Notably, the Cavaliers have yet to shoot a free throw, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt them yet. Love drains another three from long range and it’s 50-37, the largest lead of the series for the Cavaliers. Klay Thompson briefly quiets the crowd with a basket on the other end created with beautiful movement off the ball. Cleveland responds with a shot-clock violation and Durant hits from three on the other end, cutting it to eight. But Tristan Thompson puts in a bucket from close range to bring it back to double digits and Draymond is whistled for a (dubious) third foul to the delight of the Quicken Loans Arena crowd.
Golden State 35-47 Cleveland; 4.53, second quarter
Curry and Thompson are a combined 1-for-9 from three-point range – and the Warriors are a combined 2-for-11 – yet they still only trail by eight points. It all just makes me nervous for Cleveland, but for now they’re on roll. Bell makes one of two foul shots, but Love cans a three and a bucket in the paint on back-to-back possessions and the lead is back up to a dozen.
Golden State 34-42 Cleveland; 6.40, second quarter
Steph Curry is holding the ball when the Warriors are hit with a shot-clock violation out of the timeout. The two-time NBA MVP is having a dicey night so far: 1-for-7 from the floor, 0-for-4 from three and two personal fouls. Jordan Bell hits for Golden State but LeBron answers on the next trip down with a textbook fadeaway. Hood is replaced by George Hill after pitching in two points, two rebounds and a nice blocked shot on Shaun Livingston in eight minutes. LeBron appears to tweak his ankle and the entire arena recoils in horror, but he walks it off and JR Smith hits a three on the other end to stretch it to 40-32. Bell responds for Golden State with an alley-oop lay-up, but James attacks the goal for another two and Kerr calls timeout again. LeBron having a very LeBron game with a 14-6-5 line midway through the second.
Warriors plus-minus:
— Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) June 7, 2018
Andre Iguodala on-court plus+5
Andre Iguodala off-court minus-13
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Golden State 28-35 Cleveland; 9.20, second quarter
Three reserves on the floor for Golden State (Nick Young, David West and Shaun Livingston) and the Cavaliers take advantage with six quick points. It could have been worse, but Cleveland began rushing their shots for a brief stretch and couldn’t get a good look. The last James bucket pushes the lead to seven and Kerr calls timeout. LeBron humming along with 10 points, five assists and five rebounds.
LeBron James bulldozes his way in for two! 🚂🚂🚂
— NBA (@NBA) June 7, 2018
Quick 6-0 @cavs run on #NBAonABC
10 PTS, 5 AST, 6 REB for The King.#WhateverItTakes #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/EZPAL5xHdc
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End of first quarter: Golden State 28-29 Cleveland
Rodney Hood enters the game for the Cavaliers in place of JR Green. Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said he planned to involve the fourth-year shooting guard more tonight. He immediately commits a foul on Durant, who calmly sinks a pair to close the Cleveland lead to 22-16. The sides trade buckets before Klay Thompson hits the first three-pointer of the night for the Warriors after they missed their first six and the Warriors cut it to five. But Cleveland goes cold for a spell, Livingston and Durant chip in buckets, and all of a sudden it’s 26-26 with 32.6 seconds left. JR Smith hits a late three, but Durant drains a pair and the first quarter ends with the Cavaliers leading by the slim margin 29-28 lead.
The Warriors fell behind by 12. Steph Curry picked up two quick fouls. Draymond Green picked up a technical. But a standout frame from Kevin Durant (a game-high 13 points on 4-for-4 shooting and seven rebounds, which is all of Golden State’s rebounds) has kept the Dubs hot on Cleveland’s heels.
1Q perfection for KD (13 PTS, 4/4) 🔥🔥🔥. #NBAFinals | #DubNation pic.twitter.com/Yk6FAokmgJ
— NBA TV (@NBATV) June 7, 2018
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Golden State 14-22 Cleveland; 3.38, first quarter
LeBron drives and is blocked but the referee calls goaltending and the Cavaliers lead 16-4, which is their biggest lead of the series (surpassing their 11-point lead in Game 1). The chippy play between JR Smith and Draymond Green has come to a head early as they’re whistled up for double technicals, which means they both must be on their best behavior. (Notably, that’s Green’s fifth of the playoffs and a seventh would be an automatic one-game suspension.) The Cavaliers are in attack mode with Love leading the way with seven points and six rebounds so far. This is the earliest the Warriors have trailed by double digits all season long.
