As a lowly long suffering Golden State Warriors fan...

[Mr.Marion]

The Warriors gotta start taking better shots than they have been. This Cavs team isn't anything special. They should count their lucky stars Cavs aren't at full strength.

[MIB41]

This has been a fascinating series to watch because it seems to be measured more on sheer will than the usual measures one can apply to the sport. What a scrappy player Dellavedova is! What freaking heart! If EVER there was an underdog, this guy is it. And it contrasts so much against the cockiness of Curry who seems to heave these unorthodox three pointers almost without looking. It's such a remarkable contrast in style and fortitude. Throw out the MVP awards, the stats of who the best team is suppose to be and just look at the heart. Who wants this more? Right now the Cavs want it bad. When you have an athlete going to hospital for exhaustion and to be rehydrated, that's a statement.

[Marvelmania]

Not that the Cavs aren't extremely talented but there's an old saying, "Hard work beats talent".

[starsky]

yeah, right now cleveland's wants it more!

[TrekStar]

Don't you mean right now LaBron wants it more, because it's pretty much LaBron vs Golden State,
and just seems like yesterday Cavs fans were burning his jersey for leaving to go to Miami.

[Hector]

Exactly, lol.

But basketball is that one team sport where a superstar of LeBron's caliber can make all the difference in the world, and it's showing. Without LeBron, the Warriors easily win the series...but now...Curry better get going...or else...the Cavs will take this...and my long suffering with these Warriors will continue yet another year, lol.

[hedrap]

Delly plays this way because he didn't grow up friends with these guys. Current American NBA players have known each other since kids travel league. The Euro players don't have the vested friendship, which makes them play more aggressive.

The problem for Warriors is Draymond. This guy was all hype months ago. He's not a solid third option as he survives off of Barnes drawing defenders away to helpside. He's also a massive cheapshot artist and that only works against teams with no clout. For GState to win, Barnes has to go for at least fifteen a game which then makes it hard to stay on Splash. Houston and Memphis collapsed when someone would get caught splitting defensive positions. Right now, Cavs don't get caught as Barnes can't score on James, so Harrison keeps waiting for Splash to explode and force a switch. That puts too much pressure on Klay, whose way out of his depth, and Draymond who has no half-court game but a set three.

From the start I was hoping Kerr's bias against David Lee would remain, cause Lee is a real matchup problem for Cavs. He's a way better shooter than Tristan, as solid a rebounder, and a true post-player that can pick-n-roll or pop. Put him in a pick with Steph and make Tristan/Delly switch as Delly's not fast enough to go over the screen. That opens several options. Lee should be the five, which gets Mozgov off the court. LeBron has a history of taking bad shots against a zone, so that's a second-half option.

If Love and Irving were playing, this would be over in five. The full team crushed GState in Cleveland back in January. Warriors have no answer for Love. Only team Cavs couldn't match against were a healthy Rockets.

Exhaustion should end the Cavs, but Blatt hasn't even played Marion who can guard any of the Warrior bench players.

[Hector]

Good post ^^^

Lee thankfully will get a lot more minutes now.

The only thing I disagree with you is on Love...the dude's defense is weak...I fear Tristan a lot more. However...Love can really shoot 3s...so perhaps you indeed finally wind up being right anyway, ha.

The Warriors chance is to take it to seven games...as you mentioned...the undermanned Cavs team will be exhausted by then...if it goes seven...and at Oakland...the Warriors will win. But on the other hand...the Cavs could finish them off in five or six..it all depends on the duration of the series.

[Hector]

Cavs destroying the Warriors at home during the regular season means little though...Warriors beat them at home too...so they split. I don't take much from Love with just only one game. Hey, the Warriors won 67 games, you can't win them all, you know, lol.

[hedrap]

LeBron purposely sat out that game in Oakland. In fact, Cavs didn't run their full team against tops teams until they saw they could win the conference and the two seed. That's what was freaky about Houston as the Cavs played full team and get smashed both times. Howard destroyed Mozgov cause Dwight's agile...which is the one type of player GState does not have in a 4 or 5.

Thank Pop for starting that sitting trend.

Love was a problem cause he kept Green away from the glass, which opened up the lanes. Crazy as it sounds, Warriors would have been better off with Kyrie active as he and LeBron want to run, and that plays right into Warriors hands. It's ironic that every team GState has faced lost their main point guard.

You're right about The Spurs. Warriors would have folded and Cavs would have been in huge trouble without Love. NBA junkies are the only people who realize how crazy that last month was, with spots 2-6 literally flipping twice, (Spurs def Rockets, Pelicans def Spurs). Pop blew that last game and it cost them everything.

[Hector]

Yeah...glad the Spurs messed up...lucky for the Warriors.

[Hector]

...and ironically, the Warriors owned the Rockets...8-1 both regular and playoffs...funny how it's all about individual team match ups.

[Hector]

We can talk about this and that...but if Curry lights it up...Warriors should be in good position.

[MIB41]

Its hard to know what Curry will bring to game 4 because his shooting streaks are erratic. He was lights out in game one but didn't find his shot again until the fourth quarter of game 3. I don't think you solely game plan around that. It's pretty obvious they have also tried to use Curry as a decoy to stage open shots for others, but production from those players have been weak. And clearly the Cavs will continue to work on Curry like they did after game one. To me it's been all about defense and knowing how to keep the right matchups on certain players. Tonight's game is pivotal to who really walked away with the mental advantage from Game 3. Sure the Cavs won it, but they nearly gave it away with a huge choke so that has to be in their heads as much as it is the Warriors.

[hedrap]

Cavs don't choke, they just don't have any other scorers without Love or Kyrie. The usual procedure was to let let Love start off because he was instant hot. Some games he had fourteen in the first. That would let LeBron find his groove and let Kyrie go in spurts. But without Love, they've gone through nine minute droughts almost every playoff game. Celts, Bulls and Hawks each had big comebacks, which is what's really surprising about GState; going cold against them is usually death.

When it happens tonight, cause it will, I think Kerr will be ready for it and go into full fast break mode. Warriors have the player depth to run, especially if Delly has been in the hospital for dehydration.