NBA Finals Star LeBron James Looking Like the True MVP
The 2015 NBA Finals have now seen all three contests come down to the final minutes, where either the Cleveland Cavaliers or Golden State Warriors could walk away with a last second victory. Viewers of last night’s game witnessed the Cavs eek out a 96-91 win thanks to the stellar performance of Ohio’s own LeBron James.
James has been classically good through this year’s Finals, scoring a combined total of 123 points, the highest ever up to this point. Game three saw LeBron record 40 points, with 12 rebounds and eight assists.
LeBron James? puts up 40 PTS, 12 RBS, 8 ASTS, 4 STLS & 2 BLKS to lead #CLE to 96-91 victory, 2-1 #NBAFinals lead. https://t.co/COcRgZ5yRR
— NBA (@NBA) June 10, 2015
Current NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry started off cold, scoring a meager 10 points in the first half. Though Curry finished game three with a total of 27 points, it wasn’t until the fourth quarter where his shot finally seemed to find the bottom of the net.
As the Inquisitr previously noted, Finals stud LeBron James and his band of unlikely heroes have managed to already pull off what many considered improbable, to say the least. With injuries to star point guard Kyrie Irving (fractured kneecap) and forward Kevin Love (dislocated shoulder), experts were predicting a clean sweep of the Cleveland squad, thanks to the regular season performance of the Splash Brothers (Curry and Klay Thompson).
Being behind in the championship series is nothing new to James, who is playing in his fifth consecutive Finals and sixth overall in his eleven-year NBA career. Just last season with the Miami Heat, the Big Three of James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh fell behind the San Antonio Spurs 2-1, before eventually losing the series in five games.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this year’s Finals is the emergence of undrafted guard Matthew Dellavedova, who recorded only 4.8 points per game during the regular season, but has put up 7.5 ppg during the postseason. It may not seem like a tremendous bump, but anyone who’s been watching the Cavs-Warriors series has seen shear determination and grit pour out of the Aussie as he dives all over the court for loose balls, getting all sorts of banged up along the way. In game three alone, “Delly” scored 20 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. It was reported after the game that Dellavedova was hospitalized for cramping after playing 39 of the game’s 48 minutes.
Now up 2-1 in the best of seven series, LeBron and the Cavs can put the Warriors on the brink of elimination at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on Thursday night. At the rate things seem to be playing out, it appears James is en route to his third NBA Finals MVP award, tying him for second all-time with the likes of Spurs great Tim Duncan, and Los Angeles Lakers legends Shaquille O’Neal and Magic Johnson. The Chicago Bulls’ Michael Jordan sits alone atop the list of NBA Finals MVP’s with six.
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
