When Kevin Durant rose for a 3-point shot that froze LeBron James in his Nike-sponsored tracks and ultimately drained the remaining tension from the N.B.A. finals late Wednesday night, he all but punctuated the message that this was his time and his title, and that he had leveraged his way onto what remains a perfect postseason team.
James called Durant’s audacious launch from the left wing with 45.3 seconds remaining in Game 3 “a bomb in transition,” and it was. Once again in the fourth quarter, Durant had outplayed and outlasted James and, in the larger sense, outmaneuvered the league’s reigning master of free-agent mobility.