Warriors star Kevin Durant scored a playoff career-high 43 points Thursday night, including a dagger 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter, closing the door on the Cavs and leading Golden State to a 110-102 victory.
Durant went 15-of-23 from the field, 6-of-9 from 3-point range and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line in one of the finest performances of his career. He made up for a lack of scoring from Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who combined to go 7-of-27 from the field and 3-of-15 from beyond the arc.
LeBron James finished with a triple-double (33 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds), and Kevin Love chipped in with 20 points and 13 rebounds. But the Cavs fell apart in the second half, shooting 3-of-17 on 3-pointers in the second half. Golden State outscored Cleveland 58-44 in the final two periods, and the Cavs had no answer for Durant's scoring.
Check out the best highlights from Game 3 below...
Final: Warriors 110, Cavs 102
11:31 p.m. ET — And that's it. Kevin Durant's brilliant performance gives the Warriors a 3-0 lead in the NBA Finals. What an unbelievable showing.
11:27 p.m. ET — KEVIN. DURANT. DAGGER.
Warriors 106, Cavs 100 with less than a minute to go.
11:20 p.m. ET — It's a close one. Here's the situation...
Warriors 96, Cavs 95 with 3:19 remaining. Cleveland will take the ball out underneath its own basket after the timeout break.
11:13 p.m. ET — LeBron James drives left and finishes with his right. Don't think we've ever seen that before.
11:07 p.m. ET — Rodney Hood? Rodney Hood? The Cavs shooting guard has 15 points off the bench on 7-of-9 shooting. It turns out giving him some time was the right call by Tyronn Lue. (Better late than never!)
End of third quarter: Warriors 83, Cavs 81
10:57 p.m. ET — The Warriors win the third, 31-23, taking a two-point advantage into the final frame. Kevin Durant is putting on an offensive clinic: 34 points (11-of-17 shooting), 13 rebounds and five assists.
10:50 p.m. ET — What a terrific kickout pass by Kevin Love to George Hill for the open 3-pointer. The Cavs aren't done yet. They're only down by one with less than three minutes to go in the third.
10:42 p.m. ET — Yep, the Warriors are doing that thing they always do in the third quarter. It's a 17-6 run to start the second half. The Cavs must slow them down.
10:33 p.m. ET — And the game is tied. That was fast. Kevin Durant is still on fire. That's a big problem for Cleveland.
Make that 4 triples and 27 PTS for Kevin Durant! @warriors have tied it up at 61 on #NBAonABC #DubNation pic.twitter.com/KHafsNwJjr — NBA (@NBA) June 7, 2018
Halftime: Cavs 58, Warriors 52
10:15 p.m. ET — Well, that was a fun half of basketball. The Cavs played with tremendous energy and aggression to jump out to an early advantage. LeBron James has 14 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and Kevin Love already added another double-double to his playoff resume with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Kevin Durant is essentially saving Golden State with 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
10:03 p.m. ET — Kevin Love looks like a completely different player. He's got 15 points and nine rebounds in the first half. He's playing with confidence and not hesitating for a second on his 3-point attempts.
Kevin Love fires to beat the shot clock! 🎯🎯
10 PTS, 9 REB for K. Love on #NBAonABC #WhateverItTakes pic.twitter.com/FT2RkEaccE — NBA (@NBA) June 7, 2018
9:54 p.m. ET — Shaun Livingston just missed his first shot of the series. (Not the game. The series.) He had been 11-of-11 before Rodney Hood blocked his jumper.
9:48 p.m. ET — That's a 6-0 run for the Cavs to start the second quarter. LeBron James is feasting at the rim. The Warriors have not been able to stop him from reaching the paint.
LeBron James bulldozes his way in for two! 🚂🚂🚂
Quick 6-0 @cavs run on #NBAonABC
10 PTS, 5 AST, 6 REB for The King. #WhateverItTakes #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/EZPAL5xHdc — NBA (@NBA) June 7, 2018
End of first quarter: Cavs 29, Warriors 28
9:40 p.m. ET — The Warriors take the first punch from the Cavs and stand strong, heading back to the bench down by only one point. Kevin Durant already has 13 points and grabbed all seven of the team's rebounds in the first quarter.
9:30 p.m. ET — Draymond Green is trying to cut down the deficit, but he has to be careful. He's got one technical foul — he got caught talking a little too much trash with Tristan Thompson, who also earned a technical — and his reaction to his last personal could have easily gotten him booted from the game.
Draymond with the breakaway jam 💪
📺 #NBAonABC pic.twitter.com/nVjmGbx5BG — Golden State Warriors (@warriors) June 7, 2018
9:24 p.m. ET — Good news for the Warriors: Andre Iguodala has checked in. Bad news for the Warriors: That's two quick fouls on Stephen Curry.
9:15 p.m. ET — OH MY. LEBRON JAMES ELECTRIFIES THE HOME CROWD.
The Cavs take a 14-4 lead right off the bat.
9:00 p.m. ET — LeBron James looks to make more playoff history in Game 3. Tipoff coming soon!
With another 40-point outing, @KingJames will hold the NBA record for most 40-point performances in a single postseason. #WhateverItTakes #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/EYnut4QDA8 — Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 7, 2018
8:45 p.m. ET — JR Smith will try any shot at least once.
8:30 p.m. ET — This stat makes sense because it's Kevin Durant, but it's also kind of crazy. Dropping 25-plus every game without an off night?
