CLEVELAND — Kevin Durant pushed the Golden State Warriors into dynasty’s doorstep.

LeBron James could be in the door.
Durant scored 43 points, draining a long 3-pointer in the last minute to cap his glorious performance, along with 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 from the finals. The three-time winner can opt from the $35.6 million contract and examine free agency this summer, and it can be time for the 33-year-old to locate a team capable of beating the Warriors.
These Cavs can not find out it.
CBSSports.com’s Kyle Boone writes,”There’ll be endless banter about where free-agent-to-be LeBron James makes the decision to sign when he chooses to leave Cleveland. But one destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been the most talked landing spot for the superstar for quite some time now.”
Together with the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood and nearly motionless after dropping his 33-footer – almost from precisely the same area from where he hit one in Game 3 last year – and effectively finished the fourth consecutive 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 cried 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 reported the similarity with last year’s shot a second which helped establish his first championship – did not happen to him.
“No, not at all,” he said of this contrast. “I just took the photo.”
There was nothing that the Cavs could perform.
“It was like deja vu seeing him hit that shot ,” Cavs forward Kevin Love stated.
Golden State will have four chances to wrap up its title starting with Game 4 to Friday night. The Warriors are attempting to combine a select collection of teams to win three championships in four years.
James scored 33 points and Kevin Love additional 20 for the Cavs, who have fallen 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 Durant was in Oklahoma City and James needed another supporting cast.
“We had our chances,” James said. “You can’t make mistakes. They’re not going to beat themselves.”
The Warriors won despite a 3-of-16 shooting operation from Curry, who did come up big down the stretch as the Cavs were hoping to salvage their season.
Durant, who tilted this competition toward the West Coast when he signed with the Warriors as a free agent before last season, 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 only 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 did not play in Games 1 or two 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 thundering dunk.
Moments later, Durant delivered his dagger to silence Cleveland’s crowd.
“The shot clock was running back, I was fairly much out, I just wanted to have a look,” Durant said. “I did not wish to run there and take a bad shot, fall on the ground and they got amounts going the other way so I decided to pull up”
James made a layup to pull the Cavs in four, it had been too little too late since the Warriors closed it out and beat Cleveland for the 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 his first lead on Curry’s two free throws.

Read more: sports-opinionated.com

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