Live Thread: Cavs @ Celtics, Game 3
2015-04-23LeBron James returns to Boston for playoff ball tonight. It’s his first time there for such an occasion in three years. His last performance at the TD Garden was one for the ages. With the Miami Heat down to Boston 3-2 in 2012, LeBron had to perform on the road to keep the Heat’s championship run alive. He put up 45 points, ripped down 15 rebounds, and handed out five assists with just four turnovers in 45 minutes of action. The Heat won that series and eventually the title.
Will he be able to repeat that performance? The circumstances are certainly different tonight. The Cavs lead the series 2-0 and should come out on top when the series is over. The Cavs have beat the Celtics by 13 points and eight points in the first two games respectively, but they have yet to be totally dominant for 48 straight minutes.Â
Some things to watch this game:
-Can the Cavs take care of the ball? They had 18 turnovers last game. The King had five of his own.
-Will the team crush the Celtics’ hope? In games one and two, the Cavs took leads, but let the Celtics back into the game. That’s not winning ball. The Wine & Gold need to get used to grabbing a lead and adding onto it until the other team no longer wants to play.
-David Blatt is going to be adamant about ball movement. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James scored all of Cleveland’s points in the fourth quarter last game and notched just two assists doing so. The Cavs need to save the hero ball for a series that requires heroics. Watch for the extra pass.
I’m picking the Cavs to win this one, 113-92. The Cavs are going to come out firing on all cylinders, so they can avoid hearing any news stories about their play needing to improve heading into the next round. LeBron will be shooting to have a deja vu moment to the last time he was in Boston. Tearing up the Celtics on their home court could become a tradition.
Make sure you watch Iman Shumpert’s rap about the playoffs above. He mentions every single Cav on the team. Iman also cements himself as the best basketball player to release a rap this month. Ron Artest attempted to take that title today with his track “Florida.” He failed miserably.
What are your thoughts?
Carelessness by the king there.
Ugh
I wasn’t sure what happened. Was off trying to type and then the turnover.
LeBron tried to pull an in & out on Crowder and he poked the ball over the time line.
Hey, a vapor foul on Crowder!
Refs doing their best to keep the C’s in this one…
My favorite crunch time lineup.
Another clean defensive play by Love results in a foul.
HE beat em THAT time!
Big rebound there guys.
Kyrie, “Let me push this back up to eight.”
They really seem to be determined to not let Kyrie beat them this game…
Seriously, bring in Perk to just deck someone.
I’m pretty sure that Crowder is a Twi’lek
Cavs locked in. Love their demeanor.
Tt I think wants to splat one of the Celtics on the low blocks v
I rarely complain about the officials, but good god …
This is Lakers-Kings Game 6, if the Kings could actually hit an outside shot in that game.
Where’s Lauren when you need her?
Is there a chart somewhere to tell us what the Celtics are allowed to do that the Cavs aren’t?
I think it’s set out in that movie Celtic Pride, everything short of kidnapping is allowed for the Celtics in Boston. Other team, not so much.
ALLEY OOP!
tt going to go Canadian dynamite.
Boston’s offense is working right now. Lotta open looks inside.
That was a tie up when Crowder did it to Mozgov.
Bron with another deep two
How can it only be seven points?
(That’s what Lebron said.)
Aussie Iso isn’t a good idea.
Which flintstone cartoon character had that hair cut ?
The datome cut Man my iPhone is giving me fits.
Pebbles
That nickname is reserved for Noah though… bust it out in the next round…
Ok, guys, this would be a good time to cut down on the 3’s. The only way the Celtics get back in it is if you have a scoring drought.
But they’re such good looks and we’re making them.
Threes are high value shots. They can’t get inside without getting punched in the face. Better to take a 3 than a long 2 if the refs won’t let you drive.
But long twos are not high value shots…
Agreed. They need to take 3s if they can’t get inside. 20 foot 2s don’t help if you make them at the same rate as 3s.
The way James is playing . . . you can tell it’s the playoffs.
He even made both free throws after the flagrant late in the first half. In a regular-season game, he would have missed both.
Come on Cavs! Put the dagger down!
I wish a haD a Simmons cam for LBJ ‘s bank shot.
JRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!
So Chris Webber is mad that the refs called a foul that actually happened, just because they didn’t see it?
Someone must hint about calling timeouts. It will be funny the time someone calls him out.
Chris also called a timeout once when he didn’t have one… so it’s all relative…
Yeah I will never forget it. Think anyone will ever razz him on air about that. ?
He called glass right?
Yeah. I heard it.
LeBron with the long-distance call to the bank.
Marv Albert hasn’t seen a single Cavs game this season.
