NBA Finals 2015 Game 3: Cavaliers win a heart stopper, take 2-1 series lead

The NBA, in an effort to be more transparent, releases reviews of the calls made in the last two minutes of games. The idea is to give fans who might not be all too familiar with the rules a chance to find out whether the officials made the right decisions. In theory, these reports are helpful to clarify controversial calls by explaining why they were made.

SB Nation presents: How to construct an NBA champion

Dellavedova was unavailable to speak with the media following the Cavaliers’ 96-91 victory over the Warriors in Game 3, during which the second-year guard scored 20 points, had five rebounds and four assists in 39 minutes.

Cleveland leads the best-of-seven series, two games to one.

For the last three seasons, Curry had taken the most difficult shot in basketball and made it so efficient, deadly and aesthetically pleasing. It’s almost impossible for teams to stop. You can close out spot-up shooters and chase them through multiple screens because they can’t usually create their own shots. The ones who can usually go to the paint build their careers inside the three-point line. There’s years of solutions for those players.

What is incredibly difficult is stopping a player who can create shots for himself and others and shoot threes effectively regardless of how close the defender is and how many dribbles were taken. It’s the “1,000 ways to die” of basketball.

Take note, Cleveland beat writers: Cavaliers coach David Blatt read your negative stories, and he’s just waiting to rub them in your faces. From Chris Haynes of Cleveland.com:

On one hand, no one could have seen the feisty, hard-to-spell little Australian being such a catalyst of the shorthanded Cavs’ 2-1 series lead. On the other hand, Blatt didn’t have much option but to lean on Dellavedova when Kyrie Irving was out in March, and he doesn’t have much choice now with Irving out again ... and that lack of choice has paid off immensely. Dellavedova’s been a nightmare for the Warriors backcourt, he hit one of the biggest shots of Game 3, and he’s probably going to injure someone by the time this is over. Real impact.

The beauty of Matthew Dellavedova’s last name isn’t just that it takes practice to spell and pronounce -- it’s that with all those syllables, swappable vowels, and near-homophones, there are endless ways to misspell and mispronounce it. Here are 50 of the seemingly infinite examples:

Belladova

Lee couldn’t lead Golden State to victory, but his performance was a potential revelation for the team. The veteran forward barely played during the postseason run, taking on the role of $15 million benchwarmer until his 11-point, four-rebound effort Tuesday. Lee doing that while playing just 13 minutes was a sign that Cleveland not only didn’t plan for his appearance, but that the Cavaliers also didn’t seem to have any answers for his shrewd interior game. Lee, to his credit, looked ready for the moment despite not hearing his name called by Kerr prior to Game 3.

“We’ve talked all season about this -- my job as a pro is to be ready,” Lee said after the game. “I have confidence in myself. My teammates have confidence in me, and my job is to be ready when my number’s called.”

It’s one thing to nail someone with an uncalled illegal screen as Draymond Green does at the beginning of this play. (He was clearly moving). It’s another to respond like Matthew Dellavedova does. Retaliation does not mean ducking your head into Green’s knees. That’s not a basketball play. That’s why Dellavedova has a reputation for being dirty.

(Credit to @Marco_Romo for noticing this.)

Remember, we did name this our four biggest keys to the NBA Finals.

MASHUP!

LeBron is a player for the modern age. We can debate his standing among the all-time greats from now to the end of eternity, but websites like Synergy have helped us understand his impact on a more thorough level than the folklore that defined the greats of previous generations. It’s through sites like Synergy that we came to appreciate and codify LeBron’s efficiency as a basketball player, which has been a hallmark of his run this decade. These Finals have been about many things, but efficiency ain’t one of them.

James took 34 shots in Game 3 and missed 20 of them. That’s roughly in line with the rest of his shooting performances this series. Through three games, he’s attempted 106 shots and made only 43 of them. Truth be told, he doesn’t like playing like this. Volume shooting has never been his thing. His career has been based on making the right basketball plays and not resorting to the kind of isolation hero-ball that was once held in such high regard.

LeBron James has, of course, been completely dominating the NBA Finals. But what you may not have realized is that his performance through the first three games of this series has been historic:

James is doing more than just scoring. He’s had a hand in the vast majority of Cleveland’s offense, scoring, assisting on or creating nearly 70 percent of Cleveland’s points:

Perfect. We also would have accepted this commercial of bunnies at a carnival:

As he did in Game 3, Dellavedova also made life difficult for Curry. The league MVP finished with 27 points, but 17 of those came in the fourth quarter when the lead was already too large. He led a valiant comeback effort, but it all came too late. Curry also turned the ball over six times.

But then Dellavedova hit a circus shot, while getting fouled, to push the lead back up to four, and he also forced a couple of Curry turnovers. A couple minutes later, Cavaliers fans began chanting his name. Curry hit some miracle heaves to keep the Warriors alive, one of which got the lead down to three with 18.8 seconds left, but it all came too late. James hit two more free throws to get the lead back up two five with 16.8 seconds left. Cleveland is now two wins away from its first ever NBA title.

First, there was this shot and the harm.

He followed that up by securing the Cavs’ possession and clutch turnover, surviving the bottom of a scrum.

This was one of those times.

Nothing. Nothing. NOTHING is going right for the Warriors in Game 3.

All he had to do was let go a half-second earlier. Brutal.

LeBron James had hit a layup. The ball had passed through the rim and was falling to the ground. There was nothing any of the Warriors could do to stop it: if they knocked it out, they would be called for goaltending and the basket would still count. All the Cavs had to do was let gravity do its work. Tristan Thompson did not:

For a basket to count, the rulebook says the ball has to pass through the rim. We’ve seen players dunk the ball through the rim, only to have it bounce out of their own head as they pass under the rim. But I genuinely can’t recall a player knocking a teammate’s shot through the net and back out for a basket interference call.

LeBron James looks a lot shorter... and less muscular... and he’s got, um, a different skin tone:

SB Nation presents: LeBron is carrying a team of spare parts yet again

Iman Shumpert exited for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first quarter of Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors with an injured left shoulder. Shumpert fought through the same injury earlier this season. Shumpert went to the locker room and returned with about five minutes left in the second quarter.

Here’s a look at the play:

Just to remind you that sometimes Nike ads can be really, REALLY amazing. You know what else was cool about this terrific intro that ABC didn’t broadcast? FLAMING SCOREBOARD:

Glad no one watching at home got to see any of that. Cool. Cool.

Good luck stopping that, Golden State. LeBron will be here all night.

Two of the most important athletes in Cleveland sports history are in the same place tonight.

That was an awesome moment. It turns out Brown appreciated it, too, as he called it one of his “favorite sports moments of all time.”