CLEVELAND — You suddenly don’t hear much around the N.B.A. about the majesty of LeBron James’s eight consecutive trips to the N.B.A. finals.
The justified awe inspired by James’s feat — his entree into a club whose only prior members played for the Bill Russell-era Boston Celtics in the 1950s and ’60s — didn’t even last two weeks.
Blame Kevin Durant for that. For the second straight June, Durant coldly strolled into Quicken Loans Arena for a Game 3 in the finals and was just too much, too ruthless, for James and his Cleveland Cavaliers.
Only this time, Durant didn’t merely usher James to the brink of a humbling sweep on the game’s biggest stage.