The NBA finals are once again a face-off between the two most dominant teams in the past four years: the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. This is the fourth matchup between the two teams, and both teams are as hungry as ever for another title. The Cavs look to win their second title in the past four years, but GSW is a strong opponent. They are the favorites to win the series, and after taking a 3-0 lead in the series, it is looking very bleak for LeBron and the Cavs.
In Game 1, the drive in both teams was very strong, and it was evident they both wanted the win. In the first quarter, the score was all tied up at 8-8 when Draymond Green deflected a pass by the Cavs and passed it to Shaun Livingston, who then led the ball to Steph Curry, who then threw the ball up to Kevin Durant for the monster dunk. GSW kept this fire till the last second of the half, as Curry made a three from almost half court at the buzzer, to tie up the game at 56.
Going into the second half, both teams were neck and neck. LeBron had some amazing plays in the second half, including a tremendous dunk from a Tristan Thompson pass. He also had a drive to the basket, in which two GSW players attempted to block him, but he still ended up making it for the and-one.
The game got closer and closer as time was running out. George Hill of the Cavs went for a free throw with about three seconds left in the game. JR Smith got the rebound, but mistakenly took the ball back out. He tried to recover by passing the ball to Hill, but by that time, the clock had run out. LeBron was yelling at him the whole time to go back to the rim, but it was too late. Thankfully, the score was tied, so the game went into overtime. There, GSW went off and scored seven unanswered points to take the lead in OT. This time, the Cavs couldn’t come back and this led to a 124-114 win by GSW.
LeBron ended the game with a whopping 51 points, but just one player on a team doesn’t ever lead to a win. The Cavs hoped to regroup on the road in Game 2.
In Game 2, GSW got off to a great start, leading by six points by the middle of the first quarter. LeBron again led the charge with another drive to the rim. This time, he drove past Draymond Green and JaVale McGee for the and-one. Towards the end of the second quarter, GSW had increased their lead to 10. In the process of doing so, Curry hit a three with two minutes to go in the second quarter.
The Cavs tried to come back from the deficit with a great breakaway by Tristan Thompson. LeBron made an excellent pass to him and he made the easy dunk. However, GSW made great plays as well to keep the Cavs from coming back. With the shot clock winding down, Curry was winding around the court, trying to find open space. He ended up chucking the ball at the net just as the buzzer rang out, and he surprisingly made it. This brought the lead to 14 points halfway through the fourth quarter. With another three at three minutes remaining, Curry had made nine three’s at that point, creating a new finals record. Combined with Durant’s 26 points and 71.4 percent shooting, the Warriors won Game 2, 122-103.
Game 3 was back on the Cavs’ turf, and they looked to come back from that 2-0 deficit. The Cavs quickly came to a 10-4 lead in the first quarter, and that led to an almost 10-point lead in the second quarter. In the process of getting to this lead, LeBron, of course, had some amazing plays, as he does every game. In the first quarter, he saw that no one was open, and he was stumbling, so he couldn’t dribble. In order to get the basket, he threw the ball at the backboard and gave himself an alley-oop. Plays like these allowed the Cavs to keep the lead, but GSW kept trying to come back.
At the end of the second quarter, Durant was driving at the basket and managed to make a bank shot while getting pushed into the crowd. Plays like these led to a comeback by GSW, and by the third quarter, they had a one point edge on the Cavs. Things started to go the Warriors’ way, as they kept this lead till the end of the fourth quarter. The Cavs tried to come back with some spectacular plays from LeBron, like when he made a pass from the three point line inside to Thompson, who went around Durant for the layup and and-one.
But, GSW couldn’t be stopped. With less than a minute remaining in the game, Durant hit another three and increased their lead to six. With plays like those, it was impossible for the Cavs to come back, and in turn, they ended up losing, 110-102. Durant went off in Game 3, with a double-double of 43 points and 13 rebounds. LeBron had a triple double that game with 33 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Things aren’t looking so good for the Cavs, and Game 4 is their last chance to make a comeback for the win. However, no team in NBA finals history has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, so if they do, they will make history.