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Wrap-Up -- The Cavaliers seemingly relentless push towards a third straight NBA Finals appearance hit a speedbump on Sunday night as they dropped their first contest of the 2017 postseason – a 111-108 thriller in Game 3 at The Q.
After spanking the Celtics by 13 points in Game 1 and destroying them by 44 two nights later, the confident Cavaliers were looking to keep pace with the Golden State Warriors out West.
And when it was announced on Saturday that Boston’s All-Star guard – and the East’s leading scorer – Isaiah Thomas would miss the remainder of the Playoffs with a hip injury – the path to the Conference title seemed to become even clearer.
Through two quarters, the game stayed on script – with Cleveland scoring 66 points in the first half and taking a 16-point lead into the locker room. But the Cavaliers cooled off in the second stanza, scoring just 21 points in each of the final two periods – allowing the scrappy Celts to mount their furious, improbable comeback.
That comeback began in the third quarter, after the Wine and Gold had extended their lead to 21 – 77-56 – midway through the period.
Boston began chipping away at Cleveland’s edge as the Cavaliers went cold in the quarter – going just 5-of-18 from the floor, including 0-of-6 from beyond the arc.
The Celtics cut the Cavaliers’ edge to just five heading to the fourth quarter and rode that momentum until Marcus Smart hit his seventh triple of the night with 5:44 to play, tying the game at 95-apiece.
Cleveland reclaimed the lead, but back-to-back buckets by Kelly Olynyk gave the Celtics their first lead of the night with just under four minutes to play.
The East’s two top squads went back and forth over the closing minutes, with Al Horford giving the Celtics their biggest lead of the night – drilling a three-pointer to make it 106-103 with 36 second remaining. But J.R. Smith tied the game right back up with a trifecta on Cleveland’s next possession.
On the Celtics’ next possession, little-used Jonas Jerebko hit a jumper from just beyond the three-point arc to give Boston back the lead. But Kyrie Irving scored on a twisting, driving layup with 10.7 to play to tie the affair at 108-apiece.
But Boston drew up an excellent play out of the timeout and a mix-up between J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert gave Avery Bradley an almost uncontested three-point attempt. Bradley – who beat the Cavs on a buzzer-beater at The Q two seasons ago – calmly stepped into the shot, which rattled around the rim just long enough to essentially kill the clock and fell in with .1 to play, giving Boston the postseason upset.
”(Bradley) was wide open,” said Kyrie Irving. “(The ball) bounced on the rim for a little bit and (they) got a game-winner and we got a slice of some humble pie. So we’ve got a lot to learn going forward. But they hit us in the mouth and now it’s our job to hit back.”
The Cavaliers were led by Irving – who finished with 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, including 4-of-6 from long-range, to go with a team-high seven assists and a steal.
Kyrie buckets 29 and KLove and TT tally double-doubles.
Kevin Love notched 22 of his 28 points in the first half – going 8-of-16 from the floor, including 7-of-13 from deep, to go with 10 boards and a game-high three blocks. Love has now doubled-up through each of the ECF’s first three games.
The third member of Cleveland’s Big Three – LeBron James – had easily his toughest game of the postseason, having his 30-point streak snapped at eight straight games after posting an 11-point effort on Sunday night.
James, the top active scorer in the 2017 Playoffs, went just 4-of-13 from the floor – including 1-for-8 after intermission – for 11 points, the fourth-lowest scoring total of his illustrious career.
”I had a tough game, period; not just in the second half,” admitted the four-time MVP. “Me personally, I didn't have it. My teammates did a great job of keeping us in the game, building that lead. But me personally, I didn't have it. That's all I've got to say about my performance.”
If the Cavaliers lacked energy in the second half, it’s not the fault of Tristan Thompson – who did non-stop battle in the post, finishing with 18 points and a game-high 13 boards, going 3-of-4 from the floor and 12-of-15 from the stripe, snagging seven of his rebounds off the offensive glass.
Both teams shot 46 percent from the floor, with Cleveland canning 16 three-pointers and the Celtics drilling 18 of their own. The Cavaliers made 36 trips to the line compared to just 12 for Boston and the Wine and Gold outrebounded Boston by eight – 46-38.
But the Cavaliers also committed 16 miscues that led to 14 Celtics’ points. And they simply couldn’t find the bottom in the second stanza of Game 3 – shooting 31 percent in the second half, hitting just a pair of triples compared to Boston’s 11 bombs.
Boston’s backcourt of Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart picked up the slack for the absent Thomas – combining for 47 points in the win, with Smart tallying a Playoff career-high 27. Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko combined to go 9-for-12 off Brad Stevens’ bench; Jerebko hitting all four shots he attempted, finishing with 10 points in just 12 minutes of work.
Turning Point -- The Cavaliers lost the game in the closing seconds – with Jerebko, Smart, Olynyk and Bradley hitting huge shots down the stretch. But Sunday’s contest came apart in the third quarter.
Cleveland was coasting, taking a three-touchdown lead at the 6:39 mark, before the Celtics came to life. When they did, it was Marcus Smart who did most of the damage – hitting three straight three-pointers, bookending a pair of free throws by Olynyk to cap a 14-3 run that cut the Cavs’ lead to 10 – 80-70.
The Wine and Gold found their footing momentarily, but Boston kept coming – closing the quarter on a 7-2 run to get to within five at the end of three quarters. In the fourth, the Celts simply chipped away until they got to within striking distance.
By the Numbers – 53 … offensive rebounds that Tristan Thompson has grabbed in the 2017 Playoffs, tops in the NBA and good for nearly half of his 109 boards so far. Thompson has grabbed double-digit boards in seven of Cleveland’s 11 postseason contests and recorded at least five offensive rebounds in six games.
Quotable – Coach Tyronn Lue, on how Boston overcame Cleveland’s 21-point lead …
”Turning the basketball over, offensive rebounds. We had some stops at times and couldn't rebound the basketball. A lot of fourth-quarter turnovers gave them life.”
Up Next -- The Cavaliers’ dreams of a undefeated run to the NBA Finals and their third straight sweep disappeared on Sunday night at The Q, but Cleveland still has a 2-1 edge with Game 4 slated for Tuesday night at The Q (and have never lost a Playoff series [14-0] after taking a 2-0 lead. Game 5 will go down on Thursday night back in Beantown and, if necessary, the series will return to the North Coast for Game 6 on Saturday night. If the East Finals go the distance, Game 7 is set for next Monday night back at the TD Garden.