OAKLAND, Calif. -- It is, honestly, embarrassing in its basketball opulence.
It started as a drip, drip, drip, a steady staccato from Kevin Durant, while Steph Curry plopped in a few drops here and there, mostly from the free throw line. Then, suddenly, it was a downpour, a raging monsoon, like the sky had opened and poured everything it had.
- 7:17: Durant driving bank shot.
- 6:43 Durant pull-up 3-pointer.
- 6:21 Curry 26-foot pull-up 3-pointer.
The Warriors rolled the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the NBA Finals Sunday night, 132-113, turning a close game at the half into another demolition, setting an NBA record with their 14th consecutive playoff victory. Curry and Durant combined for 35 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists in the second-half alone, eventually combining for 65 points, 23 rebounds and 17 assists on the night.
Yes, Klay Thompson got it going. Yes, the Warriors got other contributions. But the overall sense, the overwhelming feeling from Game 2, was that Durant and Curry are both so great, you honestly can't tell who the Warriors' main man is. Kyrie Irving can go for 50 points, and you would still know LeBron James is the man. Throw out any super team, and there was always a hierarchy.
But when Curry is making LeBron dance like a puppet on strings, and Durant is catching and shooting over James with ease, when Curry is making those Curry 3-pointers no one else has ever been able to hit with such ease, when Durant is finishing and-ones with his athleticism and touch, when it's every possession, over and over?
"They're more locked in than I've ever seen them in my life," Draymond Green said of Curry and Durant. "It's personal, for both of them."
And they're playing like it. It's a moment of redemption for Curry after last year's crushing disappointment, and validation for Durant after the grief he took for joining this super team. Ironically, Durant's proving everyone right. He has tilted the NBA's competitive balance out of whack, irrevocably; he just doesn't care, nor should he.
The Warriors are too much, everywhere, but most especially with Durant and Curry. They have two players that at any point can take over a game. Klay Thompson can get hot, inferno-level hot. Draymond Green is probably the league's best defensive player. But Curry and Durant, the players who account for the last three MVPs, aren't just talented, they're in sync and can play together.
They've figured everything out. Those early season blips, the way Curry would vanish at times, or Durant would struggle to adapt? They're all gone. The Death Star is fully armed and operational and it looks more and more like the Cavs are just another planet in its sights.
"The talent on the floor in this series is unbelievable," said Steve Kerr, who returned to the Warriors' bench Sunday, and who played with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen at one point in a series against multiple Hall-of-Famers. "It really is a series that's just loaded with high-powered weapons all over the floor."
If it was just Durant, the Cavs would have a chance. Thompson was great, but so was Kevin Love. Durant was awesome, but LeBron James was incredible. But not Curry, too. You can survive one of the megastars, but unless the entire rest of the roster falls into a pit, you're not surviving both of the MVPs going off. There's just no way.
"A lot of the things you can't do defensively by having K.D. on the floor," Cavs coach Ty Lue said.
Curry wasn't even that hot in the first half. He got to the line often, mostly on 3-point fouls. But he was just 2 of 8 and the Cavs were within range.
Second-half? Curry was 5 of 9 from the field, for 17 points, and good night nurse.
With Durant, it's steady, rumbling. Not to twist the knife, but it's thunder. With Curry, it's lightning. It strikes, starts a wildfire, and spreads. Durant provided the steady beat, Curry solo'd, bringing the crowd to a frenzy. It's too much.
"They're two of our leaders we follow," Green said. "With them playing like that, it's 'everybody has to be locked in,' when you got two guys locked in like that. So they continue to do that, which I have no doubt in my mind they will, we'll continue to follow their lead."
You can't even look at Game 2 and say who was better between the two. Durant finished two steals shy of a 33-point, 5-by-5 night, in a Finals game for crying out loud, and yet it was when Curry began to draw fire from the sky in the third quarter that the game broke open. Curry was brilliant, electric, but there was KD, lifting and firing over James, getting to the rim, knocking down everything. You could spend the time to figure out which was better, but you'd first have to make the world stop spinning.
The Warriors have too many weapons, and they're all present, all the time. If the last two years made them the league's best team (if not the champions) based on how every player was a multi-faceted weapon, this is like watching an all-star game, because the presence of the two of them together just makes the game look so easy. Kyrie Irving stressed how important it is to be unwavering in his approach. Irving was asked if the Warriors' unending weapons make that effort difficult.
"Hell, no," Irving said, but at the same time, Irving made it clear just how stacked this team is, with who they have on the court at all times.
LeBron James is the best player on the planet, and he had an incredible Game 2. He put up a line of 29-11-14 with just four turnovers, shooting 12 of 18 from the field. And yet in this series, the Warriors have a 127 offensive rating with Curry and Durant on the floor vs. James, and those two have shot 53 percent from the field.
The frustration with the Cavaliers was evident, the answers short on what they can do. They fixed the turnovers, they shot better from the field, they matched the Warriors (nearly) in fast-break points.
It didn't matter.
The Warriors have too much, and it's becoming more and more apparent that everyone -- everyone -- knows it.
