NBA Finals Betting – (1) Warriors at (2) Cavaliers (Game 3)
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers (-1, 194 o/u)
It took a heroic performance from LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers (53-29, 31-10 Home) in Game 2 to even the 2015 NBA Finals at one game apiece. Tonight, the injury-riddled squad will look to take a surprising 2-1 lead when they host the Golden State Warriors (67-15, 28-13 Away) at Quicken Loans Arena (9:00 PM Eastern).
James recorded the fifth NBA Finals triple-double in Game 2, racking up 39 points, 16 rebounds, and 11 assists. The “King” is now averaging 41.5 points, 12 rebounds, and 8.5 assists over the first two games. Center Timofey Mozgov has stepped up nicely in the absence of power forward Kevin Love, putting in 16.5 points per game against the Warriors.
“I tried to give it all to my teammates. And they do a great job of giving it back to me. Total team effort,” said James in the press conference after the win. “To be back in the same position we were in three days ago and to come back and even the series is big time.”
Cavaliers coach David Blatt had nothing but praise for his star after the legendary performance.
“You’d be hard pressed to find a guy anywhere, anytime, I can think of a name or two, but that’s the whole history of basketball, which can give you the kind of all-around performance and all-around leadership that LeBron does for his group,” Blatt said to the Associated Press. “He really willed his guys to win that game.
Cleveland shot a low 32.2-percent from the field in Game 2, but their defense stepped up big time, including shooting guard Matthew Dellavedova. The St. Mary’s product defended Steph Curry tenaciously all night, forcing the NBA MVP into a number of tough looks and holding him to just 5/23 shooting (including 2/15 from beyond the arc).
The play of shooting guard Klay Thompson (34 points) kept the Warriors close, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an all-around cold night by the highest scoring team in the NBA.
Though losing a home game in a best-of-seven is always significant, Warriors coach Steve Kerr did his best to downplay the importance of Curry’s off night.
“It happens to everybody, whether you’re the MVP or a role player,” Kerr said to the AP. “Sometimes the shots don’t go in. Sometimes things don’t go your way. Steph will bounce back. He’s a great player. We’ll help him. We’ll try to see if we can get him into a better groove. But he’ll be fine.”
Looking at the trends, tonight’s game is all-important; when NBA Finals have been tied at one game apiece, the winner of Game 3 goes onto take the series 81% of the time. Fortunately for Golden State, the team is 24-11 ATS in its last 35 games following a SU loss; they are also 11-5 ATS in their last 16 road games against teams with a winning home record, and 4-0 ATS in their last four playoff games as underdogs of 0.5-4.5 points.
The Cavaliers, meanwhile, are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games following an ATS win and 0-5 ATS in their last five playoff games as a favorite of 0.5-4.5 points.
Pick: Warriors +1.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) “Stephen Curry” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/]. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
