DYNANSTY’S DOORSTEP

CLEVELAND – It was a year ago Thursday that Kevin Durant buried a 3-pointer from the left wing in the final minute of Game 3 of the NBA Finals inside Quicken Loans Arena to push the Golden State Warriors within one win of the 2017 title.

A year later, in another NBA Finals Game 3, history repeated, only from a few feet further beyond the arc.

“It was like déjà vu, seeing him hit that shot again,” Cavaliers forward Kevin Love said.

That last dagger from Durant pushed him to a playoff careerhigh 43 points – going 15 for 23 from the field, along with 13 rebounds and seven assists – to lift the Warriors to a 110-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. The Golden State Warriors’ Draymond Green and Stephen Curry celebrate during the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday night.

Durant, the reigning NBA Finals MVP, has the Warriors on the precipice of a second straight championship and third in four

years.

“That was amazing what he did out there tonight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Some of those shots, I don’t think anybody in the world can hit those but him. “He was incredible.” He needed to be because the Warriors, a team blessed with a pair of former MVPS on their roster, got very little from their other one – Stephen Curry. After lighting the Cavaliers up in Games 1 and 2 in Oakland, Curry shot 3 for 16 from the floor Wednesday, scoring only 11 points.

But it was Curry’s circus layup with 2:58 remaining, followed by a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, that gave Golden State the lead back for good – and set the stage for Durant to hit a devastating deep 3 that all but ended Cleveland’s season for the second year in a row.

“I just tried to play hard defense, rebound as best as I could,