LeBron James has pulled his Cleveland Cavaliers to an improbable NBA finals. But by early Thursday morning as he quietly walked out of his home arena in a purple warm-up jacket, it was clear he probably won’t be able to drag the Cavs to one last title before becoming a free agent at season’s end.

The Golden State Warriors are too much for him and for his Cavaliers. In Wednesday night’s Game 3, James scored 33 points (while logging a 10th career NBA finals triple-double), limited Warriors star Steph Curry to just one successful three-pointer and still Cleveland lost, 110-102. Now, down 3-0 in the championship round, his dream of winning more than one ring with the Cavaliers is all but over. Friday’s Game 4 could be his last with his hometown franchise.

Golden State Warriors 110-102 Cleveland Cavaliers: NBA finals Game 3 – as it happened Read more

Golden State are just too good and too deep for the Cavs, who are too often exposed as a one-man team powered by James. Wednesday’s assassin was Kevin Durant, the superstar forward who signed with the Warriors in 2016 with the hope of creating a dynasty. As Curry and Klay Thompson struggled with their shooting the night, Durant connected on six of nine attempts from three-point range, scored a playoff career-high 43 points and added 13 rebounds.

Cleveland have been close in two games of this series and yet it was obvious to James as he fell into a chair at his post-game press conference that Golden State are too loaded.

“That’s the challenge right there,” he said softly about the Warriors and their four stars: Durant, Curry, Thompson and Draymond Green. “There’s not really much pressure on them. Any of them can have a bad game. Someone else will score.”

This is the great thing about Golden State’s looming dynasty, one that is on the verge of beating Cleveland for the NBA title for a third time in the last four years. They play free, without much angst when things don’t go well, adding to what James called “the level of stress” for opponents.

It’s a notion that later made Durant laugh.

“I think we all support each other ... with a real child-like approach to the game,” he said. “That’s rare in the NBA.”

Play Video 0:59 Golden State Warriors v Cleveland Cavaliers: The biggest moments of the NBA finals so far – video

On Wednesday, that joy was tested. Cleveland feed off the thunder of their home crowd, where they had won eight straight in the playoffs after dropping Game 1 of their first-round series with the Indiana Pacers, and the speakers in this three-tier arena downtown boomed. Huge flames shot from the scoreboard. And in the roar, most of the Warriors could do nothing as the Cavs pushed them around down low. Curry looked frustrated as he tumbled to the floor and Green growled at officials as both he and Curry picked up three fouls in the first half – with Green adding a technical for an early scuffle with JR Smith.

The Cavaliers opened their biggest lead of the series at 13 points and maintained a double-digit advantage through much of the first two quarters, built mostly through the shooting of James and Smith and the rebounding of Kevin Love, who has quietly had a tremendous series. Cleveland might have run away with the, game as they have in others in this building, were it not for the Durant.

As Curry and Thompson struggled with their three-point shooting early, Durant was unstoppable, using his long arms to shoot over the Cavs’ defenders, almost single-handedly keeping Golden State in the game at half-time when they trailed just 58-52.

Then, as they often do, the Warriors exploded in the third quarter, using a quick 9-3 spurt after the break to level the score and taking off from there. JaVale McGee scored on a series of lay-ups, Curry started to find his shot and Durant kept pouring in bucket after bucket. Curry hit two free throws with 9:57 left in the third to give Golden State their first lead, stretching the margin to as much as five.

Both teams battled through a tight one-possession game throughout most of the fourth, exchanging leads but also missing several shots that could have proved difference-making for either side. Curry continued to struggle to find his shot and Durant began to shoot wildly in an attempt to shoulder the load. But with just under three minutes left, the Warriors took control. Curry scored on a lay-up, then hit his only three-pointer of the night (after missing his first nine), followed by another three-pointer from Durant to put Golden State up 106-100 with 49 seconds remaining.

Durant posed uncharacteristically as he released the ball. The arena that had roared all night was silent.

“They hit big shots,” Cleveland coach Ty Lue said of the Warriors as he sat in a press conference after the game.

He shook his head.

“That’s what they do.”