Stephen Curry and Matthew Dellavedova (Photo : Reuters)
LeBron James continued his personal romp of the NBA Finals, while Matthew Dellavedova became his new sidekick, as the Cleveland Cavaliers escaped with a 96-91 Game 3 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors at the Quicken Loans Arena, June 9.
James fired 40 points, hauled down 12 rebounds, and dished off eight dimes to narrowly miss a triple-double yet again. More importantly, he led the Cavs to an opportune 2-1 series lead in perhaps the most significant championship series of his career. (Source: NBA.com)
Dellavedova, who was only playing because Kyrie Irving was not around, kept on adding to his fable as he contributed 20 points and more than a half dozen head-first dives on the floor, two of which spelled doom for the Warriors in the last few minutes of regulation.
But perhaps the best contribution the Australian point guard made was clamping down Golden State's ringleader Stephen Curry in the first three-quarters of play.
Curry was held to 10 points in 4-of-11 shooting before exploding for 17 in the final quarter. He made 5-of-8 three-pointers in that span to move the Warriors within one, 80-81, 2:45 to play.
Seconds later, Delly answered with a contorted three-point play to keep the Cavs ahead, 84-80.
It was all LeBron from there.
The series is slowly exhibiting that the Cavs' heart, hustle, and determination, together with the King's championship experience, could always beat the Warriors' rawness, talent, and depth on any given night. As The Guardian's live blog mentioned, LeBron used the word "grit" to describe Dellavedova and what his team currently possesses, which he claims is giving them the advantage over the favorites so far.
Unless Curry and his gang could shake off the self and over-imposed magnitude of the Finals in their heads and start playing fun basketball again, then LeBron might go on to get the city of Cleveland the championship it has eternally longed for.
Game 4 is on Thursday, 9 p.m. E.T.
