This Steph Curry-LeBron Face-Off Is a Microcosm of the NBA Finals

It's hard not to feel like this single possession from Sunday's 132-113 Warriors' dismantling of the Cavaliers is a perfect distillation of the series to date. Looking at it, you've got to hope that Cleveland finds the next gear like it did last year. Early in the third quarter, Steph Curry and LeBron James are battling, step for step, with LeBron matching Curry's beauty and skill with his own will and just straight-up work. But eventually Curry finds a weakness, a tiny moment, and exploits it. Just like that it's all over. (Does it really matter if Steph might have double dribbled?)

It's not fair to say that Steph was toying with LeBron, or that the Warriors are toying with the Cavs, but Steph outlasted LeBron on that play, and pounced. And the Warriors have outlasted everything the Cavs have thrown at them in the first two games, and have then pounced, turning tightly contested first halves into blowout victories. LeBron came out on a mission for this game, driving endlessly to the rim, getting to the line, and keeping the Cavs close. But it's beginning to look like he can't do that all game, and the Cleveland defense was already having trouble stopping this offense even before Klay Thompson finally woke up.

With about seven minutes left in the game and the Cavs trailing by 16, I tried talking myself back into the game, thinking OK, they go on a nice little run here, and maybe we've got something. Then Kevin Durant hit a three. And Kyrie Irving missed a three. And then Steph drained a three of his own from about 87 feet away. If they're not making threes, they're getting to all the rebounds, resetting, and then hitting a three. Or an easy layup; it doesn't matter, it just happens and it's relentless, like watching a monsoon come to shore. It doesn't look so bad at first, but then all of a sudden, you're under water.

Maybe the Cavs get some good mojo going when they get back home—friendlier rims, friendlier crowd—and maybe Draymond Green does something stupid again. Maybe Rihanna curses Kevin Durant. But if not, it looks like it's going to be a whole lot more of the same: the Warriors dribbling all around the court, the Cavs keeping up for a bit, and then, all of a sudden its 132-113, and neither team's starters played the last three minutes of the fourth quarter.