As Steph Struggles, KD Reminds Cavs Why Dubs Are as Unfair as League's Ever Seen
The Golden State Warriors are one win away from another NBA title because of their No. 2 option...if it's even fair to use that label for Kevin Durant, who put up 43 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists to bury the Cleveland Cavaliers on a night when Stephen Curry all but disappeared.
Down 3-0 after a 110-102 defeat, imagine you're the Cavs for a moment, if you can stand the inequity of it all.
You lost Game 2 because Curry went supernova, channeling his unanimous MVP form and burying you with flings, heaves and all manner of shot-making wizardry. You go into Game 3 looking to slow him down, he barfs up the worst shooting effort of his postseason career (3-of-16 from the field and 1-of-10 from deep), and you still lose.
Despite getting a triple-double and an all-time momentum-building highlight play from LeBron James.
Despite Kevin Love tossing in 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone.
Despite Klay Thompson (4-of-11) being nearly as bad as Curry from the field.
Despite Rodney Hood's improbably effective return to the rotation.
Despite bashing the Warriors on the boards by margin of 47-37.
And despite getting up 11 more field-goal attempts and five more threes.
All of that went Cleveland's way on Wednesday, and none of it mattered because Durant was the best player on a floor that also stood beneath James and Curry. He became the only man in Finals history to put up at least 40 points, 10 boards and five assists while hitting five threes. He kept Golden State in the game during a rough first half and took Cleveland out of it in the second.
This dagger, drilled from nearly the same spot as his pivotal bomb in Game 3 a year ago, not only ended Wednesday's contest but also, for all intents and purposes, iced these Finals.
It was a stunning display of scoring prowess by KD, brilliant enough to make his head coach forget he'd seen something similar within the last week:
Kerr's point is difficult to dispute, but he of all people should know there's another guy capable of completely taking over an arena with perimeter pyrotechnics and impossibly deep daggers. He also plays for the Warriors. Remember?
There are so many reasons Golden State is impossible to contain. Curry's range warps defenses whether he has the ball or not. Klay Thompson might be a better standstill shooter than anyone on the planet. Draymond Green is a historically potent defensive force. Andre Iguodala is the platonic ideal of a glue guy. Veterans like David West, Shaun Livingston and JaVale McGee come aboard at discounts and stay because they like winning rings. Rookies like Jordan Bell (10 points in 12 minutes) mature and arrive at just the right time.
The list is overwhelming.
But the greatest affront to basketball fairness—parity, justice, the sporting spirit, whatever you want to call it—is the 1-2 punch from Curry and Durant. Because only one of them has to connect to knock you out. Curry came with the right cross in Game 2, flooring the Cavs.
Call Game 3 a left hook from Durant.
To be fair, Cleveland wasn't a helpless victim in all this.
The Cavs botched several off-ball switches on defense and, after seeing a million of them in Game 2, somehow approached slipped screens as if they were an entirely new concept. One such gaffe led to a tide-turning jam from Iguodala, who was clearly hobbled but got up for this dunk and finished with a plus-14 in only 22 minutes:
Love fell out of Cleveland's offensive plans after halftime, JR Smith snoozed on D, and Hood—though effective as a scorer with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting—got lost on the other end.
The crusher is still KD, who drilled his threes, often contested, from an average distance of 30 feet. He also coolly sank one-dribble pull-ups and fading turnarounds over all comers.
What's the adjustment for Cleveland when Durant is cooking like he was in Game 3? Do you divert off-ball attention away from Curry and Thompson, inviting splashdown? Do you press up into Durant's airspace at half court because you know he only needs one long stride from there to get into shooting range?
James was clear on the impact Durant has had over the years and in this series:
There are no good answers. If we've learned anything about Cleveland in this series, it's that months of poor defensive habits are impossible to break. Maybe there are fixes, but the Cavs aren't the team to implement them.
And while it's not necessarily the overriding narrative with Cleveland still technically alive, the impact of the Durant-Curry combo on James' future has to be discussed. He must be mulling the events of Games 2 and 3 in his mind, replaying reels of individual brilliance, first from Curry, then from Durant. And he must be wondering where he can find a symbiotic support system like the one his current opponents share.
Because he sure doesn't have one in Cleveland.
One more loss, administered by a Curry or KD explosion (or, heaven forbid, both), and James will have time to consider that issue in earnest.
Stats courtesy of Basketball Reference, Cleaning the Glass or NBA.com unless otherwise specified.
