Cleveland: Feeling a new sense of urgency after falling behind in the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors are seeking a solution to Cleveland’s defensive success against the NBA’s most prolific scorers.
The Cavaliers silenced NBA Most Valuable Player Steph Curry most of the night in a 96-91 victory Tuesday that gave the hosts a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven series with game four Thursday in Cleveland.
“There’s a sense of urgency now. It’s the NBA Finals. We can’t let any quarters, any possessions, go as we try to win three more games,” Curry said.
“We can take our intensity to another level. That’s what we have to do. We’ve got to be more aggressive with our offensive game, more assertive.”
Curry scored 17 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, hitting seven 3-pointers as the Warriors trimmed a 20-point deficit to a single point. But Golden State never led and even Curry finding his rhythm was not enough to keep the NBA’s winningest club from falling to LeBron James and company.
“I was pleased with the way we responded when we got down and I’m very confident we’ll play better in game four,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr.
But Kerr was concerned his club, which has no players with any prior NBA Finals experience, could stumble so badly at the start.
“I didn’t like our energy. I didn’t like our body language for most of that first three quarters,” Kerr said.
“This is what we have to fight through. You have got to bring energy. You’ve got to bring life. You’ve got to bring some emotion.
“When the shots go in it’s easier to do that but you’ve got to do that when the shots aren’t going in. We can’t get our heads down. That’s why I was pleased with the comeback, because we looked more like ourselves. It’s the finals. There’s a lot at stake so we’ve got to compete every second.”
To Curry the answer is simple, be aggressive in shooting from the start and stay that way.
“We became the aggressors,” Curry said. “For us to win this series, we have to play that way the whole game. So no excuse why for three quarters we couldn’t get any spark.
“Whether I’m making shots or not, I’ve got to stay — I’ll use the word vibrant — just kind of having fun out there because the team definitely feeds off of my energy and the joy for the game. This is going to be a hard-fought series and I’ve got to have a huge part in it.”
Klay Thompson was confident as well, saying “If we get our offence back, which we will, we’re going to win this series.”
Kerr says he could see Curry go quiet after making Golden State’s first basket and no more until the middle of the third quarter.
“Steph never loses confidence. I just thought he lost a little energy and life,” Kerr said.
“We just need life from everybody. We need emotion from everybody. He’s not a really emotional player. But we’ve got to fight through the down periods. We got around to that but we’ve got to do it for 48 (minutes).”
For Andre Iguodala, who provided a lift off the bench, it was about finding a flow to the game.
“We just couldn’t find our rhythm,” he said. “We had small spurts where it seemed to be going for us, but it was a little too late.”
“Every game is a sense of urgency. You’ve got to take every possession like it’s your last. I feel like that’s the energy that Cleveland’s playing with. They have some veteran leadership. With us being here for the first time, we’ve taken a few jabs, but I feel like we’ll wake up and get there.”
—AFP
