Superstar LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers stolen control of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals early, posting a 19-point score deficit lead in the first quarter and tripped to a blowout victory over the Boston Celtics on Saturday night contest at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.
The Cavaliers superstar James has finally gotten help from his teammates he had been seeking for all series long to get a much needed 116-86 victory in Game 3, cutting Celtics’ series lead down to 2-1.
As many pundits believed, James and Kevin Love did their contributions, but even the bench players in Cavs has stepped up. James tallied a total of 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting, 12 assists, five rebounds, two steals and pair of blocks while Kevin Love chipped in 13 points, four assists, 14 rebounds. The Cavaliers had four others score in double figures. Kyle Korver went perfect from the floor, J.R. Smith recalled how to shoot from beyond the arc and even Larry Nance Jr. showcased a magnificent dunk.
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The Celtics, on the other side of the four corner of Quicken Loan Arena, looked as though someone had purloined Brad Stevens’ basketball intelligent like The Monstars did to Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and other NBA superstar legends in “Space Jam” movie.
Offensively, Boston’s offense was centered on midrange attempts, and the team could only mobilize 33 percent shooting in the first period. On the defensive end, the Celtics appeared to be permeable, allowing open layups and dunks that just were not available to the Cavs in the first couple of games in the series.
The Celtics shot just 39 percent in their defeat. Rookie Jayston Tatum led the team with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Terry Rozier posted 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting.
Have the Cavaliers found the secret to puzzle out the code to taking this series bounce back from the fangs of elimination, or was this just a glitch on Celtics’ impressive playoffs campaign? That will likely be for Game 4 to determined.
The Cavaliers cut the Celtics’ series lead to 2-1, with a crucial Game 4 scheduled on Monday night in Cleveland.For all the excitement they've provided as the overachievers in the NBA playoffs, the Boston Celtics have struggled to find success on the road, a trend they will try to reverse when they take on the host Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday. The Cavaliers followed up a pair of double-digit losses in Boston to begin the series before rolling to a 116-86 win in Game 3 back home.
Cleveland raced to a 20-4 lead and never looked back against a Celtics team that shot 39.2 percent from the floor and made six 3-pointers, their lowest total this postseason.
"The toughest team sets the rules," Boston point guard Terry Rozier told reporters. "They came out aggressive from the jump and never looked back. We've got to play aggressive from the tip. Tonight, we were all over the place, playing too fast and doing things we didn't want to do."
LeBron James scored 27 points on 8-of-12 shooting - including 3-of-3 from 3-point distance - and handed out 12 assists in a dominant all-around effort that got his team back in the series.
"Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another," James told the media. "We made them make extra passes. We made them make extra dribbles. We were flying around, and I just happened to be one of the guys on the floor that wanted to fly around as well."
ABOUT THE CELTICS: Boston is 1-5 on the road in the playoffs but it knows that a victory would've been elusive no matter where they played Game 3. "If we would have played like that in Boston, we would have gotten beat," coach Brad Stevens told reporters after his team also tied a playoff low with 16 assists while getting outrebounded 45-34. Jaylen Brown is averaging 11.3 points on 42.3 percent shooting in the past three road games - compared to 23.3 on 59.6 percent in the past three at home - after being limited to 10 points with one assist and three turnovers in Game 3.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS: Starting guards George Hill and J.R. Smith combined to make six 3-pointers and score 24 points Saturday after they put up a pair of clunkers in Boston, while reserve sharpshooter Kyle Korver made all five of his shot attempts - four from long range - en route to 14 points in 20 minutes. Another complementary player stepped up on the defensive end as center Tristan Thompson stifled Celtics big man Al Horford, who was limited to seven points in Game 3 - his first single-digit showing since March 20. "You've got to give a lot of credit to Tristan because Horford is really the one that makes them go," teammate Kevin Love told the media. "[Horford] can play a little bit of the point forward. He can do a lot of the intangibles that even for their team might not show up on the box score as well. But he did a great job on him tonight, and he's done a great job on him the last two games."
