Richard Jefferson continues to play critical role for Cleveland Cavaliers

Richard Jefferson"s Snapchat: LeBron James "Throw that bitch off the glass"

Matthew Florjancic, WKYC3:26 PM. EST June 10, 2016

Veteran small forwardRichard Jefferson continues to play fill critical roles for the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo: Pool Photo, Custom)

CLEVELAND -- Veteran NBA small forward Richard Jefferson has played several roles in his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that continued in the teams 120-90 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Quicken Loans Arena Wednesday night.

In place of power forward Kevin Love, who missed Game 3 because of a concussion, the Cavaliers started Jefferson, and he accounted for nine points with a four-for-seven shooting mark, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals over 33 minutes of play in the response win for Cleveland.

He"s a professional, Cavaliers small forward LeBron James said. He"s a true professional, and a guy who is seizing an opportunity and moment to be in this position. The last time he was in The Finals was his first and second year in the league, and I think he"s not taking this moment for granted.

He"s just going out and giving everything that he has. He knows his role. He plays it very well, and he"s key to our team.

According to Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue, inserting Jefferson in the starting lineup gave the Cavaliers an injection of quickness to go along with his floor-spacing, driving and defensive abilities.

I just think he gave us speed, Lue said. I thought he gave us the physicality on Harrison Barnes, and we were able to slide LeBron over to Draymond Green, which helped us out a lot. We were able to switch pick and rolls and things like that, so just being able to get up the floor offensively, pushing the ball, pushing the tempo, and RJ"s aggressiveness on the defensive end.

Although Jefferson played well in Game 3, he was quick to point out that despite the Cavaliers pulling out a win over the Warriors, they still trail in the best-of-seven series, two games to one.

At the end of the day, we protected once, Jefferson said. We protected home court. We have a lot of respect for our opponent. Kevin wanted to be on the court. I saw how p****d off he was when he wasnt able to be cleared in time.

Were in this together. Weve all picked each other up. You have to go with the next-man-up mentality. He is definitely one of the top players in this league. Its our job to just hold on until he can get back.

Its not adversity. We dealt with that same nonsense talk in the Eastern Conference Finals. We won our first two games at home. Toronto won their next two games. They protected home court. We protected home court. We just have to keep moving. Our job is not done. They won their first two games at home in spectacular fashion. Tonight was a good win for us, but it only counts as one. It doesnt matter if you win by 100 or one. The next game is equally as important.

And just like they did in Game 3, the Cavaliers are expecting quite a bit of support from the Cleveland faithful at Quicken Loans Arena.

Theres been so much made of the Golden State crowd, Jefferson said. I cant say enough about our crowd. Our crowd was amazing. They were ready. They were geared up and ready. They didnt care about what happened in Golden State. They knew we are a great team at home. A lot of that is in part to the energy that they bring us.

Source: http://www.wkyc.com/sports/nba/cavaliers/richard-jefferson-continues-to-play-critical-role-for-cleveland-cavaliers/238837217