National Basketball Association

NBA playoffs: Curry, Warriors rally from 20 down for 3-0 lead

Published Apr. 24, 2015 2:59 a.m. ET

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Best game: Warriors 123, Pelicans 119 (OT)

Dick Wolf is going to write an "SVU" episode about what the Warriors did to the Pelicans on Thursday. That was a flat-out abduction.

The Pels were up 20 in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were shooting under 40 percent from the field. Dubs not named Stephen Curry or Klay Thompson had combined for exactly zero 3-pointers.

A Pelicans victory seemed inevitable. But the Warriors outscored New Orleans 39-19 in the fourth, capped with Curry's late three — he finished with 40.

Why the Pelicans didn’t foul up three with less than 10 seconds left in regulation is confusing.

Why they ran risky out-of-bounds play after risky out-of-bounds play, lucking out of not one but two turnovers in the final minutes of the fourth is confusing.

Why their crunch-time offense got away from Anthony Davis, who finished with 29 points and 15 boards, confusing. Why they took 10 seconds to foul Curry when they were down three with the shot clock turned off in OT, confusing. But each of those things has been a theme in the Big Easy all year.

Condolences, Pels fans. The 67-win Warriors have gotten the better of pretty much everyone this season. If anyone is coming back from 20 down to seize a playoff win and take a 3-0 series lead, it's the top-seeded Warriors.

Best putback: Anthony Davis, New Orleans

Where is that elbow? How does he get so high? Seriously, someone make sure Davis doesn’t hit his head on the Jumbotron.

Best Kobe game: Ryan Anderson, New Orleans

Yes, you read that right. Is Ryan Anderson the next Kobe Bryant? Probably not, but ...

Anderson was hitting everything imaginable off the bench for the Pels, finishing the disappointing loss 10 of 14 for 26 points, his highest total since Dec. 16. Not bad for a guy who had a down year and shot only 2 for 11 over the first two games of this series.

Anderson wasn’t just making easy shots, either. These weren’t your typical “Look, Ryan Anderson is open in the corner for an unguarded 3.” They were ... well, they were Kobe shots. That’s right. Kobe shots!

See that? See Draymond Green, the man who finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, guarding him? See the move? See the lunge in and then fade away? It only took until Anderson’s seventh NBA season for him to turn into Mamba. Better late than never.

Best showing from an undervalued commodity: Avery Bradley, Boston

When the Celtics signed Bradley to a four-year, $32 million deal this past summer, it turned some heads. The Boston 2-guard had been an inconsistent shooter in his career, even if he was becoming one of the best perimeter pests in the league. But Bradley has justified that contract, and did so even further Thursday night when he magnificently defended Kyrie Irving for much of the Celtics' 103-95 Game 3 loss, which gave the Cavaliers a convincing 3-0 series lead.

Beware, NBA. Be very ware.

Bradley is good; not effective enough ever to be anything close to a No. 1 option, but certainly impressive enough for to start talking about him as one of the best role players in the league.

Best impression of a character from a Tim Allen movie: Kelly Olynyk, Boston

If the Hawks were playing Thursday, DeMarre Carroll's triceratops-inspired haircut might put him over the top. Everyone and their mother knows he looks exactly like Alan Rickman in "Galaxy Quest."

So, this comes down to two men. We'll give second place to Houston's James Harden for his striking resemblance to Allen's version of Santa Claus. But first place has been locked up since Olynyk was 12 years old. Can't you easily picture Olynyk blowing darts just like Mimi Siku from the all-time Oscar-snub "Jungle 2 Jungle?"

Oh my gosh, I just remembered Leelee Sobieski was a thing.

The truest NBA doppelgänger: Kelly Olynyk and Mimi Siku from Jungle 2 Jungle. pic.twitter.com/aI7KrHwl5q
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) April 22, 2015

Best impression of a bad player done by a good player: Kyrie Irving, Cleveland

It didn't matter much by the end, but Irving looked slightly off in Game 3 against the Celtics. Everything was a little tamer than we're used to seeing (H/T to Avery Bradley).

His face was glazed over. He barely put up shots, posting only 11 field-goal attempts and making just three. When he did go to the hoop, he didn't fly or glide like the Kyrie we know and love. He meandered enough for arguably the best layup artist in the world to get stuffed by Brandon Bass once.

Kyrie finished with just 13 points in the win. A poor shooting performance means nothing for the future. It's only one game. It was just weird to watch.

Then again, he also did this in the fourth quarter, so I'll shut up now:

Best impression of J.R. Smith: J.R. Smith, Cleveland

It's nearing the end of the third quarter. The Celtics are still somehow playing so hard that they're managing to linger around the Cavs. Cleveland needs a big shot, maybe a couple of them. So, who's the No. 1 guy coach David Blatt can absolutely guarantee won't be afraid to chuck up something chaotic and watch it go in on a night when Kyrie isn't hitting his shots? Obviously, it's the man whose inevitable autobiography will be named "I Thought That Was Going In."

In the final 2:30 of the third period, Smith hit a couple of long jumpers, one an undesirable long two-pointer (of course) and the other a contested 3 (of course) to put the Cavs up eight. We toast to you, J.R. Keep doing what you do.

Best windmill: LeBron James, Cleveland

Duh ...

LeBron finished with 31 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four steals. Let's enjoy this one for now:

Best block of a freak: Jimmy Butler, Chicago

Butler didn’t just block a freak. He blocked the freak. The Greek one. Welcome to the playoffs, Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Best run: Chicago Bulls

Talk about verve. The Bulls were trailing by 18 in a road playoff game and somehow built back from that to earn a 113-106, double-overtime victory, taking a 3-0 series lead over the Bucks. Down 49-31 in the second quarter, Chicago spurred an 18-2 run, eventually taking the lead on a third-quarter Mike Dunleavy 3. The Bulls can thank one guy in particular for helping them get to such a spot ...

Best appropriate-for-the-situation, punny Shakespeare quote: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Sorry, Kevin Love, your 23 points and six 3-pointers weren’t enough to get “Speak low if you speak love” in this one. Whenever Chicago's Derrick Rose has a big game — especially in the playoffs — he’s getting all the Shakespeare puns thrown his way. Don’t you know anything about basketball?

After dominating Game 1 against the Bucks and posting a quieter Game 2 performance, Rose was back to his commanding ways in Game 3. There are few things more mass-text worthy in today’s NBA world than brilliant Rose entertainment. Thursday, we got one.

Rose finished with 34 points and eight assists, playing more minutes (48) than he had in a single game since the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, dissecting the Bucks' No. 2-ranked defense not with his patented, crazy layups, but with jumpers. He splashed five 3's. He hit a few more shots outside the paint. And he did it all while helping Chicago remain unbeaten in these playoffs.

Best surprising vacation destination: Milwaukee

I just assume Milwaukee is a great vacation town, because otherwise, why would this many people from Chicago be in that city?

Sure, Milwaukee is only an hour-and-a-half from the Windy City — 30-plus minutes from Chicago's north suburbs — and Bulls fans love to support their team. But the crowd in the Bradley Center flashed far too much red for Bucks fans to have been comfortable. Actually, at one point, NBATV color commentator Grant Hill said this after a missed step-back jumper from Rose: “This place would’ve gone crazy if he made that.”

Maybe this wasn’t really a Bulls road game after all.

Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.