It’s a little sad when the most exciting part of the night is waiting for Darren Rovell’s headline from his distinguished newspaper, The Rovell Daily Times.
Tomorrow’s Headline Today… pic.twitter.com/Gh07NdYR5N
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) June 7, 2018
Rovell has had some bad, awful tweets in his day, but this may very well take the cake right here. I shouldn’t have to explain why.
As for the game itself, there were actually a couple of surprising things to note. First of all, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson basically sucked, combining for just 21 points on 7-for-27 shooting.
That’s the thing about having four superstars, though. When two of them are off, oh look, we can just give the ball to Kevin Durant and let him score 43 points. And score 43 he did — along with 13 rebounds and seven assists to pace the Warriors on the way to their 110-102 victory over the Cavs in Game 3.
LeBron had another predictably tremendous showing, leading his team with 33 points, 10 boards, and 11 assists in a valiant triple-double performance.
Unlike the Warriors, James didn’t have anyone to pick him up when the team needed it. Kevin Love contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace with Golden State down at the end.
The frustrating part for Cleveland is that this is the second game in the series they could have won. They nearly stole Game 1, which was of course thrown away in the stupidest fashion possible (stupider than Victor Olasweepo). This game was very much in their grasp, too, in front of the home fans, and they blew it.
The Cavs jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter, as if fueled by adrenaline, and gradually let it slip away. Then, with the game up for grabs in the fourth, Durant nailed a three with 49.8 seconds left to give his team a six-point lead which might as well have been the final nail in the coffin for Cleveland.
It’s almost eerily similar to the way Game 3 played out a year ago: Cleveland was within striking distance before Durant hit the dagger to make the series 3-0 Warriors.
Will Cleveland bother to win Game 4 knowing that 131 teams before them have tried and failed to come back from a 3-0 deficit? Do they really want to get on a plane and go back to Oakland? Is LeBron already looking for houses in the suburbs of Philadelphia? Find out on the next episode of Days of Our NBA Lives.
Unfortunately, the only real drama left in this NBA season is who will earn Finals MVP. You would have thought Steph Curry had the best shot at it until last night when he dutifully crapped the bed, and Durant’s 43 points may give him the lead even though he certainly wasn’t the best player in the first two games.
If he can put up big numbers and grab a win in Game 4, Finals MVP really should go to LeBron. A losing player hasn’t secured MVP honors since Jerry West in 1969, but it’s pretty tough to argue James hasn’t been the best player in this series by a wide margin. It just so happens that the second, third, fourth, and fifth-best players all play for the other team.
That’s of course, if the Cavs can avoid the Olasweepo.
