We have hardly been paying attention to the playoffs because this series was all but wrapped up. The Cleveland Cavaliers had been blowing out the Boston Celtics and took two games on the road and were headed to BELIEVELAND to finish the Eastern Conference Finals.
It didn’t hurt that the C’s were without Isaiah Thomas too, who will miss the rest of the postseason with a hip injury. It was a wrap, right?
The thing is, the Celtics never gave up and kept fighting.
Boston was down by as much as 21 points in this game and they crawled back from that big of a deficit to win the game. In the fourth quarter, the Celtics went on a crazy run, tied the game and kept punching the Cavs in the throat. It all culminated to an Avery Bradley three pointer with 0.01 left in regulation to end the Cleveland unbeaten streak.
And yes, LeBron James did not have a good game. LBJ played 45 minutes, had 11 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds all game. He didn’t look engaged, even though Kevin Love dropped 28 points and Kyrie Irving had 29 points of his own and 7 assists. He didn’t even score a point in the fourth quarter and only had three points all second half.
Meanwhile, Marcus Smart played the game of his career, scoring 27 points and dishing out 7 assists in the absence of IT4. Bradley had 20 points and Kelly Olynyk had 15 points off the bench.
Just when you thought this was going to sweep, there will be a Game 5 in Boston.
"The key for us is just fighting back. We wanted to chip away…"
Avery Bradley & Marcus Smart w/ @daldridgetnt after Game 3 win. pic.twitter.com/Mij0tSDwCU
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 22, 2017
Bradley & Smart Post-game interview
FINAL: BOS 111 | CLE 108
OS REWIND: The Evolution of LeBron James’ Free Throw Shooting Technique This Season