"The Stack" 6-7-18
Kevin Durant was sensational last night, scoring a career playoff high 43 points as the Warriors put the Cavs on the brink of an elimination with a 110-102 victory. They can eliminate the Cavs Friday night.
The Stack is back on this Thursday and it is Kevin Durant’s world, we’re all just living in it. K.D. was sensational last night helping the Warriors go up 3-0 on the Cavaliers. Reaction to game three and can the Washington Capitals win the Stanley Cup tonight? Find out now in “the stack” for today, Thursday, June 7th:
Durant sets playoff career high, Warriors go up 3-0 on Cavs
The Golden State Warriors weathered the storm early on. The Cleveland Cavaliers came out punching, playing physical and making some big buckets. Kevin Love hit a three. J.R. Smith hit a three. Love was physical down low. LeBron James seemed more like a facilitator early on. The Warriors found themselves down double digits. Steph Curry picked up two early fouls. It seemed like the Warriors weren’t going to win, that it would be a blowout and the Cavs would provide a little hope for their fans. Kevin Durant would not let that happen. He had 24 points at the end of the first half and made a sick and-one and hit a three at the end of the first half to cut the Cavs’ lead down to six. On a night when Curry and Klay Thompson were struggling, it was Durant that carried the team and kept them in the game.
The Warriors blitzed the Cavs right away to start the third quarter. The Warriors finally had a Warriors-like third quarter. Just two minutes and change into the quarter and the Warriors had the lead. It would be a back-and-forth game pretty much the rest of the way. James helped keep the Cavs in it (he had a triple-double with 33 points, ten rebounds and eleven assists). In the fourth quarter, neither team could shoot the three ball all that well, but Curry finally made one with a few minutes to go in the quarter. It was his first and only three pointer of the game after missing his first nine. James would hit a three to cut the lead down to 101-100, but just moments later Durant buried a three about four or five feet behind where he put the dagger in the Cavs in game three last year. The game was out of reach and the Warriors went on to win 110-102 to take a 3-0 series lead. This series is all but over. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit and that includes thirteen such instances in the NBA Finals. The Cavs can do all they want to try and slow down Curry and Thompson and or Durant, but you can’t stop them all and the Cavs couldn’t stop Durant Wednesday night. What a sensational performance. The Warriors will look to wrap up the series Friday night and Lord willing, they will.
Washington Capitals @ Vegas Golden Knights 8 PM ET NBC (Caps lead series 3-1)
The Stanley Cup is in the building tonight, T-Mobile Arena to be exact. The Washington Capitals are looking for their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history. They dominated Vegas games three and four in D.C. Will that continue in game five? I hope not. I want this series to go at least six games. The Golden Knights know they had plenty of opportunities, but didn’t capitalize (again, pun intended) hitting pucks off the post and the crossbar. The Capitals have upped the physicality of this series and they are checking remarkably. I expect that to continue somewhat here in this game, but the Golden Knights are going to come out very desperate. As much as I fear the Capitals to win tonight, I will take Vegas to win and force a game six back in D.C. on Sunday. Should be a good game. Here’s hoping anyway.
Coming up Friday: Game 5 Stanley Cup Final reaction plus other headlines and a pick for game four of the NBA Finals.
