LeBron facing final game with Cavs after Warriors’ Game 3 win?
CLEVELAND — Kevin Durant pushed the Golden State Warriors to dynasty’s doorstep.
LeBron James may be in the exit door.
Durant scored 43 points, draining a lengthy 3-pointer in the final minute to cap his glorious performance, along with the Warriors beat James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-102, in Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night to move within a victory of a sweep, their second straight title and third tournament in four years.
And Cleveland may be down to one final game with James, who recorded his 10th triple-double from the finals. The three-time winner can opt from his $35.6 million contract and also examine free agency this summer, and it may be time for your 33-year-old to find a team capable of beating the Warriors.
These Cavs can not figure it out.
CBSSports.com’s Kyle Boone writes,”There will be endless banter about where free-agent-to-be LeBron James decides to sign when he chooses to leave Cleveland. But one destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been the most talked landing place for the celebrity for quite a while now.”
With the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood defiantly and almost motionless after falling his 33-footer – nearly from the exact same area from where he hit one in Game 3 last season – and effectively finished the fourth straight finals matchup between two teams who have gotten to know each other well because 2015.
After Durant scored, Stephen Curry and Draymond surrounded Durant and cried in their teammate, who calmly walked toward the seat.
“I attempted to only stay in the zone,” Durant said, admitting that he was nervous the Cavs could come back.
Durant said the similarity with last year’s shot – a moment that helped define his first championship – did not occur to him.
“No, not at all,” he said of this contrast. “I only took the shot.”
There was nothing that the Cavs could perform.
“It was like deja vu watching him hit that shot again,” Cavs ahead Kevin Love said.
Golden State will have four chances to wrap up its name beginning with Game 4 on Friday night. The Warriors are attempting to combine a select list of groups to win three championships in four decades.
James scored 33 points and Kevin Love additional 20 for the Cavs, who have fallen into the hole from which no team has ever arose. Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the Warriors in the 2016 finals, but that was Durant was in Oklahoma City and James needed another supporting cast.
“We had our chances,” James stated. “You can’t make errors. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
The Warriors won even though a 3-of-16 shooting operation from Curry, who did come up big down the stretch because the Cavs were hoping to salvage their time.
Durant, that tilted this competition toward the West Coast when he signed with the Warriors as a free agent before last year, was brilliant from the start. He helped offset a night for Curry, who made a finals-record nine 3-pointers in Game 2, but was just 1 of 10 from behind the arc and did not score his second field goal until there were under three minutes left.
Curry’s scoop shot put the Warriors up 98-97 and defensive pro Andre Iguodala, who didn’t play in Games 1 or two due to a knee injury, came up with a steal under the basket. Curry eventually buried a 3 and afterwards James matched him with a lengthy shot, Iguodala drove the lane for a dip dip.
Moments later, Durant delivered his dagger to silence Cleveland’s audience.
“The shot clock was running back, I was fairly much out, I just wanted to have a look,” Durant said. “I didn’t wish to run there and take a bad shot, drop on the ground and they got amounts moving the other way so I opted to pull up”
James made a layup to pull the Cavs in four, it had been too little too late since the Warriors closed out it and beat Cleveland for its fourth straight time in finals games.
Together with JaVale McGee acquiring three point-blank shots at the rim, the Warriors started the third quarter with a 9-3 spurt and it was not long until they took his first lead on Curry’s two free throws.
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