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Cleveland Cavaliers: Thompson and Love’s efforts lead to Game 4 win

By Albert Dadson

May 21, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) reacts after a three-pointer during the first half against the Boston Celtics in game three of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
May 21, 2017; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love (0) reacts after a three-pointer during the first half against the Boston Celtics in game three of the Eastern conference finals of the NBA Playoffs at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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LeBron James didn’t have much of a supporting cast in the first three games but in Game 4 everything changed. With the enhanced efforts of Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson, the Cleveland Cavaliers were able to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were able to win Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Sunday 137-116. This time LeBron James had help with Kevin Love scoring 23, Kyrie Irving scoring 40, JR Smith scoring 15 and LeBron himself having a triple-double with 31 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists.

The Cleveland Cavaliers were able to score the most points in a quarter and in a half in NBA history. In the first quarter they scored 49 points, and for the first half, they scored 86 points. The other records that were broken were the most three-pointers in NBA Finals history and LeBron James’ triple-double in Game 4 game him nine triple-doubles in the Finals which was is the most for anybody in the finals. He passed Magic Johnson for the most all-time.

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Two players that stood out in the win were Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson. Those were two players that needed to impose their will on the Golden State Warriors for the Cavaliers to be able to at least win one game.

They did more than play well they stepped up to the challenge and left everything out there on the floor. Kevin Love went 6-8 from three, and he added five rebounds. The team was able to, as a whole, shoot 53.3 percent from the three-point line which is better than the Warriors 28.2 percent.

“We feel like there’s times throughout the series where we got consistent looks from the outside and maybe didn’t knock them down,” Kevin Love said. “We felt particularly the same thing in Game 3 here at home. But they’re great at defending both in the full court, fast break, and in the half court, whether it’s the paint or the three-point line. I mean, field goal percentage defense, I believe they’re first in the league. So you can’t overlook that.”

The Cavaliers knew they had to shoot and rebound better than the Warriors and they did just that. They made the shots that they weren’t making in Games 1-3. JR Smith hit a deep three-pointer in the middle of the second quarter that helped keep the Warriors at bay.

Tristan Thompson was a force on the boards. He had 10 rebounds and had an impressive five assists. For a big man that is a lot. He also had four personal fouls. That is notable because he led a more physical Cavaliers team. With six minutes into the game he had five rebounds and three were on the offensive end. Thompson helped set the tone in the beginning of the game and for the whole game.

“Talk all you want….you’re not about to punk us, s—t you’re not about to punk me,” said Tristan Thompson. “You’re not about to punk Tristan Thompson.”

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The Cavaliers knew that they had to be physical with the Warriors to make them feel them. With help from these two players the Cavaliers were able to score 137 points. The Warriors have not been able to score more than 120 points this series and the Cavaliers will have to score more than that to win every game this series if they want to be the first team to ever come back from a 3-0 lead.