Monday night the Golden State Warriors completed their third 4 game sweep of this post season, thus becoming the first team in NBA history to start out the playoffs 12 and 0. Golden States’ latest victory a 129-115 win over San Antonio, which was by no means a surprise. as a matter of fact, the Warriors were heavily favored going into this series. That factor combined with injuries to Spurs point guard Tony Parker and their leading scorer Kawhi Leonard pretty much wrapped up the series in a nice neat package for Golden State.
Steph Curry led the way with his 36 points and in 33 minutes of playing time (he also dished 6 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds), Kevin Durant added 29 points and grabbed 12 boards while getting pretty good numbers from Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Ian Clark who came off the bench to score 12 points. Golden State shot 56 percent from the floor and jumped out to a 12 point lead in the first quarter and really never looked back the lead was 14 points at the half and by the end of the third quarter, the Warriors were only 4 points shy of the century mark. to make matters worse for the Spurs, the Warriors shot 39 three-pointers and sank 14 of them for 42 points. San Antonio missing veteran point guard Tony Parker and leading scorer Kawhi Leonard ( Both out with leg injuries) did not have the horses to run with the thoroughbreds of Golden State.The Spurs did have a couple of bright spots in the loss, young stars Kyle Anderson had 20 points and Jonathon Simmons added 13. Wiley veteran Manu Ginobili had 15 points in his first start of the postseason, in a game that many people are anticipating were his last. The 18-year veteran has not indicated that he is retiring, but at the age of 39, many expect he will call it quits soon.
As for the Warriors, they are obviously on a roll advancing through the postseason without a loss and sweeping Portland, Utah and now San Antonio. Steph Curry is on fire averaging 28 points per game in the playoffs, not to mention 5 rebounds and four assists. Golden State as a team is averaging 118 points a game and does not appear to be slowing down and now the Warriors will get a little time to rest up for the NBA Finals as they await the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers who are led by Lebron James and his playoff average 32 points per game are averaging 115 points per contest as a team. Cleveland appeared to be on their way to 12 straight wins in the postseason, But the Boston Celtics had other ideas. King James and his Cavs started off their Eastern Conference Finals Series with Boston winning the first two games in Beantown, as a matter of fact, the Cavaliers beat the Celtics in game two by a record margin of 44 points. Many thought the Celtics were done for the series because in that same game they lost their leading scorer Isaiah Thomas to a hip injury. But as the series moved to Cleveland, Boston should life and also let the Cavaliers know they were not going down without a fight. The Celtics won by three points, giving the Celtics only their second win in the seven head to head meetings these two teams have had all season.
Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals is tonight and I think that Cleveland has taken note that Boston, Despite missing their leading scorer is not a team to be taken for granted.The Celtics have a guaranteed at least one more game will be played back in Boston and if they can win tonight that number would increase to two. I think the Cavaliers are now on high alert and will win the next two games and head into the NBA Finals. So I ask you was the loss in game three a good thing for the Cavs?
Trevin A Jones
Follow me on Twitter: @UMTSportsreport
Reach out with questions or comments at [email protected]
