LeBron facing final game with Cavs after Warriors’ Game 3 win?
CLEVELAND — Kevin Durant pushed the Golden State Warriors into dynasty’s doorstep.
LeBron James could be at the door.
Durant scored 43 points, draining a long 3-pointer in the last minute to cap his magnificent 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 may be down to one last match with James, who recorded his 10th triple-double in the finals. The three-time champion can opt out of the $35.6 million deal and also test free agency this summer, and it may be time for the 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 will be endless banter about where free-agent-to-be LeBron James decides to sign if he chooses to leave Cleveland. But one destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been the most discussed landing spot for the celebrity for quite a while now.”
With the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood and almost motionless after falling his 33-footer – nearly from precisely the same spot from where he hit one in Game 3 last year – and effectively finished the fourth straight finals matchup between two teams that have gotten to know each other well since 2015.
After Durant scored, Stephen Curry and Draymond surrounded Durant and cried at their teammate, who calmly walked toward the seat.
“I tried to just stay in the zone,” Durant said, acknowledging that he was nervous the Cavs could still come back.
Durant reported the similarity with last year’s shot – a second which helped define his first championship – didn’t happen to him.
“No, not at all,” he said of this comparison. “I only took the photo.”
There was nothing the Cavs could perform.
“It was like deja vu watching him hit that shot again,” Cavs forward Kevin Love said.
Golden State will have four opportunities to wrap up its name beginning with Game 4 on Friday night. The Warriors are attempting to combine a select list of teams to win three championships in four years.
James scored 33 points and Kevin Love additional 20 for the Cavs, who have dropped into the hole where 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 opportunities,” James said. “You can not make mistakes. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
The Warriors won despite a 3-of-16 shooting performance from Curry, who did come up big down the stretch as the Cavs were hoping to salvage their season.
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 cancel 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 up the Warriors 98-97 and defensive specialist Andre Iguodala, who didn’t play in Games 1 or 2 due to a knee injury, came up with a sneak under the basket. Curry finally murdered a 3 and after James matched him with a long shot, Iguodala drove the lane for a thundering dunk.
Seconds later, Durant delivered his dagger to silence Cleveland’s audience.
“The shot clock was running back, I was pretty far out, I just wanted to have a look,” Durant said. “I didn’t wish to run and shoot a bad shot, fall on the ground and they got numbers going the other way, and so I opted to pull up.”
James made a layup to pull on the Cavs within four, it had been too little too late as the Warriors shut it out and beat Cleveland for its fourth straight time in finals games.
With JaVale McGee acquiring three point-blank shots at the rim, the Warriors opened the third quarter with a 9-3 spurt and it was not long before they took their first lead on Curry’s two free throws.
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