Cleveland Cavaliers: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Warriors

Despite so much going right for them in Game 3 of the 2018 NBA Finals, the Cleveland Cavaliers were still no match for the Golden State Warriors, losing another heartbreaker.

In what appeared to be an exact replication of the same game in the 2017 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors took Game 3 from the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-102, to take a 3-0 series lead for the second consecutive season.

The Cavaliers appeared to do everything right in this game.

They built a lead as big as 13. They dominated the offensive glass by a margin of 15-6. Players not named LeBron James were contributing, and it was a single-possession game down the stretch.

They played well enough to win this game, but terrible defensive execution down the stretch and Kevin Durant proved too much for Cleveland to overcome.

Speaking of KD, he had arguably the best game of his career, dropping 43 points on 15-of-23 shooting along with 13 rebounds and seven assists, including a dagger from almost the exact same spot as the one he hit in Game 3 last year.

LeBron James finished with another triple-double of 33 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but he was very passive late — he shot just once in the final five minutes — and failed to make a concerted effort to fight through screens in order to guard Durant over that same stretch.

The Cavaliers shouldn’t even be thinking about the Larry O’Brien trophy right now. All they need to be worrying about is making sure they don’t get swept on their home court in what could possibly be LeBron’s final game in a Cavs uniform.