Steph Curry and the Warriors put together one of the best regular seasons in NBA history this year. And while they’ve run into some adversity during the NBA Playoffs—they fell behind the Thunder 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals before rebounding to win three straight games to advance to the NBA Finals—they’ve proven to be one of the best teams that most people have ever seen. So what in the world happened to Curry & Co. on Wednesday night?
After winning Game 1 and Game 2 of their Finals series with the Cavaliers decisively, Golden State laid an egg in Game 3. They fell behind by 20 points in the first quarter, and though they were able to cut the deficit to single digits before halftime, they eventually lost 120-90 and put on one of their worst performances of the entire season in the process.
The Warriors allowed Kyrie Irving, who finished the game with 30 points, to catch fire in the first half:
They let J.R. Smith find his shot and score 20 points following dismal performances in the first two games of the Finals:
They had no answer for LeBron James, who scored 32 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out 6 assists, and threw down one of the most impressive alley-oop dunks of the entire postseason:
And they just never seemed to get going. Curry, in particular, struggled to score. He scored just two points in the first half before finishing the game with 19 and was criticized on social media for not playing like a unanimous MVP:
After the game, the Warriors attempted to make sense of it all. Curry said he needs to play “100 times better” than he did for Golden State to have a chance to win games:
Draymond Green said he didn’t think the Warriors came prepared to play:
Harrison Barnes said the team didn’t play with enough “urgency”:
And Golden State head coach Steve Kerr was very blunt in his assessment of his team’s performance. He said the Warriors played “extremely soft” from the start of the game:
LeBron also talked about how the Cavaliers were able to have a "short mind" and respond to going down 0-2 in the Finals:
LeBron James explains how the Cavs were able to bounce back from the losses in Game 1 & 2. https://t.co/HcGZfdUnH8
Game 4 of the Finals will take place on Friday night in Cleveland. After blowouts in Games 1, 2, and 3, are any of these Finals games actually going to be competitive?
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.
