LeBron facing final game with Cavs after Warriors’ Game 3 win?

Posted July 18, 2019

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 championship in four decades.
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 from the $35.6 million contract and examine free agency this summer, and it can be time for the 33-year-old to find a team capable of beating the Warriors.
These Cavs can not find it out.
CBSSports.com’s Kyle Boone writes,”There’ll be endless banter about where free-agent-to-be LeBron James makes the decision to sign if he chooses to leave Cleveland. However one destination, the Los Angeles Lakers, has been the most talked landing spot for the celebrity for quite a while now.”
Together with the Cavs down 103-100, Durant stood and nearly motionless after falling his 33-footer – nearly from the exact same area from where he hit one in Game 3 last year – and effectively ended the fourth straight 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 in their teammate, who calmly walked toward the seat.
“I attempted to just stay in the zone,” Durant said, admitting that he was worried the Cavs could come back.
Durant said the similarity with last year’s shot – a moment that helped establish his first championship – did not happen to him.
“No, not at all,” he said of this comparison. “I just took the photo.”
There was nothing the Cavs could perform.
“It was like deja vu watching him hit that shot again,” Cavs ahead Kevin Love said.
Golden State will now have four chances to wrap up its name starting with Game 4 on Friday night. The Warriors are trying to combine a select collection of groups 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 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 chances,” James said. “You can not make mistakes. They are 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 because the Cavs were hoping to salvage their time.
Durant, who tilted this competition toward the West Coast when he signed up with the Warriors as a free agent before last year, was brilliant from the beginning. He helped offset a night for Curry, who made a finals-record nine 3-pointers in Game 2, but was only 1 of 10 from behind the arc and didn’t 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 Games 1 or two due to a knee injury, came up with a steal under the basket. Curry eventually 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 crowd.
“The shot clock was running back, I was pretty far out, I only wanted to have a look,” Durant said. “I didn’t want to run there and shoot a terrible shot, fall on the ground and they got numbers going the other way, and so I decided to pull up.”
James made a layup to pull on the Cavs in four, it had been too little too late as the Warriors closed out it and beat Cleveland for the 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 wasn’t long until they took his first lead on Curry’s two free throws.