Cavs respond at home

The pessimistically optimistically Cleveland fan base on pins and needles and with NFL Hall of fame great Jim Brown sitting courtside, the Cavs responded to the defending NBA champion Warriors with a blowout victory of their own, smoothing the Splash Brothers en route to a 120-90 victory the Q on Wednesday night.

Kyrie Irving fueled an opening quarter blast with 16 points and the Warriors never recovered from the 33-16 deficit and now lead the NBA Finals series 2-1.

It was a much desired response to the two lopsided defeats in Oakland.

LeBron James led all scorers with 32 points and JR Smith got back in the groove connecting on five 3pointers for 20 points and now the Cleveland faithful still have hope of erasing 50 year title drought.

Warriors coached blamed his team more than he credited the Cavs, saying at the post game press conference that his team played soft and did not come out prepared to play.

He benched star guard Steph Curry to start the second quarter. Curry finished with 19 meaningless points and his side kick Klay Thompson only managed 10.

Irving was outstanding scoring 30 points for the Cavs.

However the Cavs will need to do it again on Friday in game 4 to make this a series again.

The Cavs improved to 9-0 on their home court in the playoffs.

BLOWOUT CITY

The Warriors won the opener 15, Game 2 by 33 and then lost by 30. What gives?

"It's the NBA," Kerr said. "This is how it is. As Gregg Popovich used to tell me, the other guys make millions of dollars to play too."

PICKED OFF

Klay Thompson left briefly in the first quarter with a thigh bruise after he crashed into Cleveland's Timofey Mozgov trying to set a screen.

"It seemed kind of dirty to me," Thompson said. "He stuck his knee out, too."

SIT DOWN

Curry was beaten on two back cuts early in the game and was benched by Kerr.

"I would have done the same thing," Curry said. "He's trying to figure out a way to get me going."

TIP-INS

Warriors: Are 0-4 in Game 3s in these playoffs. Golden State is 2-6 in Game 3s over the past two seasons and 28-5 in all other games. ... Kerr became emotional before the game when paying his respects to Sean Rooks, his former Arizona teammate who died Tuesday at the age of 46.

Cavaliers: Have won their eight home games in these playoffs by an average 22 points. ... Cleveland is 13-0 when scoring 100 points in this postseason. ... James has 82 career 30-point games in the playoffs, third most all-time. Only Michael Jordan (109) and Kobe Bryant (88) have more. ... Lue said he doesn't pay any attention to the all the outside second-guessing about his lineups. "I don't care," he said. "They (critics) should be coaches."