Steve Kerr Says LeBron James, Kyrie Irving's Fatigue Led to Warriors' Game 3 Win

The Golden State Warriors closed Wednesday's Game 3 of the NBA Finals on an 11-0 run to win 118-113, and head coach Steve Kerr said after the game that he believed fatigue helped the Dubs' cause. 

According to ESPN.com's Baxter Holmes, Kerr told his team during the game that LeBron James and Kyrie Irving would eventually tire, and felt as though they did to the point that his defense was able to shine down the stretch:

"We just felt like the way they play, Kyrie and LeBron had it going the whole game, but that's pretty taxing to go one-on-one the whole game. Both those guys were amazing, 38 and 39. But that takes a lot out of you. And I think when you get guys playing 45, 44 minutes, basically attacking one-on-one the whole game, it's—you hope eventually it's going to take its toll. I wasn't sure after a while; they just were going nuts. But I think that we just stayed with it, and our defense finally kicked in."

Both James and Irving were highly productive Wednesday, but they were on the floor for nearly the entire game.

LeBron dropped 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in 46 minutes, while Irving tallied 38 points, six rebounds and three assists in 44 minutes.

Despite Kerr's assertion, James felt a lack of execution was the culprit for the loss rather than fatigue:

"No, only missed shots. We missed shots. I gave everything that I had, so at times throughout the game I was tired, but that's just because I was just playing as hard as I could. But I was able to get second and third and fourth winds. I don't contribute as losing this game because we got tired. We missed some shots, and they made some."

For the sake of comparison, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson each played 41 minutes for the Warriors, while Stephen Curry played 39 and Draymond Green played 33.

Cleveland held a six-point lead with just over three minutes remaining in the game, but it didn't score another point after J.R. Smith's three-pointer at the 3:09 mark.

With the loss, the Cavs now face a 3-0 deficit against a team that is now a perfect 15-0 in this year's playoffs.

The Warriors will have a chance to sweep the Cavaliers en route to a second championship in three years when the teams meet for Game 4 on Friday in Cleveland.