The Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks came to a very familiar outcome at the end of Game 3. The Warriors once again took over in the third quarter and walked out of the matchup with a strong 3-0 series lead. With this type of lead in their pocket, it’s almost a guarantee that they advance onto the NBA Finals to play against the winner of the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics series. So, let’s instead take a bit of a look at what happened in Game 3.
Starting off with the Warriors. Steph Curry was obviously the biggest contributor on the floor here. He dropped 31 points, five rebounds and 11 assists on 50 percent shooting from the field. There is simply nothing you can do to stop a performance like that. Draymond Green pitched on his usual 10 points, five rebounds and five assists, once again proving that he can do everything called for him to do. Outside of them, Andrew Wiggins found a way to get incredibly involved. While he isn’t consistently aggressive, the games that he has been show why he was a top draft choice. Wiggins dropped 27 points, 11 rebounds and three assists on the night. Oh, and he crowned Luka Doncic with a thunderous poster dunk during the night just to top it all off. Golden State just played a strong overall game and were bolstered by the offensive rebounding of Kevon Looney with 12 boards total. It’s crazy to think about how good this team is and we didn’t even mention the impact of Klay Thompson in this matchup. These Warriors are good.
As for the Mavericks, they were an overall disappointment outside of Doncic. I mean seriously. This is a game that they knew they had to win, at home in front of their own fans. Instead, Doncic had to carry them on his back with 40 points, 11 rebounds and three assists just to lose by nine points. Jalen Brunson deserves a very honorable mention with his 20 points and so does Spencer Dinwiddie with his 26, but that was all this roster did. Only three other players scored points on Dallas in Game 3 outside of the guys we already mentioned. They combined for 14 points and belonged to Davis Bertans, Dwight Powell and Dorian Finney-Smith. Reggie Bullock, the team’s primary sharpshooter, didn’t score at all and missed all ten of his shot attempts. Maxi Kleber, the team’s second-best sharpshooter, was 0-5 with zero points as well. No matter which way you spin it, these guys shouldn’t be posting zero points in a must win game. Teams like the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz must be going insane watching them play like this.
All in all, I think the Warriors end it in Game 4. Dallas has shown no signs of being capable of winning a game even at home. They also choked a huge lead in this series already to even jumping out to a hot start doesn’t mean they can walk away with at least one win. Golden State is just on another level.