The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors will clash at the Quickens Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Thursday night as the Warriors look to square things up again with a win in Game 4.
Today's big NBA Finals 2015 Game 4 takes place from 9 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the ABC network, or online through live stream via the link below.
When LeBron James announced that he was returning to Cleveland there must have been huge optimism that the prodigal son would return and lead the Cavaliers to a long-awaited NBA championship title. However, even James and the most optimistic Cavaliers' fans would have realistically thought that it might take a few seasons before James would be able to help the team to glory. So it is amazing to see how James and the Cavaliers are now just two wins away from the title.
Even looking at how each of these teams had done through the regular season, the Warriors were big favorites to claim the title. Add on to that the fact that the Cavaliers have a number of star players out for this series, and it becomes even more extraordinary what the Cavaliers have accomplished so far over the first three games.
Coming into tonight's massive Game 4, the Cavaliers are 2-1 up, and NBA fans have witnessed James almost single-handedly dragging his team over the finish line in their two wins.
Most pundits and basketball fans are watching James' performances through these NBA Finals with jaws dropped, amazed at how the man can keep going at such an intense rate. However, the man himself is relatively relaxed and rather than celebrating his accomplishments so far, he simply says that he and the Cavaliers are just fighting for their lives.
James has said, "I know we're up 2-1. I know our team is fighting for our lives. We're undermanned. We're under-matched and we're fighting. That's all I know."
Over the first three games of this series, James has scored an extraordinary 123 points, which breaks the previous finals record set by Rick Barry in 1967 when he scored 122 points.
The strategy seems clear; with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love out for the Cavaliers, the onus is squarely on James to pick up all the slack - so he's shooting more, and scoring a lot more!
The Warriors so far have struggled to come up with answers to James' sheer determination to win.
Warriors guard Andre Iguodala said about James, "He's playing inside, outside, trying to get to the line, mixing it up a little bit. He's trying to work it to his advantage."
One thing the Cavaliers have done to aid James has been to clamp down on the influence Stephen Curry has been able to exert on the series. Barring a fourth quarter scoring spree for Curry, Game 3 was a frustrating one for the league MVP, and his excellent fourth quarter was not enough to get the Warriors back into the game.
The Warriors know that another loss here tonight would leave them on the brink. They must find a way to give Curry more space, and probably more importantly, find a way to stop LeBron James - something much easier said than done!
One hopeful sign for the Warriors is that they have come from behind already this postseason to claim a series win. Against Memphis in the Western Conference semi-finals, the Warriors had to also come back from 1-2 down. They had looked shaky through the first three games, but made the necessary adjustments and bulldozed their way through to the Conference Final. Whether they can do it again remains to be seen.
Tonight's big Game 4 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors has a scheduled start time of 9 p.m. ET and can be watched on the ABC network.
