Cleveland
Durant stood motionless after dropping his 33-footer, which gave the Warriors a 106-100 lead and effectively ended the fourth straight finals matchup between the rivals.
Golden State will have four chances to wrap up its championship starting with Game 4 on Friday night.
LeBron James scored 33 points and Kevin Love 20 for the Cavs, who have fallen into a hole in which no team has ever emerged. In NBA playoff history, teams down 3-0 are 0-131.
The Warriors won despite a 3-of-16 shooting performance from Stephen Curry.
The Cavaliers quickly made seven of their first 13 shots — and throw out one of the misses, because it was on purpose.
James’ pass to himself off the backboard for a slam dunk was the early highlight as Cleveland raced to a 16-4 lead and were up 22-14 in the first quarter.
The 12-point margin represented the biggest lead of the series for the Cavaliers, who were ahead by 11 in Game 1.
J.R. Smith and Love both made 3-pointers and scored five points in the strong start.
Cleveland’s strong start was almost entirely erased, thanks largely to Durant.
The 2017 NBA Finals MVP had 13 points and was 4 for 4 from the field as Golden State cut a 12-point deficit down to 29-28 after one quarter.
Durant also grabbed all of the Warriors’ seven rebounds.
That helped Golden State overcome a combined 2-for-9 start for Curry and Klay Thompson. Curry also picked up two fouls.
Andre Iguodala entered midway through the period for his debut in this series and made his lone shot.