Celtics stun Cavaliers 111-108
BY STONE LEXINGTON
CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER
Eighteen days. That’s how long it had been since the Cleveland Cavaliers played on their home floor. It wasn’t their fault. Well, sort of.
The Cavs have been absolutely dominant in the 2017 NBA Playoffs, winning their first 13 games of the postseason by an average of more than 10 points per game. That streak, however, was snapped Sunday evening in Quicken Loans Arena as Celtics shooting guard Avery Bradley’s game-winning three-pointer rolled around the rim and in to give Boston a 111-108 victory in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Finals matchup.
A Cavs win would have broken the Los Angeles’ Lakers (1988-89) record of 13 straight postseason wins, but the Celtics wouldn’t go away after trailing 66-50 at halftime, ultimately setting the series at 2-1.
“Momentum,” LeBron James chalked up as the reason for the Cavs first loss this postseason. “We didn’t continue to press the tempo.”
With Cleveland’s large halftime lead, visions of the previous two games may have begun to enter fans’ minds. Cleveland won Game 1 of the series by 13 points, a final score that wasn’t necessarily indicative of the contest, and led Game 2 by as many as 50 points in one of the worst blowouts in NBA postseason history.
It looked like the Cavs were on their way to another dominating victory, but the scrappy Celtics, minus star and leading scorer Isaiah Thomas, crawled back to trail 87-82 heading into the fourth quarter. By the time Boston shooting guard Marcus Smart drained a three-pointer with 5:43 remaining, the Celtics had climbed all the way back to tie the game at 95 apiece. When Cleveland villain Kelly Olynyk sank a floater with 4:20 left, Boston took its first lead since an early 5-3 advantage, 99-98.
A Kyrie Irving layup tied the game at 108 with 10 seconds to play, but Bradley’s miraculous three-pointer sent Cavs fans home dejected moments later.
“Turnovers,” Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue offered as an explanation for the Celtics comeback. “Turning the basketball over, offensive rebounds; we had some stops at times and couldn’t rebound the basketball, but a lot of fourth quarter turnovers that gave them life.”
Irving led Cleveland with a game-high 29 points and seven assists, while Kevin Love added 28 points and 10 rebonds. Meanwhile, LeBron James had by far his worst game of the postseason.
James finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists in Game 3, the first time this postseason that he didn’t reach at least 30 points.
“He’s human, so he’s going to have a night like this,” Lue said. “He didn’t shoot the ball well, and we still had a 20-point lead. (It’s) a game we should have won, but they played hard, they scrapped. They have a scrappy team; we knew that coming into tonight. We knew it wouldn’t be easy.”
James acknowledged his struggles, scoring just three points in the second half.
“I had a tough game, period,” he said. “Not just in the second half, me personally, I just didn’t have it. My teammates did a great job of keeping us in the game, building that lead. But me personally, I just didn’t have it.”
Bradley’s game-winner brought his total to 20 points for the night. Smart was the unsung hero, however, finishing with a team-high 27 points and seven assists.
Part of the reason the Cavs hadn’t played at The Q in so long is that the Celtics had home-court advantage in the series. That quickly vanished after the Cavs bludgeoned Boston in Games 1 and 2. The last time Cleveland played at home was May 3 in a 22-point blowout of the Toronto Raptors. Cleveland swept their series with the Raptors, after sweeping their opening round series with the Indiana Pacers, which contributed to the layoff.
How dominant had the Cavs been in the 2017 postseason? Cleveland entered Sunday averaging a franchise-playoff record 116.3 points per game, while leading all playoff teams in field goal percentage (.497), three-point percentage (.433), offensive rating (119.4) and three-pointers made per game (14.5)
Dating back to the 2015 postseason, the Cavs are 34-5 versus East opponents. That fifth loss has to be particularly disappointing after Cleveland led by 20-plus points in the third quarter Sunday. Game 4 will be in Cleveland Tuesday night..
POSTED 05/22/2017 00:09
Lake County Sentinel
