Playoff Live Thread (Game 3): Cavs vs Celtics
Happy Saturday, Cavs fans. After an unexpected throttling of the Boston Celtics, Thursday, the Cavaliers return to the banks of Lake Erie to host the Boston Celtics in front of what promises to be a raucus crowd. After breakout games from Evan Mobley (21/10/5 and three stocks) and Caris LeVert (21/6/3) which centered around relentlessly attacking the rim, the Cavs have found a weakness in the Boston D. The wine and gold also got out on the Celtics shooters. As Tim Bontemps of ESPN noted. (Thanks for pulling the quote, Sweetchi.)
Boston was just 8-for-35 from 3-point range — though Second Spectrum tracking data showed that 77.1% of those triples were heavily contested shots, the highest percentage in any game the Celtics have played with Joe Mazzulla as coach over the past two seasons.
Expect a lot more screening to open up Boston shooters and to force mismatches on Cavalier switches.
As far as the injury watch goes, the word as of 7:30 is maybe Wade, but Allen less likely. TY Jerome and Craig Porter Junior are out.
Expect Dean Wade to get a huge ovation if he checks in, and given Mobley a success starting at the five, Wade getting some minutes as a quality four might be even more important for Cleveland. For Boston, only the Zinger remains out.
Cleveland has to keep doing what they’re doing, keep the turnovers now (just 10 in game 2!), set screens, and run the offense. Boston is going to try to do what Denver did last night: turn the tables on the home team in their own building. So just don’t get lazy and bored with success. Go Cavs.