Starting to look for the brooms
Durant carries Golden State to 3-0 lead in series
CLEVELAND - It was the Kevin Durant show Wednesday night.
He poured in 43 points to lead the Golden State Warriors to a 110-102 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 3 of the NBA Finals.
The Warriors took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series despite getand ting next to nothing from Stephen Curry. He had just 11 points on 3for-16 shooting. But he scored seven crucial points down the stretch.
Durant came up with the dagger when he buried a long three-pointer with 49.8 seconds left to make it 106-100.
LeBron James had 33 points for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland held a 58-52 halftime lead, but it would be much bigger if not for Durant.
Durant scored 24 points, the only Warriors player in double figures in a foul-plagued, poor-shooting first half for Curry.
James had 14 points, nine assists six rebounds in the first half. And some of those happened on one play. James’ pass to himself off the backboard for a slam dunk was an early highlight as Cleveland raced to a 16-4 lead.
The Warriors had an 83-81 edge heading into the final period, surging ahead with one of their patented third-quarter runs even while Curry continued to struggle.
But Durant was brilliant, with 34 points, 13 rebounds and five assists through three quarters. That more than compensated for Curry’s 1for-11 marksmanship up to that point, including 0 for 7 from threepoint range.