THIS IS WHY THEY GOT HIM!
Last-minute heroics by Durant bring Warriors to brink of title
CLEVELAND — It was a familiar scene in this matchup, an annual reminder of how sometimes individual greatness trumps team superiority. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving pulled off another performance for the ages, injecting life into the Cavaliers. They combined for 77 points, and it took all of them — plus some timely shooting from J.R. Smith — to produce the first close game of The Finals. With their championship hopes hanging by a thread, Cleveland played with desperation, grinding out a lead down the stretch. It took everything the defending champions had, at home, to have a shot. And it still wasn’t enough. Kevin Durant erased the Cavaliers’ lead, and likely their hopes, with seven straight points. And just like that, the Warriors are a win away from their second championship in three years. Up 3-0 in this bestof-seven series, winning feels like a foregone conclusion. This is now about whether they can go 16-0, a feat of feats.
The Cavaliers came back from a 3-1 deficit last year. But these are not those Warriors. And that was never more evident than down the stretch of the game.
The Warriors were poor in the second half. They were as close as they’ve been to a loss since the San Antonio Spurs had them down big in Game 1. Their defense was struggling to keep up with the Cavaliers’ ball
movement. Their offense went cold, especially from 3.
And all they had to do was make a few plays down the stretch and that was that.
The same insane production from LeBron and Kyrie that destroyed the Warriors last year could only keep the Cavaliers close this year.
Klay Thompson started the game hot, scoring 16 of his 30 in the first quarter. Curry had an excellent floor game and surged in spurts, finishing with 26 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, two steals and one turnover. Durant was relatively quiet most of the game before taking over late.
The Cavaliers trapped Curry on the pick-and-roll. And foul trouble rendered Draymond Green ineffective. Thompson went long stretches without touching the ball as the Cavaliers hugged him close on the perimeter. But this time, it wasn’t Harrison Barnes going cold as the retort.
It was Durant. One-onone. In space. And not even LeBron could do anything about it. With Curry and Thompson having made 11 threes, the Cavaliers couldn’t leave them. The Warriors had their small lineup in, so they couldn’t leave Andre Iguodala either.
These Warriors are simply too loaded. Their players are more complete, more versatile, smarter and more unselfish.
The first half was the bull rush the Warriors were expecting. LeBron was immaculate in the opening quarter. He drove the lane with purpose, calmly knocked down jumpers, zipped passes out of nowhere to open teammates. He was a lot like he was in the beginning of Game 2, aggressive and dominant.
He took a seat with 1:47 left in the opening quarter, with 15 points on 7-for-8 shooting and the Cavaliers up by two points.
He got tired in Game 1 when the Cavaliers played him the first 16 minutes straight. Then in Game 2, they got burned when James rested to start the second quarter. So in Game 3, head coach Tyronn Lue tried to steal him a rest to end the first quarter.
The Warriors ripped off a 10-0 run.
The Cavaliers put together an impressive first half. They shot 51.2 percent, scored 16 points off 12 Warriors turnovers and doubled up the Warriors on points in the paint. And they still trailed 67-61 at the half.
It felt hopeless. The Warriors were getting their way even without playing that well. LeBron had 27 at the half, Smith finally showed up to the series, making a couple 3pointers to get the crowd at a fever pitch. And they still couldn’t manage a halftime lead.
The Warriors negated all of that hype and production and success by knocking down 12 3-pointers to cover their mistakes.
Perhaps that reality, the comfort of knowing they are superior, caught up to them in the third quarter. Or maybe Kyrie Irving just woke up. Either way, the post-halftime surge didn’t come.
Irving took over in the third, driving and weaving his way around the Warriors’ defense. Concurrently, the Warriors went cold and were still having turnover issues. They managed just 22 points on 7 of 19 shooting in the third quarter with five turnovers.
The Cavaliers took advantage of the extra possessions and built a lead as high as seven points. The Warriors trailed 94-89 heading into the fourth quarter.
This was the Cavaliers’ chance. This was their last hope. But the Warriors have Durant now. So what looked like a chance really wasn’t at all.