Golden State Warriors: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Cavaliers

3. Kevin Durant is a living get out of jail free card

Rodney Hood outscored Stephen Curry in Game 3. Rodney Hood outscored Klay Thompson in Game 3. Rodney Hood outscored Draymond Green in Game 3. Despite this, the Warriors still emerged triumphant.

How? A living get-out-of-jail-free card by the name of Kevin Durant.

Curry’s 11 points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field and 1-of-10 shooting from 3-point range represented Golden State’s second-highest point total, but it didn’t matter because they had a guy capable of putting up 43 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on the road.

There was plenty of reason for concern in the Houston Rockets series when KD isos and post-ups were clearly bogging down Golden State’s offense, but this Cavs defense doesn’t hold a candle to Houston’s, and as head coach Steve Kerr noted after the game, Durant’s been getting to his spots quicker when he catches the ball, which has gone back to making his shotmaking ability plain unfair.

Durant shot a tidy 15-for-23 from the field Wednesday night, canning six of his nine triples, including the final dagger to put Golden State up six with under a minute to play. It was nearly identical to his Game 3 dagger in last year’s Finals, only it was a good five feet beyond where he hit from last year.

The Warriors got balanced contributions from the bench, and the return of Andre Iguodala was certainly a boon on both ends of the floor. But with the Splash Brothers struggling, the Dubs had no business being in that game unless someone else went absolutely nuclear. They got exactly that from Kevin Durant.