He rebounded. He defended.
After two lopsided losses to start the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals, the Cavaliers fell in line behind him as they spent much of Wednesday evening fending off the Golden State Warriors. Both teams exchanged ferocious blows.
"They're going to get exhausted", Kerr recalled after the game, ESPN reports.
"I'm not sure if this is a trend as we work with local federations and leagues around the world to continue to grow the game", Silver said.
If not for their meltdown previous year, the Warriors, whose record-setting 73-win season got lost in the Finals aftermath, would be looking for a third straight crown.
Durant, a former NBA Most Valuable Player seeking his first title, and two-time MVP Curry, the 3-point sharpshooter who sparked Golden State's 2015 crown to snap a 40-year drought, have put the Warriors on the brink of claiming this year's throne.
During the conference finals, James chided a Cleveland radio reporter for asking whether it was Boston's defense or his own mistakes that caused him to score just 11 points and have six turnovers.
Now James finds himself in the same situation that much of the league was in when he was in Miami with two other Hall of Famers in their prime in Wade and Bosh in feeling behind the eight ball because Golden State is set up for long-term success. The basket gave Golden State a 114-113 lead with 45 seconds remaining in regulation and completely sucked the life out of everyone sporting the colors of wine & gold in Quicken Loans Arena. "We had an opportunity".
It's misery for defending champion Garbine Muguruza
Bacsinszky is obviously the more experience player in these type of matches and has had to work less to get to this point. Djokovic is the defending champion. "It's something I'm prepared for", the 13th seed said ahead of Sunday's match.
LeBron James scored 39 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and passed off nine assists while Kyrie Irving added 38 points to pace the Cavaliers, but James said he has never faced a "juggernaut" like the Warriors.
Durant finished with 31 points.
While the Warriors' bad trio clicked (Durant 31 points, Klay Thompson 30 and Curry 26), not their Cavs' counterparts, though; Love proved to be the missing link. It would be the starkest symbol of their dominance this season.
Golden State leads the series, 3-0.
In addition, the Warriors have not lost a game since April 10. If the Cavaliers want to make history once again, they'll have to pull off the damn near impossible. They drafted a lot of their guys.
A poor Game 1 by the Cavs was followed by a very solid Game 2 and a stellar Game 3. Kerr applauded the fact that the Warriors have numerous players who can make plays off the ball, alleviating pressure that comes from having to create one-on-one. "It wasn't our smartest game that we have played all year, but it was maybe our toughest in terms of our ability to just hang in there".
After winning Games One and Two by a combined 41 points at home, the Warriors had to scrap for all 48 minutes to take down the Cavs, who will need a similar effort to avoid being swept by a team with few weaknesses.
Kevin Durant has been nothing short of remarkable in this year's NBA Finals. "Blessed to be able to know I'll be playing at least in the National Basketball Association for four years and see where it goes from there.' But I literally told myself in that hotel room that day, knowing what the max was, I think at the time was probably, 56 or 58 [million], somewhere in there - I think Eric Gordon and guys like that were getting that money - I was, 'You can't think 20-20 hindsight, go back and worry about what other guys are making'". "And for that one to go in, that was liberating right there". It's easy to forget now that he's one win from his first ring, but not long ago he had most of us reaching for the Kleenex while he tearfully accepted the NBA MVP award, thanking his mother for keeping him out of trouble and on the court.
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