National Basketball Association

Cavs inch closer to history with Game 3 win vs. Warriors

Published Jun. 10, 2015 1:04 a.m. ET

foxsports

The Golden State Warriors started making shots, finally, and the Quicken Loans Arena crowd that had been piercingly loud with the home team up 20 grew a little quieter, gradually, as the Warriors chipped and chipped at that lead.

It got just about to the point where the TV network rolls the Cleveland sports misery montage.

It's understandable that the arena went a little quiet, that mouths got dry and nerves ran high and no one really exhaled until LeBron James pumped his fist in the final five seconds of the Cavs' 96-91 victory Tuesday night.

James did that last game, too. He has 123 points in three NBA Finals games. According to something called Synergy Sports, James has scored, assisted, or created 200 of the Cavaliers' 291 points through the first three games of this series.

The Cavs lead the NBA Finals 2-1.

Cleveland can taste its first major sports title since 1964.

It's certainly not over yet, and the Golden State comeback Tuesday was a reminder of that. But the Cavs keep playing defense, keep getting loose balls, a second-year undrafted point guard named Matthew Dellavedova keeps making all sorts of plays and James seems to be in his own galaxy, even with the NBA's 2014-15 MVP on the other side.

The Cavs never trailed in Game 3. After the Warriors cut their deficit from 20 to one, Dellavedova made a circus shot in the lane and got fouled by that MVP, Stephen Curry. The crowd went nuts. The Cavs kept the lead.

James finished with 40 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Dellavedova had 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.

"Just trying to do whatever it takes to help our team win," James said.

Cleveland can taste it. There have been signs that it might be coming.

In Tuesday night's first quarter, the Warriors ran a set for Curry out of a timeout. He got an open shot but missed. Shortly thereafter, James was dunking with one hand and screaming at the other end. Throughout the game — at least for the first three quarters and then again in the final two minutes — the Cavs used their defense and hustle to create scoring chances, keep the crowd alive, keep the pressure on a Warriors team that's searching for some kind of offensive answer.

The Cavs, despite basically being down to seven guys, are playing championship-level defense on the team that's led the NBA in most major offensive categories since early in the season. They're getting the loose balls, the biggest shots, the strongest counter punches. Two nights after blowing an 11-point lead and allowing the Warriors to force overtime, the Cavs closed it out.

"It's just a group that is willing to play as hard as they can to win," Cavs coach David Blatt said. "When you do that, you can live with any consequence."

When you do that on this stage, you can taste it.

Before Tuesday's game, it sounded like the Cavs had turned up the in-arena music. James danced and rapped when he took the floor, and the crowd cheered loudly. When Dellavedova was shown on the Humungotron scoreboard screen, the cheers might have been louder. The fans were ready. The Cavs were ready.

"The fans were unbelievable," James said. "We fed off them."

Just after the starting lineups were announced, fans on both sides of the floor unfurled banners that covered almost the entire lower sections, baseline to baseline. They spoke to Cleveland's history. They both said: "There's always this year."

There's always this year.

Now, two wins away, Cleveland can taste it.