There was a moment in Game 2 when it was evident the Cleveland Cavaliers had no chance in the NBA finals; that the talent deficit was so great that the series wouldn’t be a contest. LeBron James barrelled towards the rim. He held off a pair of Golden State Warriors’ defenders to finish with a lay-up. Warriors coach Steve Kerr went wild. Arms circling. Face contorting. He wanted his players to up the tempo to match Cleveland’s speed and tenacity.

But they didn’t. And it didn’t matter. Stephen Curry dribbled the ball over mid-court at a pace a tick above a walk before hoisting a shot from 25ft. Three points. It was easy.

And therein lies the Warriors Problem: they’re better than you even at half speed. Even with James, one of the greatest players of all time, on your team. Even with the players ignoring their coach’s orders. Even when one of their stars has a miserable night: when Kevin Durant underperformed in Game 2, Curry stepped up. And when Curry was missing three-pointers on Wednesday night in Game 3, Durant scored 43 points to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead in the series.

It’s a math problem: three points are better than two. And the Warriors are better at them than you – by a lot, unless you’re the Rockets. And they have four outstanding players, and you have two , if you’re lucky.

The ease of it all is soul crushing to opponents. Rainbow shots from close to mid-court aren’t too bad. They almost force a chuckle. But the rest of them; the meandering, whatever we want, whenever we want, shots are killers. Game 3 was Durant’s turn to put a dagger to Cavs’ hearts. His fourth-quarter, back-breaking, three all but shut down the series. There will be no talk of maybe, possibly. This series is done.

“That was an amazing shot,” Klay Thompson said after the game. “He looked like he was 37-38ft from the rim. When he’s got it going, it’s almost impossible to stop.” It was eerily similar to the three Durant drained in James’ face a little over a year ago on the way to his first championship. “I mean, that’s what [Durant] does,” a deflated James said after the game. “He’s a scorer. You know, he’s an assassin, and that was one of those assassin plays right there.”

Basketball fans are still annoyed with Durant for leaving Oklahoma City to join the Warriors. It’s clear why: it doesn’t seem fair. Two of their four best players can go awol in a finals match-up and it doesn’t make a difference. Inevitability is the worst feeling in sports. It saps all fun and intrigue from a game, a series, a season.

James appeared to have it once. We thought Miami Heat would dominate the league for a decade after he joined them in 2010. Dirk Nowitzki put an end to that before the San Antonio Spurs stepped up in 2014. Even when the Heat ran through Durant and his Oklahoma City team in the 2012 finals, they had hard-fought battles to get out of the East .

It’s different for Golden State. They were pushed to the brink in the Western Conference finals against Houston, yet there was a sense of inevitability; a feeling that they could ratchet up their game whenever they pleased. And they did.

It wasn’t always this way. Before Durant rocked up in Silicon Valley there was struggle and fight and pain. Golden State, down 10, with a couple of minutes to go, was the most exhilarating thing in the game, perhaps all of sports. Basketball junkies couldn’t wait for their next fix. The team moved at a frenzied pace, but always seemed in control – evaporating what were once considered insurmountable leads in the blink of an eye. Down 27 with nine minutes to go in the third quarter? Pfft. Easy.

That’s gone now. Now they chuck the ball to Durant: the only seven-footer on Earth who’s equally as comfortable leading a fast-break as he is pulling up from 35ft. No one can even get close to his shot. Games are regularly over before we get to crunch time.

Before the season, we knew we’d get Warriors-Cleveland Part IV, with Golden State rolling through LeBron and company sans Kyrie Irving. We delighted in the fleeting moment of uncertainty in Game 1, when LeBron dropped 50, and the impossible seemed merely unlikely. But George Hill fluffed his lines. And Smith’s moment of amnesia cost the Cavs their only shot at pulling off the unthinkable

In the end, it’s pretty simple: These two teams play in different leagues. One hustles to make a critical two, while the other swaggers into open threes. One works hard, while the other finds it easy. Now, the only thing we have left to argue is whether Durant or Curry will win the finals MVP award, and where LeBron will play next year. A sweep feels inescapable at this point. Perhaps James musters another all-time effort. Perhaps the Warriors’ level takes a dip, happy to secure the title on their home court. But that’s all we have now. We knew it would be this way back in August.