Nobody has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit before, but that's the situation the Warriors have put the Cavaliers in. Golden State moved to within a game of the NBA championship as the Warriors defeated Cleveland 110-102 Wednesday in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Kevin Durant scored a career playoff-high 43 points as Golden State took a commanding lead in the series.
Durant was phenomenal the entire game. Every time the Cavaliers went on a run to take leads as large as 13, Durant would hit a few shots and bring Golden State back within the game. His performance made up big time for teammate Stephen Curry. One game removed from breaking the NBA Finals record for 3-pointers in a game, Curry shot 1-for-10 from 3-point range and only scored 11 points.
However, Curry and the Warriors got the win and that's something LeBron James wishes he had. Individually, James has been fantastic for the entirety of the NBA Finals and Game 3 was more of the same for him. He scored 33 points, dished out 11 assists and pulled down 10 rebounds. However, his triple-double was once again not enough to get the Cavs a much-desired win.
Cleveland will now attempt to make history. The Cavs have done it before, thought not history of this magnitude. In 2016, they became the only team in history to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to win the series. However, that was before the Warriors added Durant. Last season, the Warriors took a 3-0 lead with Durant, and managed to easily win the series in five games. It'll be interesting to see if history repeats itself in this series.
Game 3: Warriors 110, Cavaliers 102 (Box Score)
Durant breaks the Cavs
Remember that shot during Game 3 of the 2017 NBA Finals when Kevin Durant pulled up from 3-point range and buried the Cavs title hopes away? Well he did it again on Wednesday. It wasn't quite the same, but Durant once again hit a dagger 3-pointer to give the Warriors a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. The Cavs have to be tired of seeing him do this by now.
Iguodala plays in Game 3
Andre Iguodala hadn't played since the conference finals due to a knee injury, but he made his return in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. There was a brief moment where he left due to another knee injury in his right leg, but he returned to the game and scored eight points. He also had one of the biggest dunks of the night to help put away the Cavs.
Andre Iguodala hammers it home! pic.twitter.com/E77SHEcuVp — NBA (@NBA) June 7, 2018
James goes glass
LeBron James has always been able to show off incredible feats of athleticism, but going off the backboard to himself for a dunk during the NBA Finals is one of the craziest dunks he's ever attempted. So much could go wrong here, but he kept his composure and had one of the best highlights of the entire season.
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KEVIN Durant is making a habit of upsetting Cleveland Cavaliers fans from the left wing.
With his Warriors leading Game 3 of the NBA Finals by one possession, Durant pulled up from 33 feet, hitting a three-pointer that effectively sealed the win for his team, putting them just one game away from a third title in four years.
“The shot clock was running down, I was pretty far out, I just wanted to get a look,” Durant said, postgame. “I didn’t want to run there and shoot a bad shot, fall on the ground and they got numbers going the other way so I decided to pull up.”
That was three of the reigning Finals MVP’s 43 points; the Warriors defeating the Cavaliers 110-102 to take a 3-0 series lead in the NBA’s final dance of the season.
Durant’s game high scoring effort was accompanied by 13 rebounds and seven assists, making him the first player in Finals history to record that line, according to Basketball Reference.
“That was amazing what he did out there tonight,” Warriors head coach, Steve Kerr, said. “Some of those shots, I don’t think anybody in the world can hit those but him. He was incredible.”
Durant dagger ends game 3 1:00
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LeBron James had the 10th Finals triple-double of his career — 33 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists — but it wasn’t enough as the four-time MVP looks on track to fall to the Warriors, yet again.
One game after hitting a Finals record nine three-pointers, Curry put on one of the worst shooting performances of his postseason career, finishing with just 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field; 1-of-10 from beyond the arc.
That one made three-pointer, however, came at a crucial time. With the Warriors up 98-97, and 2:38 to play in the game, Curry pulled up from behind the three-point line, making it a two possession game.
James responded with a three of his own, on the ensuing possession, but an Andre Iguodala poster dunk extended the Warriors’ lead again, before Durant hit his deep dagger to seal the win, putting the Cavaliers in an unenviable position.
“It’s definitely a tough loss,” James, following the loss. “We had our chances. But we have another opportunity on Friday to extend the series but we’ve got to come out and play 48 minutes.”
LBJ's mammoth self alley-oop 0:40
No team has ever come back from an 0-3 series deficit in the NBA postseason, meaning James and his Cavs have history against them, as they approach a near-impossible task.
The Warriors had six players finish in double-digits, with Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Jordan Bell all posting 10 points apiece.
Andre Iguodala made his return for the Warriors, after sitting out six games with a knee strain, posting eight points and two rebounds in the win, while making multiple key defence plays.
For the Cavaliers, Kevin Love finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Rodney Hood made an unexpected impact off the bench with 15 points.
Postgame, James and Cavaliers head coach, Tyronn Lue, offered high praise for Durant, and the clutch shot he made at the end of the affair, likening it to the three-pointer the superstar wing made in Game 3 of the 2017 Finals.
Stephen Curry reacts in the second half of Game 3. Source: Getty Images
“He’s definitely an assassin and that was one of those assassin plays right there,” James said.
“It was like deja vu seeing that shot again,”
Lue added: “It was a big shot. He was four or five feet behind the line and he raised up and made a big shot for them. So, you know, kind of like he did last year.”
Game 4 of the NBA Finals is on Saturday (AEST), in Cleveland. The Warriors are able to close out the series, and win a championship, with a win.
“I don’t want to downplay anything but I don’t want to act like this is the end of the road,” Durant said. “We did some things that we need to correct if we want to win the next game. I’ve just got stay locked in.”
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