LeBron, Cavs try to shake ‘weird’ loss in Game 3 to Celtics

James said reviewing the film from Game 3 was not “tough to watch” because it was clear what changed the game in the second half.

Love continued to knock down shots from the outside, Irving sliced his way into the lane to the rim and James got free for several of his one-handed, tomahawk dunks.

Al Horford controls the ball against LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second half of Game Three of the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference Finals. People of his stature, well, there’s only three, but people like him, you gotta play confident the whole night and play aggressive. Without Isaiah the Celtics wouldn’t be the first seed, they might not even be in the playoffs and they nearly certainly wouldn’t have battled all the way through to the Conference Finals, so in a way the team kind of owed IT the win. A 7-0 run by Boston again cut the lead to single digits, but as was the pattern of the first half, the lead was boosted and Cleveland led 66-50 at halftime, the trio of Irving, James and Love scoring 17 of the Cavaliers’ final 22 points of the half.

The loss ended the champions’ 13-game post-season winning streak. They took Game 3, defeating the Cavaliers 111-108.

The chatter about an NBA Finals matchup of teams with unblemished playoff records is gone (the Golden State Warriors have advanced without a loss), but the challenge from the Celtics has sharpened the focus of the defending champs.

“I mean, Shump (Iman Shumpert) called switch”, Smith said. Each player brings a necessary skill set, whether it is Bradley’s ever-improving “three and D” game or Smart’s aggressive defense and hustle. But this to me was a flawless example [of the Cavs saying] ‘We’re going to win the series.

The Celtics, after getting crushed in Games 1 and 2 and losing Isaiah Thomas to a hip injury, improbably rallied behind some hot shooting and a lackluster performance from LeBron James to steal a win in what had looked like a finished series. And speaking of rare, even leaving aside the odds and the arc both teams were tracing, there are a few other things that should not have happened in Game 3, but did.

All season, the evidence has suggested that the Cavs, as deeply talented as they are, need James to be his most dominant to win games. Marcus Smart – who is very possibly the worst high-volume three-point shooter in National Basketball Association history at this point – went 7-10 from deep.

The Heat went on to lose that series and a more determined, focused LeBron responded by leading Miami to back-to-back National Basketball Association titles.

Boston trailed 2-0 in the first round against Chicago, but won the next four.

On the team’s performance being down 21 without Isaiah Thomas: “We were playing way better”. They were more physical. Boston apparently won’t go down without a fight as some previously expected, but another outright win in Cleveland is a dubious proposition.

Jerebko, in just 12½ minutes, went 2-for-2 on his 3-point attempts to finish with 10 points, five rebounds, a blocked shot and an assist. “You take it hard when you go home, but then the next day, you wake up and it’s a new day”. “We were playing way better”, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said after Sunday night’s comeback.

Stevens looked beyond the scoring numbers James put up in Game 3.

“I’ve always stayed even-keeled”, James said. “He just made it over and over”.

“The guy is a tremendous basketball player”. Smith wrote. Deron Williams played 18 minutes after sustaining a shoulder “stinger” in Game 3. He’s a really good defender.