Warriors take Game 3 in the final three minutes

Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant put the team on his back and lead a comeback for the ages. Here’s how the final minutes played out in Game 3.

After receiving criticism for being non-existent in the first two games of the Finals, J.R. Smith steps up and hits a 3 to put the Cleveland Cavaliers up 113-107 with 3:09 left in the 4th quarter. This game is now the Cavs to win or lose.

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From the opening tip, it felt like it was finally the Cavs night. Honestly, it was the Cavs night. They did everything they needed to do for the first 45 minutes of the game to set up a historical game 4 to see if they could send the series back to Oakland tied up at 2-2. However, the game is 48 minutes long. LeBron James disappeared when it mattered most as Kevin Durant stole the show that LeBron starred in all night.

Let’s talk about the final three minutes of game 3. These three minutes will end up being the minutes in which the Golden State Warriors clinched the championship.

At the end of the shot clock, LeBron feeds JR Smith for a knock down three-pointer to put the Cavs up 6 with 3:09 left on the game clock. Stephen Curry quickly brings it up for the for a high pick and roll set by Draymond Green. Curry feeds the rolling Green who hits Durant for a good look at three that he misses. LeBron pulls down the defensive rebound with 2:56 left on the clock. This is a golden opportunity to milk the clock and put the Warriors away by going up 8 or 9 with around 2:30 left in action.

The Cavs do a good job running down the shot clock as Kyrie Irving tries to take Steph one on one. Steph does a great job keeping Kyrie in front of him, so Kyrie has to throw the ball across the court to JR Smith. JR runs to the corner and takes an awful, contested fade away three as the shot clock expires that inevitably hits back iron. However, LeBron saves the possession by picking up the loose offensive rebound.

Now with 22 seconds left on the shot clock LeBron has the ball one on one with Klay Thompson 2:31 left on the game clock. Kyle Korver and JR Smith at the top of the key both have their hands up signaling to LeBron to slow it down. Instead, LeBron drives on Thompson and dishes to Kevin Love in an awkward position under the rim. Love loses the ball on the way up, and the Warriors get the ball back. There was still 18 seconds on the shot clock.

This is a possession that will not be talked about much in discussing the ending of Game 3, but it was a pivotal one in which the Cavaliers could have used up almost 50 seconds while extending their lead to 8 or 9.

Instead, this possession leads to an uncontested layup in transition by Stephen Curry. LeBron collected the offensive rebound up 6 with 2:33 on the game clock with 24 seconds on the shot clock, and Curry ends up with a layup on the other end to cut the lead to 4 with 2:20 to go.

This next possession is played well by both teams. The Cavaliers finally decide to slow it down as Kyrie brings it up the floor. JR Smith sets a ball screen, so Stephen Curry would switch onto Kyrie. As JR clears out, Klay smartly double teams Kyrie and switches back onto him. Kyrie takes Klay to the rim as he does a good job contesting a difficult layup that spun around the rim but ended up not going in. Kyrie does not give up on the play and steals the rebound from Draymond Green.

Yet again the Cavaliers have another opportunity to salvage a possession up 4 with 1:53 left on the game clock and a full shot clock. LeBron holds the ball at midcourt to run the clock down. After a high ball screen, Lebron misses a back down fade away midrange on Andre Iguodala. Durant grabs the rebound and gets fouled on the floor in transition.

The score is still 113-109. The Cavs did a good job running the clock down from 2:20 to 1:30, but they desperately needed to increase their lead against the explosive Golden State offense.

The Warriors inbound the ball to Durant who receives a ball screen from Draymond Green in order to have Tristan Thompson switch on him. This leads to an immediate isolation in which Durant takes Thompson to the low block for an easy floater to cut the lead to 2.

Now with 1:15 left in the game the score is 113-111 in favor of the Cavs. Lebron drives and hits Kyle Korver for a great look from the corner for 3 that bricks off the front rim. Korver should not have been the one to take the shot this late in the game. Yes, Korver was brought to Cleveland to knock down open three pointers, but Lebron or Kyrie have to be the ones to take over in the final minutes of the game. Especially a game that determines whether you go down 3-0 or cut the series to 2-1.

Durant wastes no time as he rushes the ball up the floor with LeBron guarding him. Lebron gives Durant plenty of space as he is back pedaling around the three point line as Durant crosses half court. Durant gladly takes a pull up three in which LeBron had no chance to contest with the cushion he had given Durant. Durant knocks down the dagger to put the Warriors up 114-113 with 45 seconds left in the game.

The Cavaliers have not scored since the JR Smith 3 pointer to go up 113-107 at the 3:09 mark. Kyrie brings it up and the Cavs clear out for an isolation for him on Klay Thompson. Klay does a great job cutting him off from getting to the rim, so Kyrie has to settle for a step back three pointer which misses way short off the front rim. Curry is there to clean up the defensive rebound with 26 seconds left. The Cavs do not foul Durant until 12.9 left in the game. Durant knocks down both free throws to put the Warriors up 3.

After a timeout, the Cavs throw the ball in to LeBron in the corner who tries to put up a shot. Andre Iguodala was all over him and knocked it out of his hands. LeBron ends up stepping out of bounds when the ball gets hit back to him. The game is over as the Cavs foul Stephen Curry who knocks down both of his free throws to give the Warriors a 118-113 win and a 3-0 series lead.

This game was the Cavaliers to lose in the final three minutes, and they did just that. Without a doubt, Kevin Durant made big time plays down the stretch to win the game. However, if the Cavaliers were able to put together one possession in the final three minutes that resulted in points, this series would most likely be 2-1 with a highly anticipated game 4 looming. Instead, we are left with a 3-0 series and discussion of a likely sweep.

Next: Top 25 Warriors in Franchise History

Most of the discussion surrounding this series has centered on the matchup between Kevin Durant and LeBron James. LeBron won the game 3 matchup for the first 45 minutes. Durant had one of his quieter games of the series with 23 points until the final 1:15 of the game in which he stole the show scoring 8 points to take game 3 along with any hopes the Cavs had of a series comeback. On the other end, LeBron went 0-2 in the final three minutes when his team needed him most. Granted Korver missed the open three and Kyrie missed the final step back. If LeBron really is the greatest of all time, he needed to be the one taking the shots in the final minutes to force a 2-1 series.