Golden State Looks to Move Within One Win of NBA Title
The NBA Finals continue on Wednesday with Game 3 to be played at Quicken Loans Arena when the Cleveland Cavaliers host the Golden State Warriors. The current line has Cleveland favored by 1 point with the over/under point total sitting on 205.5.
Golden State leads the series 2-0 after winning the opening two games on its home court. However, Cleveland has had great success at home this postseason going unbeaten at 7-0 thus far during the playoffs.
Over that 7-0 run at home this postseason, the average margin of victory for the Cavaliers has been 20.9 points. The Cavaliers are holding their opponents at home to just 90.4 points per games with six of the seven games less than 100 points
Despite being routed and humiliated in Game 2 of the series on Sunday, the defense for Cleveland forced 21 Golden State turnovers and had 15 steals.
Cleveland must find its offense. With LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, the Cavaliers offense is a potent attack but scoring just 77 points in Game 2 will not win games let alone NBA championships.
Cleveland this postseason is 12-0 when its scores 100 or more points. The Cavaliers have had trouble matching up with Golden State and but have been able to keep Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green from beating them.
Golden State has won five straight games in the playoffs entering this game. The Warriors battled back from a 3-1 deficit with three straight wins to knock off Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals and then easily beat Cleveland in both home games to start this series.
In Game 2, Green scored a team high 28 points for Golden State, which was his highest output scoring in any Finals game this year or last season.
Warriors center Andrew Bogut blocked five shots in the game, including 4 during the first quarter.
Leandro Barbosa sank five straight shots to start his game for the second consecutive game and has back-to-back double digit scoring.
The second unit for Golden State has rattled Cleveland’s second unit outscoring them 45-10 in Game 2.
Kevin Love hurt his shoulder in the second half of Game 2 for Cleveland but should be fine for Wednesday’s Game 3 at home.
Cleveland must find a way to get James more open shots and more active in the offense. Since Game 4 of the NBA Finals last season the Warriors have not allowed James to take control of games like he did in the first three games last season when Cleveland led 2-1.
Prediction: Golden State has Cleveland’s number but the Cavaliers are at home. Lean toward Cleveland in this one.
