NBA Betting – Warriors Can Take Stranglehold in Game 3

Golden State Warriors (-1, 206 o/u) at Cleveland Cavaliers

It hasn’t been the NBA Finals we expected (or at least hoped for), but the Cleveland Cavaliers (12-4 SU, 8-8 ATS) do have a chance to get themselves back into the series when they host the Golden State Warriors (14-5 SU, 13-6 ATS) this Wednesday in Game 3 at Quicken Loans Arena.

Thus far, Cleveland has been outplayed, out-coached, and even out-hustled. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise to the Cavaliers that they lost the first two games in Oakland by a combined 48 points, which accounts for the largest point differential through the first two games in NBA Finals history.

In spite of being placed in the record books for all the wrong reasons, now is not the time to panic for the Cavaliers. With Games 3 and 4 both back in Cleveland, where they have yet to lose a game this postseason, LeBron James and company need to be leaving their sorrows from the first two games back in California.

The Cavaliers’ superb three-point shooting is what got them back to the finals for this much-anticipated rematch. However, their strength has quickly become, arguably, their biggest shortcoming, shooting just above 27-percent from downtown. Although Golden State may not be a team that you want to get into a long-range shootout with, Cleveland is desperate to see some threes start falling again.

In terms of Cleveland’s struggles from downtown, Tyronn Lue, head coach of the Cavaliers, can only create so many open looks for his players; they are the ones taking the shots. What is on Lue is the seemingly-impossible task of slowing down the high-powered Warriors’ offense. The number of Warriors’ players away from the ball that have been allowed to cut unimpeded to the basket is incredibly concerning.

The Splash Brothers, Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, have not had to be factors yet, simply because Golden State is getting wide open layups or dunks on so many possessions.

For Cleveland’s sake, we hope the extra day off provides Lue with the time to address the laundry list of corrections necessary for the Eastern Conference champions. If Cleveland does find itself down 3-0 after Wednesday night, you can check yourself into baseball mode for the summer (or join the Euro Cup craze), because this series will be over.

Despite Golden States’ playoff struggles on the road this season, they certainly proved that they don’t mind the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena during the regular season, winning by 34 points back in January. The Warriors have now conquered the Cavaliers in seven straight meetings (including playoffs).

After the first two games, Draymond Green is the front-runner to win Finals MVP.  Green is coming off a very impressive Game 2 performance, which saw him record 28-points, seven rebounds and five assists. The Cavaliers just can not seem to find a fitting matchup for the Warriors small-forward. Meanwhile, Curry, as previously mentioned, is just taking a backseat for now, and has averaged only 14-points per game in the series.

What the Cavaliers should fear is the, practically, inevitable showing of the league’s back-to-back most valuable player.  Don’t expect “Chef Curry” to be averaging 14-points per game at the conclusion of the finals.

Sign me up for the Warriors to win Game 3, even though it means we will have a very disappointing, anticlimactic 2016 NBA Finals. I expect Cleveland to keep this one within 33-points (really bold, I know), but Golden State will, again, prove to be too much for the Cavaliers to handle.

Pick: Warriors (-1)

(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA (Kevin Love) CC BY-SA 2.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0], via Wikimedia Commons)