Saturday’s win sets up Game 4 back in Cleveland Monday night, the game that should determine which of these teams go to the NBA Finals.
“They will be ready in Game 4,” James said of the Celtics in his postgame interview with ESPN’s Doris Burke. “[Celtics Coach Brad Stevens] will have his guys ready.”
If Cleveland can win again Monday, it seems unlikely he’ll be denied a victory in Boston in one of Games 5 or 7. Given how poorly the Celtics have played on the road in these playoffs (more on that in a minute), expecting them to win in Cleveland to either stay alive or close out the Cavaliers in Game 6 seems like too much to expect.
If Boston can win Monday, though, the Celtics will go back home for Wednesday’s Game 5 with all of the momentum, and the Cavaliers, a fragile team to begin with, could easily break having to face a 3-1 deficit.
Sure, the Cavaliers did that two years ago to beat a far better team, the 73-win Golden State Warriors, and win an NBA title. But this isn’t the same Cavaliers team — not by a long shot.
It doesn’t need to be, though, to beat Boston three more times. After losing Game 3, Boston is now 1-5 in six road games in these playoffs. The Celtics are 15th among 16 teams in field goal percentage in the playoffs and 15th in three-point field goal percentage on the road. They now have been outscored by 75 points in those six games, an average of 12.5 points per game.
That’s a lot of data that points to Boston having trouble winning in Cleveland. If the Celtics can find a way to reverse that trend in Game 4, the series will be in their hands.
As is usually the case when teams switch venues in a series, the supporting players rose and fell depending where they were playing. All five Cavaliers starters finished in double figures, led by 27 points and 12 assists from James. Cleveland shot 17-for-34 from three.
More importantly, the Cavaliers simply looked more engaged. They were playing hard from the start, flying around the court defensively in an effort inspired in part by making shots.
“It was a combination of both,” James said. “More importantly when we broke down defensively we had guys flying at guys … not giving up on plays like in Game 1 and 2. That was a big part in us being a lot better defensively today.”
That shot-making began with George Hill, who got off to a hot start and scored 13 points — all in the first half — to help Cleveland open up a 20-point halftime lead. J.R. Smith had hit two shots in the first two games, including no threes, but hit three triples in Game 3. Kyle Korver went a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, scoring 14 points off the bench.
Kevin Love went just 4-for-14 from the field, but finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. Tristan Thompson had 10 points and seven rebounds and formed a devastatingly effective pick-and-roll partnership with James.
It was basically everything Cleveland didn’t get in the first two games from its supporting cast.
“George Hill was phenomenal from the start, being aggressive,” James said. “Even though Kevin wasn’t hitting shots early he was being aggressive. J.R. was hitting shots. Tristan was being really good screening and rolling. We had our focus, and offensively and defensively we were good.”
Boston, meanwhile, got none of that. Jayson Tatum was good, scoring 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting. The rest of the Celtics, though, were awful. Boston shot 39 percent from the field overall, and just 6-for-22 from three. The Celtics had four fast break points after getting 11 and 12 in Games 1 and 2, respectively.
All of this was expected. Cleveland was desperate and Boston had the 2-0 advantage. It now sets up the game that will truly decide this series Monday night.
Whoever wins that game becomes the favorite to advance. LeBron James isn’t done yet.
source : https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2018/05/19/nba-playoffs-cleveland-cavaliers-boston-celtics-game-3/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.550095ec5403
