CLEVELAND – The Cavaliers are in the unenviable position of being down 2-0 in the NBA championship series against the soaring Golden State Warriors, but maybe because of last year’s comeback, Coach Tyronn Lue isn’t changing his lineup for tonight’s Game 3 (9:00/ABC).
Lue believes his team can equal the Warriors’ frenetic pace and flip the script as it did in 2016.
Following practice Tuesday at Quicken Loans Arena, Lue told reporters: “We just have to take care of the basketball. I think taking good shots when we’re playing with pace and not turning the basketball over, letting them get out in transition. So that’s our game. We’re not going to change our game because of who we’re playing. And I’m confident that we can play that way, and we did it last year.”
It won’t be easy since the Warriors haven’t lost a game so far in the playoffs.
But LeBron James and his teammates have been here before. They started off last season’s championship series by losing the first two games of the best-of-seven series to the Warriors on their home court.
Now the Cavaliers are home to host Golden State for Game 3 Wednesday night, likely reeling from those losses by lopsided margins in the first two games but also encouraged by the memory of their come-from-behind miracle a year ago to win the series and the championship trophy.
The NBA Finals is off and running with their best television ratings through two games since the Chicago Bulls’ last championship in 1998. Now ABC has to hope the Cavaliers can make it competitive.
The Nielsen company says the first two games averaged 19.2 million viewers. Since the interest in championship series usually increase if they near a seventh game, ABC would be in great shape if the Cavs can take a few.