Durant, who tilted this rivalry toward the West Coast when he signed with the Warriors as a free agent before last season, was brilliant from the start. He helped offset a rough night for Curry, who made a finals-record nine 3-pointers in Game 2, but was just 1 of 10 from behind the arc and didn't score his second field goal until there were under three minutes left.

Curry's scoop shot put the Warriors up 98-97 and defensive specialist Andre Iguodala, who didn't play in Games 1 or 2 because of a knee injury, came up with a steal under the basket. Curry finally buried a 3 and after James matched him with a long shot, Iguodala drove the lane for a thundering dunk.

Moments later, Durant delivered his dagger to silence Cleveland's crowd.

"The shot clock was running down, I was pretty far out, I just wanted to get a look," Durant said. "I didn't want to run there and shoot a bad shot, fall on the ground and they got numbers going the other way so I decided to pull up."James made a layup to pull the Cavs within four, it was too little too late as the Warriors closed it out and beat Cleveland for the fourth straight time in finals games.

With JaVale McGee getting three point-blank shots at the rim, the Warriors opened the third quarter with a 9-3 spurt and it wasn't long before they took their first lead on Curry's two free throws.

Durant scored 24 in the first half, when the Warriors attempted 13 free throws to zero for the Cavs, a disparity that induced further wrath on the officials from Cleveland fans still stinging from the now infamous reversed call in Game 1.

The Cavs needed a strong start, and they got it helped by a playground move from James.

Dribbling near the foul lane, he used a head fake on McGee before stepping past the Warriors center. James then threw the ball off the backboard to himself and crushed a two-handed dunk — he pulled off a similar stunt in last year's finals — that sent Cleveland's bench and fans into a frenzy.