With just about 50 seconds left in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night, LeBron James stole Golden State's inbound pass as they furiously tried to catch up.
Fouled as he broke toward the basket, he walked back up the court with a bit of a smirk, pointing at his head. If anything has been symbolic about this game, a 96-91 Cavaliers win, and this series, that was it.
LeBron is the smartest player in basketball, and he’s in Golden State’s head.
James had stolen the inbound pass from Stephen Curry, the Warriors’ suddenly woebegone MVP. The previous play he’d put up an ugly shot that caromed off the side of the backboard and into the hands of Curry, who was guarding him.
Curry initiated a fast break back the other way. James trailed him, pounced when he pulled up at the three-point line and knocked the ball away. Appropriately, James’s revelatory sidekick Matthew Dellavedova corralled the ball.
LeBron and Dellavedova. Sherlock Holmes and his unlikely Watson, solving the riddle of Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors.
Three games into the NBA Finals and a 2-1 lead for Cleveland, and that is the most glaring takeaway by now. The Cavaliers may be outmanned, but it’s the Warriors who are being outfoxed.
For the third straight contest, James and Cleveland dictated the tempo of the game, ensnared Golden State in their deliberate, grinding style.
For the second straight contest James had a poor shooting night and it didn’t matter. He finished with 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and was for Cleveland a playmaking gravitational force, bending the game to his will.
Dellavedova made Curry’s life miserable again. Through three quarters he was just 4-of-11 shooting with 10 points. He looked downright enervated by Dellavedova’s off-ball defence, his will to continue fighting into the open space around the three-point line that used to practically be his home, sapped.
On the ball, they frequently double-teamed Curry and dared someone else to beat them. Neither Draymond Green (2-for-10 shooting) nor Harrison Barnes (0-for-8) could hit an open pick-and-pop attempt or roll off of a pick to the rim, where Tristan Thompson and Timofey Mozgov did an excellent job clogging up the interior and occupying airspace.
Curry was chased, smothered and ultimately overwhelmed by a pesky Australian who has become the flag-bearer for every overconfident scrappy guy at the gym.
Offensively faced with a diminished toolbox, Cleveland’s remaining instruments are being used ever more expertly.
LeBron drew the Golden State defensive weight his way and found Thompson, he of the four combined points in the previous two games, for a few easy inside buckets in a 10-point, 4-of-6 shooting effort.
James Jones took two shots all game and converted them into seven points. JR Smith hit a pair of important threes.
And Matthew Dellavedova, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, scored for only the second time in his career 20 points. A season-high for the guard.
The Cavaliers are simply hitting all of the right notes, while the Warriors can’t figure out a counter.
Golden State have shown a shocking inability to adapt to Cleveland’s physicality. Through most of Game 3 as Curry was neutralised, so were the rest of the Warriors. The team that once passed and probed in balletic synchronisation around an overcommitted defence has become statuesque.
The good news for the Warriors is that while this was the case for the (much) better part of the first 11 quarters of this series, a spark finally seemed to light in the fourth quarter on Tuesday.
Astonishingly down 17 heading into the final frame, they outscored Cleveland 36-24 and very nearly clawed their way back into a winning position. Curry rediscovered his three-point stroke, making 5-of-8 and draining a few particularly audacious attempts in a 17-point quarter.
David Lee was finally released from the depths of the bench and unlocked Golden State’s bogged-down offence. The former all-star scored 11 points while making all four of his attempts in 13 minutes on the floor mostly in the second half during which the Warriors outscored the Cavs by 17. He was the one player able to make the Cavs pay for double-teaming Curry on pick’n’rolls, and it opened up just enough space around Curry for the MVP to breathe again.
What Golden State desperately need now is a team-wide, game-long effort. Their backs will be against the wall in Game 4 on Thursday, on the road in front of a crowd that will no doubt be delirious and intimidating from the get-go.
And they’ll be up against LeBron. The four-time MVP mentally running circles around the regular season’s best team and piecing together what could very well be the makings of one of the great finals performances of all-time.
Steph Curry’s whistle-stop Warriors have been unsolvable for the rest of the NBA this season. But the Cavs have LeBron and, of all people, Dellavedova ably on the case.
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