OAKLAND—When Kevin Durant was asked why the Golden State Warriors were moving on to an NBA finals rematch against the Cleveland Cavaliers and his Oklahoma City Thunder were headed home, his answer said everything about today’s league.

“They beat us in the three-point line the last two games,” Durant said after Game 7. “We beat them everywhere else, they beat us from the three-point line, and that was the series.”

Behold the latest apex of this three-point revolution.

After a regular season in which Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson rewrote the long-range record books — hitting 402 and 276 threes, respectively, while providing further proof for rivals like the Thunder that elite shooting is an absolute must in the modern era — Golden State is now charged with slowing a LeBron James-led Cavaliers team that is even better than them from beyond the arc at the moment. The most ironic of matchups starts Thursday night, with Game 1 at Oracle Arena.

The Cavs, and not the Warriors, are the ones taking (33.2 per game) and making (14.4) the most threes in this post-season. The Cavs, and not the Warriors, are the ones who have improved on their long-range accuracy from the regular season (43.4 per cent, compared to 36.2 per cent). The Cavs, who traded for sharpshooter Channing Frye in February and added him to the Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, J.R. Smith crew that accounts for 70 per cent of their three-point attempts, are the ones who learned the hard way by falling to the Warriors a year ago that they needed to take a page out of their book.

They weren’t alone, either.

Consider this stat: this year’s playoffs have already included more made three-pointers for all teams than the entire 2015 post-season (1,424 to 1,421; 8.99 per game compared to 8.79). What’s more, imagine if Curry hadn’t missed six games with those right ankle and knee injuries in the first two rounds. Yet for all the credit the Warriors receive as the leaders of this movement, general manager Bob Myers believes the change was sparked before his group came together.

“I think San Antonio was the innovator as far as the spacing and shooting, what they did a few years ago, putting as many shooters out there as they good, and playing (Boris) Diaw at that stretch (power forward) position and then seeing how hard it is to defend that,” Myers said Wednesday.

“And then for us, like any team, you recognize the threat of shooting and the fact that I think every team has discovered that you’re shooting from somewhere where you get one and a half the amount of points. That has a great value, and if you can find people who can do it . . . ”

The Cavs have not only done that, but they have the luxury of using their shooters to surround one of the game’s all-time greats in James. And like Myers, the man who won finals MVP in 2015 based largely on his ability to slow James, Warriors small forward Andre Iguodala, sees this strategy as something that started long before these Warriors formed.

“You look at how the rule changes came into play, when Shaq (O’Neal) was playing with defensive three seconds (rule in 2001), with (power forwards) spreading the floor out,” Iguodala said. “You’ve got Dirk Nowitzki and the game turned a little bit international, with those guys coming into our league and having a larger impact than history showed. And the game has kind of evolved into a three-point game, and we put a really good cast of guys together and make the most of the three-point shot.”

And that’s the problem for the 28 other teams trying to get to their level.

There are only so many dead-eye shooters on the planet, and most of them just so happen to play for the two teams still standing.

“The biggest thing is just changing our mindset (from the Thunder series),” Warriors small forward Harrison Barnes said. “Coming out of the OKC series, man it was just all about putting bodies on people, rim protection, these guys are huge (and) these guys are crashing every single time. And this series it’s going to be . . . knowing who your shooters are, executing extremely well . . . Just being smart and engaged.”

Close out. Contest beyond the three-point line. Somehow help the poor soul who’s defending James as he barrels down the lane, but also get back to your shooter before the drive-and-kick pass arrives and it’s too late.

“Number one, limiting turnovers (is important),” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “They get some threes in transition when you’re scrambling around. And then I think one-on-one defense will be very important. When you start having to help off and then they’re driving and kicking, it’s tough.”

All of this is much easier said than done.

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It’s quite the fascinating factor, especially considering this: the Cavs, who were ranked 13th in the regular season at opponent’s three-point percentage (34.7 per cent), will have to guard the Warriors shooters, too.

“They’ve got shooting all over the place,” said Warriors coach Steve Kerr, whose team ranked second during the regular season in opponent’s three-point percentage (33.2). “Last year we generally were playing against two bigs, (Timofey) Mozgov and (Tristan) Thompson, so we were able to help more (defensively) around the paint and force more jumpshots. And it will be much more difficult now with Frye and Love. So our tactics will have to change a little bit.”