Indeed, it’s very hard to win the NBA finals series after 2 consecutive blowouts. But, it’s even harder to deal with the situation after being dismantled 110-77 with the key players Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love struggled with their rules. It appears that Golden State Warriors is going to sweep for another championship.

With combined aggressiveness and bit of desperation, the momentum went back to the Cleveland Cavaliers with a strong 30-point lead finish (120-90) in the Game 3. Game 4 is scheduled on Friday and the questions still remain. Can Cavs withstand against GSW counter-attacks? Will Kyrie Irving sustain his shooting percentage? Do they still need Kevin Love?

Considering concussion protocol, it would be a practical decision for the head coach Tyronn Lue to bring Kevin Love off the bench in Game 4. However, even without the 3-time All-Star, Cavs managed to achieve fast scoring during the Game 3 with 33-16 after which became the benchmark to the lopsided 30-point deficit. As Love’s replacement, Richard Jefferson put sparks to CLE’s offense with (9-points) during the early quarters while Tristan Thompson’s energy under the basket was instrumental to the team’s success.

Taking things offensively, Cavaliers are looking good even without Love. They’re able to run things through LeBron James and Kyrie Irving. Love has seen outplayed by Draymond Greeen in the games 1 and 2 and the replacement of Richard Jefferson helped Cavs to intensify team’s defensive plays. Basically the areas of adjustment for Cavs would be to give Kyrie the quality minutes. And with Love back on Game 4, they can switch to competitive perimeter plays and giving Kyrie/LeBron lineups more time.

On the other hand, Golden State Warriors will sure come up with the counters. They might switch to small plays since the center-included lineup went bad in the previous game. Head coach Steve Kerr could give Andre Igoudala more minutes to create more and force LeBron to defend and get out of the safety plays. The Cavs can avoid the counters though if they let Tristan Thompson penetrate to the center as what he did in Game 3.

Whatever happens on Friday, it is for sure a close game. If GSW chooses to play small, they might produce more field goals especially with the Splash Brothers potential. On the other hand, if Cavs build off their offensive success, they can tie the series at (2-2).