Cavs dominate Warriors to keep NBA Finals alive

The finals series, which the Warriors could clinch Friday night, is a second chance of sorts not only for Curry but for Under Armour.

Kyrie Irving scored 40 points and LeBron James added 31 as the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers spoiled Golden State's bid for a ideal playoff championship run on Friday, downing the Warriors 137-116 in the NBA Finals.

"If we win the championship, I'm like 99 percent sure we don't get him", Green said. "We shared the ball, we moved the ball and defensively we were physical".

The Cavs now have to go back to Oakland and play in what may be the toughest games of their careers.

The Cavs set scoring records in the first half and then held on during a wild third and fourth quarter that included technical fouls, James jawing with fellow superstar Kevin Durant and Cleveland's crowd roaring like a jet engine.

The Warriors won Game 3 earlier this week and have become the 13th team in NBA Finals history to take a 3-0 lead in the series. They too will come to play, Golden State is not thinking "it's okay, we can just win it at home next game".

As the final seconds ticked off, Cleveland fans chanted "Cavs in 7". Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combined for 27 points on eight-of-24 shooting, making six of their 19 three-point shots.

James finished with 31 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists and on one trip threw the ball off the backboard to himself for a dunk. Yes, Cavs can as they have some quality players like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. In Game 3 they fought back, made it close again, even took the lead themselves.

As the final seconds ticked off Friday, Cleveland fans chanted "Cavs in 7".

But Draymond Green said Golden State is eager to end this one back in the Bay.

Naturally, with all of this coming out, someone felt the need to ask Golden State Head Coach Steve Kerr what he thinks and well, his answer was blunt and ideal.

Later, Warriors center Zaza Pachulia was involved in a pileup of players and delivered two swipes to Iman Shumpert's groin area as the referees tried to get control.

"Their team was already kind of put together, and you just implement a guy that's ready to sacrifice, a great talent, a guy that's willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win", James said.

Facing the possibility of being dethroned by the Warriors on home court, LeBron James and his team-mates stormed out of the blocks to score 49 points in the first quarter and 86 in the opening half.

The Warriors didn't break the system.

He'll try to match that intensity in Game 4, but you can see that his body is hurting. The Cavs could at least momentarily stall Golden State's momentum, and keep their visitors' locker room dry, by breaking up the Warriors' ideal playoffs with a win Friday.

The Warriors could go 16-0 in the postseason.

The Warriors (67-15) are also hoping to redeem an NBA Finals collapse from last season, losing to the Cavaliers after building a 3-1 lead. Going 16-0 in the post-season and winning two championships in three years would cement this Warriors team as a "dynasty" spoken in same league as the 1990s Chicago Bulls, the 2000s Lakers and Spurs and the Celtics/Lakers teams of the 1980s.

"I didn't envision anything but just being around good people and getting better every single day", Durant said. And that was my barometer.

"It took a while for it to kind of reveal itself consistently as the regular season went on, but once it clicked and the habits started to become second nature, it was kind of handsome to watch and an awesome kind of style to play and watch unfold", Curry said.