Kevin Durant scored 31 points, seven of them in the closing minutes, and the Golden State Warriors beat Cleveland 118-113 Wednesday, seizing command of the NBA Finals and extending its undefeated playoff run in dramatic fashion.
Kevin Durant's three-point pull-up jumper with 45 seconds left in regulation proved to be the decisive basket for the Warriors, who were forced to scrap at the Cavaliers' pace for the latter part of the game.
LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combined for 77 points, but it wasn't enough to take down Kevin Durant and the star-studded Warriors.
Irving had a chance to stop the bleeding with a trey of his own but he had gone cold. James and Kyrie Irving fought for loose balls.
But roles were reversed in the third quarter when Cleveland made four 3-pointers to only one for Golden State.
Durant's game-winning jump shot not only checked all the boxes for this Warriors team, save one - winning the National Basketball Association championship with a flawless 16-0 playoff record - but also erased all doubts about his ability to win and be "the guy" on a championship team.
Irving bounced back from a rough Game 2 with 38 points, including a couple of dazzling layups where he juked around multiple Warriors.
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But coming back from 3-0 deficit against an even more talented Warriors team than the one they needed seven games to beat past year is a different story. He said he has faced great teams but none of them had the firepower that Golden State has this season.
James and Irving played the entire fourth quarter, but each only made two of six shots. It's sports. You have an opportunity to sign one of the best players and you can do it, go ahead and do it.
Draymond Green was serenaded by boos and other unpleasant chants in Game 3 of the NBA Finals and would love nothing more than for the Warriors to win the championship on the Cavaliers' home court.
The Warriors had history at their fingertips when they faced the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals last season.
"All I was looking at was the bottom of the net", Durant said.
But Golden State with Durant is on another level than the teams Cleveland roughed up in the Eastern Conference, and the Cavs just couldn't hold them down long enough. By doing that, they'll also likely get Golden State in foul trouble, while occasionally opening up wide open looks from the perimeter. -LeBron on the last three 3 minutes of Game 3.
Golden State sank an NBA Finals record nine 3-pointers in the first quarter, four of them by Thompson, who scored 16 points in the opening period. "We settled down and got some stops at the end".
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