NEW YORK, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Thanks to a 30-21 third quarter, the visiting Golden State Warriors earned a 109-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday to lead the best-of-seven NBA Western Conference finals 3-0.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 31 points and 11 assists, and Andrew Wiggins added 27 points and 11 rebounds.
With this win, the Warriors are one step away from a return to the NBA finals, after having reached the finals five times from 2015 to 2019, winning three championships.
The first half went back and forth as the lead changed hands 11 times. The Warriors led by as many as 12 points, while the hosts' biggest lead reached nine points. The ending was hard to predict at half-time as the Warriors led by a single point, 48-47.
Engineering a 17-9 run coming back from the locker room, the Warriors' third-quarter flurries once again stunned the Mavericks. Thompson's dunk sent the Warriors into a 65-56 lead and forced the Mavs to call a timeout, but the visitors further extended their advantage to 78-68 before the final quarter.
Luka Doncic of the Mavericks poured in a game-high 40 points, including 21 in the last 12 minutes. Spencer Dinwiddie's 3-pointers with 1:15 on the clock cut the deficit to 104-99 for the hosts, but Jordan Poole's answer ball and Draymond Green's layup sealed victory for the Warriors.
"It gives you control of the series when you're up 2-0 and you win on the road," said Curry after the game. "That was just a great team win," he added.
The visitors are aiming for a clean sweep in Game 4 on Tuesday in Dallas. No team has ever rallied from 3-0 down to win an NBA playoff series. ■
