CLEVELAND - The Warriors beat the Cavaliers in December, in January, in May and clobbered them in June. With a 4-0 record this season, and an average win margin of 11 points, the Warriors know and feel they are the better team.
They probably know that they’ve taken down Cleveland in nine of the last 10 games, suggesting the owner of the Cavaliers is not Dan Gilbert but the Warriors.
The Warriors also realize nothing they’ve done in the past, including their 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven NBA Finals, will matter Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena, where they face the Cavaliers in Game 3.
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“We understand how hard it is to win in this building,” Stephen Curry said Tuesday, before a light practice.
“They play better at home,” Shaun Livingston said. “They shoot better at home.”
The Cavs this postseason are 4-7 on the road and 8-1 at home. They’re averaging 98.7 points per game on the road, 105.8 at home. They’re shooting 44.2 percent overall and 31.0 percent from deep on the road, 47.7/37.0 at home.
Cleveland clearly gets a lift from the 20,000 crazies that fill “The Q,” and both players and fans surely know Game 3 is the last chance to make this a series.
Golden State Warriors
“I always believe the role players play much better at home than they do on the road,” LeBron James said. “They feed off the crowd. They feed off the familiarity with not only being home but also being on their home floor, having their own locker and things of that nature.
“That's definitely helped us out a lot throughout this postseason thus far. Pretty much in the postseason since I returned a few years ago.”
With the Warriors sweeping the two-game regular-season series and winning the first two games of this series, they must rely on memories of Game 4 of the 2017 Finals to get a feel for how good the Cavs can be when they find rhythm on offense.
Shooting 53.3 percent (24-of-45) from deep last June 9 at the Q, the Cavs rolled to a 137-116 rout. The Warriors responded with a 129-120 win in Game 5 to take the series, but Cleveland’s Game 4 outburst allowed it to avoid a sweep.
“They made a ton of 3s,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr recalled. “I think they shot maybe 28 free throws in the first half. I might be wrong on that. (It was actually 26) So they brought the force that game. We fouled a lot, and we were not at our best. So we remember all that stuff. We've got to be better.”
They’ll have to overcome the human nature element that comes with a 2-0 lead. The Warriors know they can’t be careless, but they also know they have a cushion.
“I don't really think about being up 2-0 because the series could turn so fast,” Kevin Durant said. “It's a great position to be in. I don't want to take that for granted; don't get me wrong. But the job is not done, and you can't relax or be comfortable when you're still trying to win this thing.”
If the Warriors are better, as Kerr says, and if they avoid feeling comfortable with what they’ve been able to do against Cleveland, it almost certainly will be good enough to take Game 3.
There is, after all, one factor working against the Cavs and it’s massive. In the only victory they have over the Warriors in the last 10 meetings, Game 4 last June, they got 40 points from Kyrie Irving.
Two months later, they traded him.
| Game | Result/Schedule |
|---|---|
| Game 1 | Warriors 124, Cavs 114 (OT) |
| Game 2 | Warriors 122, Cavs 103 |
| Game 3 | Cleveland -- Wednesday, June 6 at 6pm |
| Game 4 | Cleveland -- Friday, June 8 at 6pm |
| Game 5 | Oakland -- Monday, June 11 at 6pm |
| Game 6 | Cleveland -- Thursday, June 14 at 6pm |
| Game 7 | Oakland -- Sunday, June 17 at 5pm |