The Cleveland Cavaliers trounce Golden State in Game 3 of the NBA Finals with an all Black starting lineup of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, JR Smith, Tristan Thompson and Richard Jefferson, who scored 32, 30, 20, 14 and nine points respectively....Game 4 is Friday night in Cleveland and tensions mount as to whether Jefferson will continue starting in place of Kevin Love....Greater Clevelander Charles E. Bibb Sr. says Love should rest and the current starting lineup, including Jefferson, should stay intact....By www.clevelandurbannews.com editor-in-chief Kathy Wray Coleman
 | ||||||
LeBron James (right) and Kyrie Irving of the Cleveland Cavaliers. Photo compliments of Getty Images
|
By Editor-in-Chief Kathy Wray Coleman, a-23-year journalist who trained at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio for 17 years, and who interviewed now President Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS
Kathy Wray Coleman is the most read reporter in Ohio on Google Plus. CLICK HERE TO GO TO GOOGLE PLUS WHERE KATHY WRAY COLEMAN HAS 2.7 MILLION READERS OR VIEWERS UNDER HER NAME AND IS OHIO'S MOST READ REPORTER ON GOOGLE PLUS alone
CLEVELAND URBAN
NEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio- Led
by an all Black starting lineup of megastar LeBron James, Kyrie
Irving, JR Smith, Tristan Thompson and Richard Jefferson, the
Cleveland Cavaliers trounced the Golden State Warriors, 120-90,
Wednesday night to win Game 3 of the NBA Finals. (Editor's note: Game
4 is Friday night at the Quickened Loans Arena in Cleveland,
Ohio).
The home turf victory brings the championship series to 2 and 1 and follows losses by Cleveland in games 1 and 2, the Warriors taking Game 1 by 15 points and Game 2 by 33 points.
The
Cavilers are 8-0 at home in the playoffs this year and 5-4 elsewhere.
They led in first quarter of Game 3 by as many as 20, and never
surrendered such lead.
James, Irving, Smith, Thompson and Jefferson finished with 32, 30, 20, 14 and nine points respectively, Jefferson, who had nine rebounds behind Thompson's 13 and James' 11, starting in lieu of Kevin Love, who left Game 2 with a head concussion.
Coming
in to Game 3 James said that it was "do or die."
He
said Wednesday night after the Cavs butchered the Warriors and won by
30 points that it was a team effort.
"My teammates did a great job of finding of finding me and I cannot do nothing without them," said James.
Irving
posted 16 of his 30 points in the first quarter and ended with four
rebounds and eight assists. He too agrees that on -court team
camaraderie is crucial.
"It
is a total team effort," said Irving. "We are going
against a good team in Golden State."
Cavs
head coach Tyronn Lue, who is Black, would not say if Love, whom
doctors kept out of Game 3, will return to the starting line-up for
the remainder of the series even if he is cleared to play. He
attributed his team's newly found success over the Warriors to
various factors.
A
key element, he said, was "being aggressive on both ends."
Absent from the discussion on whether Jefferson, who is Black, will take the starting forward position from Love, who is White, is race.
Reaction is mixed on which of the two talented players should proceed, though racial tension is seemingly mounting, some would argue.
"The starting line-up that won Game 3 by 30 points and included Richard Jefferson should remain and Kevin Love should take a break," said Cavs fan and former East Cleveland councilman Charles E. Bibb Sr, also president of the greater Cleveland Carnegie Roundtable.
And some of the Cavs, whether intentionally or unintentionally, have made it known that they believe that Jefferson, 36 and on Wednesday making his first debut in 18 years as a starter in an NBA Finals, is a better fit than Love, 27.
Lue's predecessor, David Blatt, who was ousted in January in favor of Lue, then the associate coach, always had a White in his starting line-up whether it was Love, Mathew Delladevoba, or Timofey Mozgov.
Blatt led Cleveland to the NBA Finals last year but could not bring home a championship title, the Warriors winning that series, 4-2.
Warriors Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson did not score in the first quarter in Game 3 and both struggled throughout the game, Curry finishing with 19 points and Thompson, 10 points.
"Clearly they were playing at a much higher level then we were and they deserved to win," said Warriors head coach Steve Kerr of his team's disappointing loss.
(www.clevelandurbannews.com)
/ (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com).
Tel: (216) 659-0473 and Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
.webp)
