The Cleveland Cavaliers came back to take Game 3 on Wednesday night after beating Golden State, 120-90. A big part of the win was the play of LeBron James, who had his best all-around game of the series and finished with 32 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists. But the biggest highlight of the game was his monster dunk that had the whole NBA talking.
It’s one of those epic plays – Kyrie Irving, who threw the pass, said after the game that he “wanted to see something great” – that we’ve come to expect from LeBron. And now we can watch it a whole bunch of times thanks to the NBA, who made a compilation of it!
Let’s start a bit earlier in the play, though, when he falls, fumbles the ball, and maintains his dribble while getting back up again. That alone was insanely impressive. And that’s how you know you’re watching playoff basketball. If it’s the regular season, James probably lets that one go. But this is the Finals, his team is down 0-2, and he needed that ball more than anyone. So he willed himself to keep it in play. The beauty of that is he was instantly rewarded with the alley-oop pass to slam it home.
The sheer power that LeBron dunks with, especially at his age, is awe-inspiring. No doubt this man won the genetic lottery and is one of the best at conditioning, staying healthy, and in shape. He never did participate in the Dunk Contest, but at least we can relive this, and all of his other incredible dunks over the years thanks to the wonder of YouTube.
