NBA Preview: The Cavs look to regain control of this series after a stunning defeat while LeBron James will look to bounce back from a subpar performance in Game 3.
#1 Boston Celtics (62-36) at #2 Cleveland Cavaliers (61-32), Tuesday, 8:30 p.m. EST
Line: Cavaliers -14.5. Total 215.5.
Series: Cavaliers lead 2-1.
The Celtics shocked the basketball world Sunday night in Game 3. Some television people are calling it the biggest upset in playoff history. Perhaps it is considering how thoroughly the Cavaliers dominated them two nights before at Boston.
Cleveland led Game 3 by 16 points at the half and 21 points with 6:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Cavs were just 18-plus minutes away from taking a 3-0 stranglehold on the series. Some newspaper and online reporters in the press box were already drafting their headlines, sub-headers, opening paragraphs and talking points for Cleveland’s Game 3 victory to get a jump on their deadlines.
However, a strange thing happened during the final 18-plus minutes of the game. The Celtics figured some things out. Boston outscored the Cavaliers 55-31 to finish the game while Avery Bradley’s three-pointer with one-tenth of a second remaining broke a tie game to give the Celtics a stunning 111-108 victory.
The Celtics held LeBron James to just three points in the second half and kept him scoreless in the fourth quarter. James finished the game with just 11 points, 6 assists and 6 boards. His 11 points scored in Game 3 snapped a streak of 8 straight games that James had scored 30 or more points. LeBron shot 4-for-13, which was the first game this postseason that he did not shoot at least 50% from the field.
Boston started hitting three-pointers for a good percentage in the second half. The Celtics shot 11-for-22 from beyond the arc in the second half. Marcus Smart was 5-for-6, Bradley was 2-for-4 and Jonas Jerebko was 2-for-2. Jerebko hit a huge three with 30 seconds left in the game to give Boston a 108-106 lead.
It was the tale of two halves for the Cavaliers as they shot 60% from the field in the first half and just 31.4% in the second half. Cleveland shot 63.6% from three-point land in the first half and just 11.8% in the second half.
King James took some heat after the game for his bad night. It appeared as though LeBron had lost the aggression he showed in Boston during the first two games when he took the ball to the rack early and often. However, his teammates were burying three-pointers in the first quarter, shooting 9-for-13 (64.7%). Kevin Love was 5-for-7, Kyrie Irving was 3-for-3 while JR Smith was 1-for-1 from beyond the arc.
The Cavaliers led by 11 points at the end of the first quarter and 16 points at the half. There was no need for LeBron to be aggressive at that point of the game. The Cavs were in complete control of the contest and series at that point.
However, Boston deserves a lot of credit for digging in during the second half and not quitting. Nobody would have blamed them and everybody was expecting them to quit once they were down 21 points in the third quarter. Coach Brad Stevens made some defensive adjustments and drew up an outstanding play during the timeout to set up Bradley’s game-winning shot.
Let’s not forget that Boston won this game without their leading scorer Isaiah Thomas. The second-team all-NBA selection will miss the remainder of the playoffs with an aggravation of a right femoral-acetabular impingement with labral tear. Ok, Thomas has a hip injury. However, that hip injury may need offseason surgery to repair the tears in the labrum.
The upset win snapped the Cavaliers’ 13-game postseason winning streak. Cleveland’s loss also prevented them from becoming the third team in NBA history to start the playoffs 11-0.
Kevin Love had another good outing in Game 3 with 28 points and 10 rebounds while Kyrie Irving added 29 points and 7 assists. Tristan Thompson added 18 points and 13 boards while JR Smith had 13 points and 8 rebounds for the Cavs.
Smart finished with 27 points on 7-for-10 from three-point land, while Bradley added 20 points for Boston. Al Horford had 16 points and 6 assists while Jae Crowder had 14 points and 11 boards. Kelly Olynyk scored 15 points and Jonas Jerebko added 10 points off the bench.
From a handicapping perspective, the question is whether the Celtics can repeat their performance for Game 4. Are the Celtics going to hit 18 three-pointers again? Can they possibly even come close to holding King James to 11 points again? I highly doubt that the latter happens again. LeBron will be in full bounce-back mode and I expect him to attack the rim the same way he did the first two games at Boston.
Cleveland Coach Tyronn Lue will make some adjustments for Game 4. The Cavaliers do not want to hand home court advantage back to Boston.
My postseason record: 16-7 (+$745).
My pick:
No play tonight although I do have a lean to the Over in this game.
Good luck.
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