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 could be in the door.
Durant scored 43 points, draining a lengthy 3-pointer in the final minute to cap his glorious performance, and 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 could be down to one final match with James, who listed his 10th triple-double in 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 locate a team capable of beating the Warriors.
These Cavs can’t figure it out.
CBSSports.com’s Kyle Boone writes,”There’ll be endless banter about where free-agent-to-be LeBron James decides to signal when he chooses to leave Cleveland. But one destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been the most discussed landing place for the superstar for quite some time now.”
Together with the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood and nearly motionless after falling his 33-footer – almost from precisely 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 since 2015.
After Durant scored, Stephen Curry and Draymond surrounded Durant and screamed at their teammate, who calmly walked toward the seat.
“I tried to just stay in the zone,” Durant said, admitting that he was nervous the Cavs could still come back.
Durant said the similarity with last year’s shot a moment which helped establish his first championship – did not happen to him.
“No, not at all,” he said of this comparison. “I just took the photo.”
There was nothing the Cavs could do.
“It was like deja vu seeing him hit that shot again,” Cavs forward Kevin Love said.
Golden State will now have four chances to wrap up its name starting with Game 4 to Friday night. The Warriors are attempting to join a select list of teams to win three championships in four years.
James scored 33 points and Kevin Love added 20 for the Cavs, who have dropped into the hole from which no team has ever emerged. Cleveland came back from a 3-1 deficit to stun the Warriors in the 2016 finals, but that was when Durant was in Oklahoma City and James had 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 as the Cavs were hoping to salvage their time.
Durant, who 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 rough night for Curry, who left 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 up the Warriors 98-97 and defensive specialist Andre Iguodala, who didn’t play Games 1 or 2 due to a knee injury, came up with a steal under the basket. Curry finally buried a 3 and afterwards James matched him with a long 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 had been fairly much out, I just wanted to have a look,” Durant said. “I didn’t want to run and shoot a bad shot, fall on the floor and they got numbers going the other way so I opted to pull up.”
James made a layup to pull on the Cavs in four, it was too little too late as the Warriors shut out it and beat Cleveland for its fourth straight time in finals games.
With JaVale McGee acquiring three point-blank shots at the rim, the Warriors started the third quarter with a 9-3 spurt and it wasn’t long before they took their first lead on Curry’s two free throws.
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