Stack up the odds, Cleveland conquers them.
James, though, wouldn't concede the Cavs have the Warriors right where they want them. Over the past three years since James returned from Miami, the Cavs have handled injuries, constant scrutiny, drama - much of it self-inflicted- and even a midseason coaching change.
If Thompson has figured it out, the Cleveland Cavaliers have a better chance at outscoring the Warriors. Kyrie Irving said he was aware the Warriors wanted to finish a 16-0 romp through the postseason and celebrate a title on the Cavaliers' court, just as they did in 2015.
On Friday night, the Cavs turned anger over some comments made by Golden State's motor-mouthed forward Draymond Green into energy and their best performance this season.
"We have a golden opportunity going home on Monday to close this thing out".
James, in his seventh consecutive finals, has won at least one road game in 29 consecutive playoff series, but for the streak to continue, the Cavs must win Monday.
"People say I'm demoralizing, huh?" "We've just got some resilient guys".
The bottom line is that Cleveland has gotten these Finals to 3-1, a familiar situation that must give them a little comfort.
Irving scored 40 points in the Game 5 win at Golden State a year ago, hit the tiebreaking 3-pointer in the final minute of Game 7 and scored 40 more on Friday, raising his average in those elimination games to 32.5 points per game.
In the 2017 National Basketball Association playoffs, Thompson has averaged 9.1 rebounds per game (4.0 offensive rebounds) in 13 wins compared to 6.0 rebounds per game (3.3 offensive rebounds) in 4 losses. "We knew what we were faced with (being down 3-0)".
Four people killed after explosions at Kabul funeral
The attack mounted additional pressure on President Ashraf Ghani's government over its inability to ensure security in Kabul . Residents are still reeling from the aftermath of the huge suicide attack which killed over 90 people earlier this week.
"No", he said. "They got us where they want us". At this point I'm not mad or anything, but I'm just saying at this point in The Finals, I'm trying to stay where we are.
Hitting back on Friday, Warriors head coach Kerr is exhausted of the claims.
But Curry shakes off similarities to past year, in part after adding Durant, who came from Oklahoma City last July in hopes of winning his first career title.
Maybe Game 4 was as good as it gets against a defensive team as good as the Warriors. "But we'll go back and tee it up again". He missed a combined six games - and parts of two others - in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and upon returning had both moments of brilliance (his 40-point performance in an overtime win in Portland in his first game back in the second round, his 38-point performance in Game 4 of last year's Finals against Cleveland) and moments where he just didn't seem to have the same burst he did during his brilliant regular season (when he was unable to drive past Kevin Love in the final minute of Game 7 against the Cavaliers). This helped them score points off fouls by the Warriors as the referees showed some lenience towards the home team.
"I can't foresee them coming to Oracle and hitting 24 3s", Green said.
Jefferson said cavaliers had one goal going into the season and that is winning the championship and failing to win it, will make their season unsuccessful. But they have to do it four straight times to keep the crown that they brought home from California last June.
If the Thunder held on to their 3-1 lead in last year's conference finals against the Warriors, then Durant probably isn't wearing a Golden State uniform.
But they didn't have Green then and they have Kevin Durant now, two reasons why the Warriors believe they will finish the job this time.
If you had said before these Finals that Stephen Curry would have more rebounds than Tristan Thompson through three games, it would have been a good indication that the Cavs were getting slaughtered.
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