I hate watching dolly dribble.
I don’t understand how Shump ‘s hip hop hasn’t taken off…
Isaiah Thomas with three points. I think that’s a camoflauged eraser on the top of SHUMP’s head.
Poor little celtics. They try so hard. But are so inadequate.
Andy in the “urban camo” sport coat tonight. I can’t wait for him in the Miami Vice reboot.
I want his pink linen jacket. That’s a nice sportcoat.
It has to happen. Could smith play tubbs
Love and TT play the world’s most conspicuous smugglers.
Irving is terrible tonight but we are still killing them.
Terrible because he’s getting double teamed every time he sees the ball and fouled on every drive? You’re out of your mind
He can’t do anything without the Celtics getting handsier than an old man on the Tokyo Underground and the refs aren’t calling any of it. Hard to look good when you can’t get a shot off.
Paging Cols714. Cols where are you friend? Hopefully not stuck in traffic.
Shump is probably not the guy who’s gonna hit a buzzer beater at the end of a quarter…
Sullinger’s shot looked good in the slo-motion replay . . . oh, that was in real time. That is not a fast man.
Cavs cruising to a sweep.
You just wait for the score line to move to eight and then click on “submit comment” don’t you Cols?
Be afraid Boston… be VERY AFRAID… JR SWISH is BACK!
Just finish them early this quarter. A good defensive quarter and it’s over.
Thanks God Jr is shooting well today.
Smith is locked and loaded.
JR FREAKING SWISH!!!!
JR is cold. Cold blooded!
I cannot STAND the media’s desperate attempts to make KLove sound inadequate. Marv Albert calling Love’s game 1 of 19 points and 12 boards “so-so” is unbelievable. Sorry just a pet peeve!
Does Crowder just practice grabbing balls all day long?
One, Marv. We’ve seen one tie up. They called it a foul on Irving.
Tie up? Crowder grabbed his hands.
Good energy on defense from the Cavs. Just keep this lead and finish them in the 4th.
Is it just me… or does Marv Albert just sound desperate for the Celtics to get back in this?
Bulls are getting killed in the other game, video truck told Marv to sell the crap out of this game, league is bleeding ratings.
Sure looked like Ike just fell out of bounds there…
Like to think of Simmons moping every time Love makes a great play. Buries the Celtics and any chance he’ll leave.
I think everybody sees the need for stretch 4’s but pontificate about it if your teams doesn’t employ one. We have one that is grooving now.
Cavs have better than a stretch 4. They have a Swiss Army knife 4.
“Hey, Bill. Love sure looks comfortable in the Garden, wouldn’t ya say?”
Cavs need to sweep the leg right here…
What was the foul there?
KLOVE!!! Bill Simmons must be beside himself seeing Love shoot so well in the Garden…
Simmons might need his wife to remedy his blue balls.
Stay aggressive on defense, Cavs.
LeBron with the hockey assist to set up a Love 3 via JR.
Hockey assists need to be kept next year. Nth eye in the sky can track it I bet.
Nice sneaky little push from Love knocked Zeller off his line. Finally a dirty play went for the Cavs.
I was giddy about that. He was stealth on it.
WHAT A STEAL by Kyrie!!!
What hands by Irving on the steal and LeBron on the catch and finish.
Over half the Cavs baskets this quarter are threes. A Third of celtics are freebies.
Whoa that was intense for a couple minutes — refs lost control of the game.
Cavs just unrepentant three point shooters. I keep thinking they should go to the post but the keep firing away and making enough to keep the lead.
If the refs won’t let them go inside then they’re not gonna throw themselves into a wall of fouls that don’t get called.
Kyrie is getting pounded tonight when he drives. But not getting any help from the refs.
“Let’s bake this cake” from Blake Griffin will never not be so stupid it’s hilarious.
Is that the audio of the huddle?
That Optima commercial on the aircraft carrier.
Haha. For some reason I read that as “Blatt” not “Blake” I’m amped up.
Funny… that’s what Boris Diaw said to Blake when he stole the ball last night and the Spurs tied it up…
These rims are soft in Boston…
Clean block by Love on the replay… smh
i dont really know if the refs are looking for retribution fouls when they miss some on both ways. it is painful reading the celtics blog. they are frustrated that LBJ gets superstar calls. what they miss though is he is strong and big that the smaller fouls dont get called for him. you almost have to smack him to prevent his and 1 finishes.
the other thing about the celtics blog that makes me laugh is how they seem to play up the underdog story.
I appreciate how Stevens coaches and how this young team hustles, but Celtics fans are the worst people in the world who aren’t a human trafficking crime syndicate or Somalian pirates or something actively evil.
Well played Mac!