The impossible is happening, as the Cleveland Cavaliers take a 2-1 lead in the NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors, beating them 96-91 thanks to another huge performance by LeBron James and an equally massive night from the stunning Matthew Dellavedova.
The Warriors have been in the lead for only 22 minutes in this series, and were trailing the entire game in Cleveland. They fell behind by 20 points, but that was the signal for a massive comeback in the fourth quarter, in which they scored 36 points and got to within one point. However, some big shots from Dellavedova and James, some fantastic defensive stops including two steals by LeBron and the Warriors hitting shots too little too late gave the Cavaliers the lead.
James scored 40 points on 14-of-34 from the field, grabbing 12 rebounds, adding 8 assists, 4 steals and 2 blocks. He shot 10-of-12 from the line, doing a lot better with the pressure on him than earlier in the game as the Warriors played a game of 3’s and foul. Dellavedova played like he’s been in this situation before, scoring 20 points and doing his best to harass Stephen Curry.
After only 3 points in the first half Curry finally found his shot and confidence, finishing with 27. The big change for the Warriors came when David Lee finally came on, scoring 11 points (+17 during his 13 minutes) and gave the Cavaliers a lot of problems with his ability to attack the basket off the pick and roll, unlike Andrew Bogut and Draymond Green, who alongside Harrison Barnes (0 points, 0-of-8 from the field) have been hugely disappointing in this series.