The narrative after Golden State dominated Cleveland in Games 1 and 2 was, where do we put the Warriors in terms of history? Just above, or just below, the Romans, pre-Empire?
So then Cleveland dominates in a Game 3 win, and the narrative shifts: what the hell is wrong with Steph Curry? Is he, like, off his meds, or something?
Ahem, Curry scored 38 Friday night in a 108-97 Dubs win that has the series at 3-1. No one has come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals, incidentally.
Curry was 7-for-13 from three, and Klay Thompson chipped in 25, and was 4-for-9 from three.
So what’s the narrative going to be now? It won’t be, what’s up with LeBron, because LBJ just missed having a triple double, going 25/13/9 on 11-of-21 shooting.
Kyrie Irving, for his part, had 34 with four assists and one turnover.
Maybe Tyronn Lue outsmarted himself going with Richard Jefferson (25 minutes, three points, 1-of-2 from the field, +/- of -5) in the starting five over Kevin Love (25 minutes, 11 points, 3-of-6 shooting, +/- of -4) because the Cavs won Game 3 with Jefferson starting in place of Love.
The +/-, anyway, seems to suggest that one is a wash.
The big issue was three-point shooting. The Cavs were 6-of-25 (24 percent), and Golden State was 17-for-36 (47.2 percent).
That’s a 33-point difference right there, in an 11-point win.
Hard to make that one the narrative for what’s wrong with Cleveland, though, because Golden State is the best three-point shooting team, ever, and we already knew that.
So we can’t complain about LeBron sucking, or Kyrie sucking. Steph had an MVP-quality night, Klay had a Klay night.
Draymond Green had an off-night, kinda, sorta. OK, he had a Draymond night: 9 points on 2-of-9 shooting, 12 rebounds, four assists, three blocks, two steals.
Hmmm. So we have nothing to complain about, nobody to blame for anything.
You mean, we can just enjoy the game, then?
Yeah, just enjoy it.
Column by Chris Graham
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