CLEVELAND – They don’t mess around in Cleveland. They don’t just do one pre-game video montage perfectly syncopated to classic rock anthems, presented in microscopic detail on the massive HD screen above the court. It seems like they do about five of them, each one hyping the crowd to higher decibels.
But one stood out, set to Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On.’ In most ways it’s fairly standard arena-rousing fare – lots of grainy old shots of the good and not-so-good old days for a franchise with more of the latter than the former until lately.
But the ending, with local son LeBron James cradling the Larry O’Brien Trophy in tears a year ago having brought ‘The Land’ its first championship in any sport in 52 years?
That’s a hell of a kicker.
That’s what was at stake in Game 3 of the third instalment of the NBA Finals trilogy between James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.
A whole city had waited more than 50 years for last year’s miracle moment.
And all too soon it looks like it’s over; like 12 months of good feelings will be taken away by a higher, more ruthless power.
He’s seven feet tall, handles the ball like a point guard and shoots from anywhere he wants.
His name is Kevin Durant, and he was sent to steal the Cavaliers’ souls and to crush a city’s dreams.
For once he wasn’t the best player on the floor in the series in the Warriors’ 118-113 win, giving them an insurmountable 3-0 lead, but that only makes it worse.
But he was icily efficient when it mattered, scoring 14 of the Warriors’ 29 fourth-quarter points as Golden State closed the game with an 11-0 run
With 45 seconds left and the Cavaliers clinging to a lead they’d painstakingly built over the course of the second half, Durant strolled up the floor, crossed centre and let it fly.
Ball game. Durant joined a 73-win team to become their closer and he’s proven up to the job.
“We know in that situation to get that man the rock,” said the Warriors’ Klay Thompson. “He’s seven foot, can shoot over almost anybody and has amazing shooting touch, and he made a dagger three — well, not a dagger, but a huge three there. And we’re confident in him taking that shot every time.”
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James delivered another magical Finals performance, throwing himself in front of the oncoming train that is the Warriors.
But it wasn’t enough because James is facing the ultimate challenge of his career in the new-look Warriors, bolstered by Durant, who his vying for his title as the best player in the sport.
The final result was in doubt until the final moments – Steph Curry’s free-throws with 9.6 seconds left sealed it – but the outcome of the series isn’t any longer. The Warriors are up 3-0 and no team has ever come back from that hole in NBA history.
And no team is going to do it against the Warriors. They’re too good.
They now have a chance to be the first team to go undefeated in the post-season, 16-0. No team has ever made it this far.
Is that next on the to-do list as the Warriors keep burrowing their way deeper into NBA history?
“It is now because we took care of tonight,” said Curry. “It’s not in terms of like … what it means historically, it’s just that’s what’s in front of us.”
It’s hard to imagine them facing any more resistance than they did in Game 3. James had 39 points, nine assists and 11 rebounds and Kyrie Irving had 22 of his 38 in the second half and it wasn’t enough.
Together they became the first pair of teammates to score 35 points or more in the same Finals game twice – they each had 41 in Game 5 a year ago — and it wasn’t enough.
The Warriors are too good. They might be perfect.
The Warriors answered Irving and James with 31 from Durant, 30 from Thompson and 26 from Curry while shooting 16-of-33 from deep.
In the post-game press conference, Irving called them “Great,” “A juggernaut” and “A powerhouse” in the space of three minutes.
James is in his 14th year and his eighth NBA Finals. He almost seems resigned to dropping to 3-5.
“Before the season even started we knew what we was dealing with,” he said. “…It’s probably the most firepower I’ve played in my career. I played against some great teams, but I don’t think no team had this type of firepower. So even when you’re playing well you got to play like A-plus-plus, because they’re going to make runs, they’re going to make shots and they got guys that’s going to make plays.”
Midway through the final period the Cavs remained in control, leading by five, but there was no relaxing. Not when the Warriors have Durant strolling down from half and nailing a three, or Thompson hitting his sixth triple of the game to pull the Warriors within one.
Coming into the game the Cavs were clinging to the thinnest of ropes, knowing that in a similar situation last year they had won Game 3 by 30 and became the first team to win a title when trailing 3-1 in a series.
But this seems like a different animal altogether.
“When you have a powerhouse like them, you have a legitimate three big-time scorers that are able to affect the game like the way they did tonight, it will be a tough matchup,” said Irving. “But Game 4, we just look — I look forward to it. Another challenge for us, another challenge for us to get better and go against a great team.”
But the Warriors were adamant they weren’t going to fall victim to their tendency to lose focus at times. Last year they came to Cleveland in complete control of the series and got dominated in Game 3.
How, exactly?
“Lax. That’s our Achilles heel,” said Warriors veteran guard Shaun Livingston. “We fall asleep, you know? The success of winning. It’s human nature. You let your guard down and let the other team have one. A killer mindset, a killer instinct, it doesn’t work that way.”
The Warriors seemed to have learned their lesson. The Cavs gave their best shot, but the Warriors kept parrying. When James sat down with 1:49 left in the first quarter the Cavaliers were leading by three. The Warriors instantly went on a 10-0 run sparked by a pair of Curry threes to win the quarter by seven. Similarly, the Warriors spurted again at the end of the first half, pushing a two-point lead with two minutes left to a 67-61 advantage at the break.
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The difference this time was the Cavs showed a resiliency they hadn’t in Oakland. Irving scored 16 of his 38 in the third quarter, which Cleveland won decisively, and then James stepped up again in the fourth, scoring seven of the Cavs’ 19 as the pace of the game finally slowed.
But the Warriors had too much. James missed a turnaround jumper and Irving got stopped by Thompson on an isolation play on the wing in the final moments, and Golden State didn’t miss.
“It was a great feeling to kind of overcome their run, the crowd’s energy and just kind of find a way to win,” said Curry. “Having a close game down the stretch, honestly, it’s been a while and it was a great feeling to kind of just overcome, stick to it and find a way.”
For every question the Cavaliers posed, the Warriors had an answer. The Cavaliers came into Game 3 hoping to keep their dream alive, to make that vision of James cradling the championship trophy stay current, stay relevant.
That was the dream and the Warriors snatched it from them.
