CLEVELAND (AP) — The latest from Game 3 of the NBA Finals:
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9:58 p.m.
Iman Shumpert has returned to the game with 5:31 to play in the first half wearing black sleeves under his jersey.
Shumpert went to the locker room in the first quarter with a shoulder injury, hit in the same shoulder that he had dislocated earlier this season, causing him to miss six weeks.
The Cavs couldn’t afford another injury, especially with reserve James Jones picking up three fouls by early in the period.
For the Warriors, David Lee is getting his first playing time of the season. The former All-Star had fallen out of the rotation, but with the Warriors struggling to rebound, coach Steve Kerr is giving him a chance.
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9:50 p.m.
J.R. Smith can get hot as quickly as anyone, and maybe this is the night it happens.
Smith made two jumpers early in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer, and his first three shots of the game to give him seven points in his first 9 minutes.
He shot poorly in Game 1 and nearly cost the Cavs Game 2 with some boneheaded fouls down the stretch, but with so many injuries he becomes one of their best options to provide a second scorer behind LeBron James.
Unless he loses his stroke or his composure, that is.
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9:45 p.m.
Golden State coach Steve Kerr thought his team “weathered the storm” in the first quarter of Game 3.
“We knew the crowd would be loud and we’re in a good spot right now,” Kerr told ABC’s Doris Burke in the televised between-quarters interview.
Burke followed up with a question about what Kerr thought of Golden State’s early offensive production, and Kerr gave his group high marks from the early going.
“Little better movement, little better penetration,” Kerr said. “We can still get better.”
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9:38
The Cavaliers have the lead but potentially another injury after the first quarter.
Cleveland leads 24-20 behind six points apiece from LeBron James and Tristan Thompson. But Iman Shumpert went to the locker room with a few minutes left in the period with an injured left shoulder after running into Draymond Green on a pick.
Shumpert missed six weeks with a dislocated left shoulder earlier this season.
Stephen Curry made his first shot, a 3-pointer, but missed his final four attempts for the Warriors.
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9:32 p.m.
Iman Shumpert has gone to the locker room with an apparent shoulder injury for the already short-handed Cavaliers.
Shumpert was hurt after running into a pick set by Golden State’s Draymond Green in the first quarter. Shumpert arrived in Cleveland in January still rehabbing a shoulder injury from his time with the Knicks.
The Cavaliers have only been using eight players while playing without Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving.
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9:27 p.m.
Stephen Curry made his first 3-point attempt after a miserable Game 2, but otherwise everything was going Cleveland’s way early in Game 3.
LeBron James was attacking the rim and Matthew Dellavedova followed his strong finish with a good start in this one, his second basket of the game sending the Warriors into a timeout with chants of “Delly! Delly!” once again filling parts of Quicken Loans Arena.
Curry was 5 of 23 overall and 2 for 15 in the Warriors’ overtime loss on Sunday night.
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9:20 p.m.
Even the King pays homage to other royalty.
Just before tip-off of Game 3, what did LeBron James do? Bowed in respect toward a fan in the jam-packed stands.
That fan just happened to be Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown.
Then James helped Cleveland jump out to an early first-quarter lead.
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9:05 p.m.
This crowd is delirious, and Game 3 hasn’t started.
When the Cavaliers took the floor, 20,000 fans inside Quicken Loans Arena, most of them wearing wine-colored T-shirts, erupted in cheers.
Seconds later, the crowd got even louder when LeBron James, dancing and rapping lyrics, was shown on the giant mid-court scoreboard. That was followed by chants of “Del-ly, Del-ly,” for guard Matthew Dellavedova, one of the Game 2 heroes.
James said earlier in the day that he expected Cleveland’s crowd to be louder than he’s ever heard, and it appears he could be right.
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8:55 p.m.
Dwyane Wade is back on ABC to help with the pregame and halftime analysis of Game 3, and he knows LeBron James — his former Miami Heat teammate and still close friend — better than almost anyone.
But James’ raw emotion when Cleveland won Game 2 was something new, even for Wade.
“I’ve been to four Finals with the guy and I’ve never seen him that emotional,” Wade said during Tuesday’s pregame show. “And what I took from that is that he has some sense of ownership. This is his city. This is an organization that has never been to this place before, their first win without Kevin Love, without Kyrie (Irving). He had me and Chris (Bosh) in Miami so it’s a little different situation.”
Wade’s assessment of James’ performance in this series: “Spectacular.”
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8:35 p.m.
Golden State’s biggest star, well its cutest one, has arrived.
Riley Curry, the adorable 2-year-old daughter of Warriors guard Stephen Curry, walked into Quicken Loans Arena along with her grandparents about an hour before Game 3 started.
The youngster has stolen the show from her famous daddy by hamming it up during his postgame interview sessions throughout the playoffs.
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8:01 p.m.
Biggest game since 1997.
That was the consensus among Cleveland fans, who have waited 51 years for either the Cavaliers, Indians or Browns to win a championship.
The streets outside Quicken Loans Arena were packed with fans in the hours leading up to tip-off for Game 3 as the Cavs hosted their first NBA Finals matchup since 2007, when Cleveland was swept in four games by San Antonio.
This time around, though, Clevelanders, normally a pretty pessimistic bunch, are feeling hopeful about the Cavs’ chances of ending a title drought dating to 1964.
“Very confident and excited,” said Sarah Zuercher, who was headed to the game with her husband, Chris, wearing a “Woah Delly” T-shirt to honor pesky guard Matthew Dellavedova.
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AP Sports Writer Tom Withers and AP Basketball Writer Tim Reynolds contributed to this report.
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