The NBA playoffs standings has the Golden State Warriors in position to win for a sweep over the Houston Rockets in the west finals in Game 4 on Monday for a 4-0 series, while the Cleveland Cavaliers are up 3-0 against the Atlanta Hawks and could sweep out the eastern conference finals with LeBron James averaging a triple double.
No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in the playoffs and that means the Rockets and Hawks are basically playing for pride now. The Warriors blew out the Rockets in Game 3 and handed them their worst loss of the season and that pushed Dwight Howard to challenge his team on Monday night. The Rockets don't want to get swept after having a very strong season and finishing second in the conference standings.
The Rockets had the chance to win Game 2 before James Harden lost the ball to Stephen Curry at the buzzer and that was the big difference play in the series. The Warriors would have had a 1-1 series coming to Houston and that would have changed the dynamic coming into Game 3. The series now is basically over, but the Rockets will not go down without a fight despite the performance in Game 3. Harden did not have a strong game with just 17 points on 3-of-16 shooting and he will have to be better for any chance for the Rockets to win.
Stephen Curry has shown why he was the MVP and it looks like the Warriors will be going to their first finals in decades. The Rockets had to watch Curry scored 40 points and add five rebounds with seven assists in Game 3, while Josh Smith had 16 points and eight rebounds for Houston. Howard had 14 rebounds, but the game was never close and the Warriors did not allow more than 25 points in any quarter of the game.
UPDATE: Rockets won Game 4 against the Warriors.
On the other side of the bracket the Cavaliers are leading the Hawks 3-0 and that series is also basically over with Atlanta down. Kyrie Irving is a game time decision for Game 3 and James comes in while averaging a triple double for the series. James had 37 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists in Game 3 against the Hawks and the Cavs went up 3-0 in the series by winning in overtime.
Al Horford was ejected from the game and now the Hawks are playing for pride just like the Rockets. The Hawks played tough at the end of Game 3 and made a comeback from 10 points down, but they couldn't finish things off. James finished the game for the Cavaliers by scoring the final five points for Cleveland and he also had a three to that left the team up when the buzzer went off.