OAKLAND, CA - MAY 30: Stephen Curry #30 of the Golden State Warriors reacts in the third quarter of Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at ORACLE Arena on May 30, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers will host the Golden State Warriors on Friday night for Game 4 of the NBA Finals, and here’s everything you need to know about this crucial matchup.
This has been a sad, sad series for the Cleveland Cavaliers. After losing to the Warriors during Game 3 at home 110-102, Golden State leads the NBA Finals 3-0 and are on the verge of sweeping LeBron James and the 12 other players he’s carried on his back up to this point. LeBron has been amazing throughout this entire postseason, putting up ridiculous numbers while almost literally being the entire Cavaliers team. But while this more or less worked as Cleveland trudged their way through the Eastern Conference Playoffs, the same cannot be said for this series against the Warriors, because Golden State is just too good.
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The Dubs seem to be the polar opposite of the Cavs in the sense that they are so star-studded that even when two of their best players have off games, they still have at least one other guy to pick up the slack. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson were both awful for most of Game 3, but Kevin Durant had a masterful performance of 43 points, 13 rebounds, and 7 assists while shooting 65.2% (6-9 from 3-point range. Even with Curry and Thompson faltering, the Warriors still had someone to go to. However, if LeBron has a bad game, the Cavaliers have no chance whatsoever. They cannot do a thing on the court if LeBron is underperforming, which makes this all the more disappointing for The King. He’s the best player in the world, but the rest of his team is so mediocre that they cannot do a thing on basketball’s biggest stage without him.
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This being the case, LeBron is going to be fighting his heart in Game 4, doing everything he can to keep the Cavs’ season afloat. No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win the NBA Finals, and this year’s Cavaliers don’t look like they’ll be the first to do it judging by how this series has gone so far, but you can never count out LeBron. Sweeps are also incredibly difficult, as there have only been 8 Finals sweeps since 1950, so it’s not unreasonable to see the Cavs take this game home. However, the Warriors are just so good that normal basketball logic doesn’t necessarily apply to them, so there are plenty of things up in the air right now.
You can see whether or not the Warriors can complete their sweep of the Cavaliers tonight at 9:00 pm EST on ABC.
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