Tyronn Lue Says Cavaliers 'Were Being Too Nice' in Beginning of 2017 NBA Finals

Game 4 of the NBA Finals featured plenty of hostility between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, and Cavs coach Tyronn Lue believes it helped change his team's fortunes.

"I thought the first two games [we] were being too nice," Lue said Sunday, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. "The first three games, helping guys up off the floor, smiling, talking to guys and—yeah, I didn't like that. So I think Game 4, talking trash, being physical, whatever you got to do to try to get that edge to win, you got to do it."

The Cavaliers won Saturday's game 137-116 and cut the series deficit to 3-1.

While Cleveland made a record 24 three-pointers on 45 attempts in the win, the rest of the game wasn't pretty. There were seven technical fouls, one flagrant foul and plenty of heated exchanges between the two teams.

"Our mindset has to be winning games and not smiling back and forth or talking and playing," Lue added.

There is certainly a level of familiarity between the Cavaliers and Warriors, who are competing against each other in the Finals for the third straight season. The challenge will be keeping the intensity—as well as the hot shooting—for another three games.

Cleveland overcame a 3-1 deficit to win last year's title, but the squad will need to win four in a row to win again in 2017.