CLEVELAND: LeBron James is enough of a basketball historian to appreciate the monumental task facing the Cavaliers. No team has ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the NBA Finals. Perhaps just as daunting, the Cavs must win three in a row against the Golden State Warriors, a team that hasn’t lost three in a row since Nov. 20-23, 2013. They have played 284 games since then.
“For me as the leader of this team, we’ve just got to get one,” said James, whose streak of 25 consecutive playoff series with a road victory is now in jeopardy. “Let’s get one. We’ve already got to take a flight back home anyways, so we might as well come home with a win and play on our home floor again. Being a confident bunch, we feel like the chips have been stacked up against us all year anyway.”
For the first time in this series, the Splash Brothers have awakened. The Warriors made an NBA Finals record 17 3-pointers in Friday’s Game 4 victory, including 11 from Steph Curry and Klay Thompson.
Curry and Thompson have enjoyed plenty of open looks throughout this series, they just weren’t falling until Friday. The two shot 4-of-12 in Game 3 when the nearest defender was at least 4 feet away; they were 11-of-19 using the same parameters in Game 4.
“I don’t know that the shots were that much better than they’ve been, I just think they got going,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Sooner or later it’s going to happen. With guys like that, you can’t keep them down forever. … Law of averages took over.”
The Cavs could catch a break if the league punishes Warriors forward Draymond Green, who appeared to get away with a groin punch on James late in the game. After Green fell to the ground late in the game, James tried stepping over his head, but Green popped up quickly and the two got tangled up.
Replays showed Green punching James in the groin, but the officials didn’t see it. Green has a history of groin shots, including in this postseason when he kicked Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams between the legs on a baseline shot. That was upgraded from a flagrant-1 to a flagrant-2 by the league office.
If Green is assessed a flagrant-1, he will be suspended for Game 5. Another flagrant-2 would keep him out of Games 5 and 6 (if there is a Game 6). James, however, isn’t expecting the league to do anything. Green and James had to be separated during the incident, but it was because of Green’s words and not the punch.
“Draymond just said something that I don’t agree with,” James said. “I’m all cool with competition. I’m all fine with that, but some of the words that came out of his mouth was a little bit overboard.”
A Green suspension could change the Cavs’ lineup. As it is, coach Tyronn Lue might have another decision to make. He brought Kevin Love off the bench for Game 4 — the first time Love has been a reserve since the end of his second season. Lue could return Love to the starting lineup or leave him on the bench in favor of Richard Jefferson, who struggled against the Warriors in Game 4.
Regardless, Lue had a simple message for his players after Friday’s loss. All three of the Warriors’ victories have been by double figures.
“If you don’t think we can win, don’t get on the plane,” Lue told his players. “We’ve got to come back anyway, so we might as well come back and play. We’ve got to come back to Cleveland, don’t we?”
Indeed. Now the question is whether or not the Warriors are coming with them.
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.