The Most Frightening 3 Minutes In The NBA

By the time opponents know what’s hit them, it’s already too late. This is how the Warriors crush—and how the NBA fails to fight back.

- Baxter Holmes

Cotton-thick snow flutters from an endless white ceiling, choking downtown Cleveland on this mid-January night. On steeper terrain, snow can turn sinister, transforming into a screaming wall of white that buries anything in its path. The NBA’s most destructive force acts in similar fashion. Inside Quicken Loans Arena, it has lain dormant for three quarters, and now in the fourth, with the score tied at 93, it arrives slowly, subtly, like a snowflake falling from the sky.

It begins like this: Cavs guard Dwyane Wade misses a jumper, Warriors forward Draymond Green devours the rebound and rifles a length-of-the-court pass to teammate David West, who is fouled and sinks two free throws. Warriors guard Klay Thompson blocks a layup, Green collects the ball and feeds teammate Shaun Livingston, who races through the lane and lays it in. Four points, 20 seconds. Cavs players stare at the floor, their shoulders starting to sag. Coach Tyronn Lue calls timeout.

After the break, Cleveland misses twice more, then Thompson drills a turnaround baseline jumper. The Cavs score, West counters with a driving dunk. Another Cavs layup is blocked, then they miss again and are blocked again, then miss twice more before Livingston nails an uncontested one-handed floater on the other end. LeBron James shakes his head.

Assistant coach Mike Longabardi, the Cavs’ defensive coordinator, drops his hands in despair. A sellout crowd of 20,562, once electric for this matchup between Finals foes, falls quiet. Lue calls timeout again, his team having scored two points in the past 5∏ minutes, having missed 14 of its past 15 field goals. Kevin Durant springs off the Warriors’ bench to celebrate with teammates. Coach Steve Kerr balls his hand into a fist.