Kevin Love and JR Smith combined, games 1-2: 21-57 (.368)
— Basketball Reference (@bball_ref) June 7, 2018
Kevin Love and JR Smith combined, so far tonight: 6-11 (.545)
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Golden State 4-14 Cleveland; 7.57, first quarter
A dream start for the Cavaliers, who create three great opportunities on their first three shots, starting with a Kevin Love three, and make all of them before Tristan Thompson puts home a bunny in the lane on their fourth trip down. Thunderous chants of “Dray-mond sucks! Dray-mond sucks!” when the Warriors’ Draymond Green goes to the line to sink a pair of foul shots. The crowd is rocking, predictably. A good sign for Cleveland that not too much of the load has been placed on LeBron’s shoulders early. He’s done enough. Of course, no sooner do I type those words than LeBron throws it off the backboard to himself and flushes down a two-handed dunk for his opening points.
LeBron is unbelievable. Here's a few different angles pic.twitter.com/IBIrOsjSBv
— Chris Grenham (@chrisgrenham) June 7, 2018
Love gets another bucket and Golden State coach Steve Kerr has seen enough, calling a timeout with the Dubs down double digits only five minutes in.
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We’re moments from tip-off in Cleveland. Local singer and retired Naval petty officer Generald Wilson has performed a rousing rendition of the national anthem and now the lights have gone down for the pyrotechnic-peppered starting lineup introductions. Not much longer now.
This feels like a bad omen. A giant L was delivered to Quicken Loans Arena earlier today.
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Keep an eye on Rodney Hood in tonight’s game. Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said he plans to involve the fourth-year shooting guard more in Game 3 after JR Smith and Kyle Korver struggled to make an impact in the first two games.
The 25-year-old is no stranger to the Warriors: Hood poured in 26 points in a game against Golden State earlier this season when he was still the the Utah Jazz.
Just in: Andre Iguodala has been cleared to play for Golden State in tonight’s game. That won’t make things any easier for the Cavaliers. The Warriors have gone 4-2 without Iguodala in the rotation after starting the playoffs 10-3 with him.
The Cavaliers have been aces on their home court throughout these playoffs. They’ve won eight straight contests at Quicken Loans Arena – outscoring opponents by an average of 12 points in those games – after dropping Game 1 of their first-round series against the Indiana Pacers. They’ll be counting on that home-court edge in a major way in tonight’s must-win tilt and can make a bit of history if they pull through: a ninth consecutive home playoff victory would set a franchise record.
LeBron James can also tick another record off if he scores 30 points in tonight’s game by surpassing Michael Jordan for the most 30-point games in NBA postseason history. Speaking of the interminable LeBron v Jordan debate, here’s Guardian US columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s say on where King James rates among the all-time greats. And we’re inclined to give his opinion some weight.
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Hello and welcome to Game 3 of the NBA finals between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. It’s gut-check time for LeBron James and his band of not-so-merry men, who return to their home arena trailing two games to none in the best-of-seven-games championship series. No team has ever come back from a three-games-to-none deficit to win a playoff series, which means the the Cavaliers for all practical purposes find themselves in a must-win situation if they’re to prevent the Warriors from winning their second consecutive NBA title and third in four years.
The big news, and it’s not good for Cleveland, is that Golden State coach Steve Kerr expects Andre Iguodala to return to action after missing six games with a bone bruise around his left knee. The do-everything swingman – the surprise Most Valuable Player of the 2015 NBA finals – has been sidelined since Game 3 of the Western Conference finals and the Warriors haven’t been at their best without him.
Tip-off is roughly 40 minutes away.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Les Carpenter on why the series may not be over just yet:
There will be a time in these NBA finals when the shots fall for the Cleveland Cavaliers, their players remember the score and big calls go their way. When that happens the series can start.
Indeed, you would be mistaken if you think the finals are over just because of JR Smith’s blunder in Game 1 or because a blizzard of Stephen Curry three-pointers buried the Cavaliers in Game 2. Yes, the first two games were bad for the Cavaliers but a couple of losses on the road do not end any hope of winning a title. Not yet.
The Warriors are a great offensive machine but the Cavs are the more rugged defensive team. They can knock the Warriors around below the rim, frustrating shooters and making the pretty look ugly. “They’re a team that’s great at home,” Golden State’s Klay Thompson said on Sunday night.
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