Before taking the floor Gerald McCoy Jersey , LeBron James stood in the hallway with his teammates outside Cleveland’s locker room and pounded his chest with both hands.
The Celtics got thumped next.
James had 27 points and 12 assists, Kevin Love added 14 rebounds and the Cavaliers looked like a different team on their home court, tightening the Eastern Conference finals with a 116-86 victory in Game 3 over Boston on Saturday night.
Outplayed during two losses in Boston, the Cavs used a three-day break in the series to regroup and re-grip this series. With James leading the way, they built a 19-point lead in the first quarter, pushed it to 30 in the second half and overpowered the Celtics, who fell to 1-5 on the road in the postseason.
Any discussion of Cleveland’s demise is premature. Kyle Korver made four of the team’s 17 3-pointers, six players scored in double figures and the Cavs, who have spent the season seeking chemistry and cohesion, were connected defensively.
”Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another,” James said. ”We made them make extra passes. We made them make extra dribbles. We were flying around, and I just happened to be one of the guys on the floor that wanted to fly around as well.”
Game 4 is Monday night before the series returns to Boston.
Jaylen Brown was in foul trouble all night and scored just 10 for the Celtics after averaging 23 in the first two games. Jayson Tatum scored 18 and Terry Rozier 13 for Boston, which couldn’t match Cleveland in any aspect.
”They took it to us,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. ”Point blank: They just outplayed us.”
Only 19 of a possible 300 teams have ever overcome a 2-0 deficit in the playoffs. James and the Cavs, who previously did it in 2007 and again in 2016 while winning the NBA title Brandon Carr Jersey , took the first step toward a third comeback.
To return to the NBA Finals for the fourth straight year, the Cavs have to win four of five and re-write Boston’s illustrious history. The Celtics are 37-0 when they win the first two games in a series.
The Cavs came in wanting to play faster and be more physical with the younger Celtics, who were the aggressors in Games 1 and 2.
Not this time.
”The toughest team sets the rules,” Rozier said. ”They came out aggressive from the jump and never looked back. We’ve got to play aggressive from the rip. Tonight, we were all over the place, playing too fast and doing things we didn’t want to do.”
The Cavs needed more from point guard George Hill after two poor performances (8 points, 1 assist) in Boston. Hill responded with a driving layup to start the game and drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Cleveland wasted no time taking control.
Hill finished with 13, J.R. Smith 11 – they were outscored 41-3 in Game 2 – and Cleveland’s supporting cast played so well that James was only on the floor for 37 minutes.
Stevens was confident his team would play better on the road than earlier in these playoffs, but the Celtics were shaky early, committing four turnovers and shooting 2 of 10 while the Cavs opened a 27-11 lead.
James said earlier Saturday the fact he has twice rallied from 2-0 deficits in the postseason offered no relief.
”There’s nothing about the playoffs that’s comfortable until you either win it all or you lose and go into the summer,” he said.
Summer might not be as close as it once seemed.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Seeking to become the sixth No. 2 seed to win the East in eight years. Boston was a No. 4 seed when it advanced to the finals in 2010. … Fell to 3-8 in playoff games in Cleveland, the most by a Cavs opponent at the Q. … Stevens was relieved to learn that Boston legend Bill Russell was recovering after a hospital stay brought on by dehydration. Russell won 11 NBA titles with the Celtics. ”He’s the ultimate basketball winner,” Stevens said. ”The way he impacted winning, the unselfishness of a teammate, what he stood for off the floor – everything about him.”
Cavaliers: James needs six field goals to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,356) for the most in postseason history. … Cleveland has won six straight playoff games at home. … Improved to 14-6 vs. Boston in the playoffs.
DOWN BROWN
The Cavs focused their defense on slowing Brown Wes Schweitzer Jersey , and it worked. He was 3 of 8 from the floor and never found his flow after getting two early fouls.
”They were denying me the ball, and when I did get it, it was in positions that I’m not comfortable in,” he said. ”Give credit to Cleveland. They were physical and we settled for jumpers too much.”
DOWN TIME
The long layoff between Games 2 and 3 revived the Cavs.
”It was three days of stewing on Game 2,” Korver said. ”It probably did something good in us. It’s frustrating to have to wait that long for another game. We were able to put in some new things on offense, too.”
ROAD KILL
Before the game, Stevens downplayed his team’s road issues, saying there was a ”small sample size.”
It got a little bigger, and a little more troubling. Still, he won’t focus on Boston’s road woes.
”In my 11 years as a head coach, I probably haven’t talked about road and home five times with our team,” he said. ”It’s about how you play between the lines. Because I think if you start talking about that, then you find excuses in both places. We can’t play like we played tonight no matter where we played. If we would have played in Boston like that, we There’s a new regular-season champion in the Eastern Conference.
Serge Ibaka scored a season-high 25 points, DeMar DeRozan had 12 and the Toronto Raptors beat the Indiana Pacers 92-73 on Friday night, clinching the top seed in the East for the first time in team history.
”There’s gratification but you’re not satisfied Earl Thomas III Jersey ,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. ”We haven’t got to our ultimate goal, but it’s a feeling of gratification.”
Jakob Poeltl scored 10 points as the Raptors set franchise records for wins in a season (57) and home wins (33).
”We’ve got home-court advantage throughout the (East) playoffs,” DeRozan said, ”so let’s use that to our advantage.”
The Raptors have lost to LeBron James and Cavaliers in each of the past two postseasons, including a Conference finals defeat two years ago and a second-round exit last spring.
Toronto is the seventh different team in as many years to finish first in the East, following Chicago, Miami, Indiana, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boston. Still, James’ team has represented the East in the NBA Finals in each of those years.
Kyle Lowry had nine points and nine assists, and Jonas Valanciunas added 12 rebounds for Toronto, which never trailed in its ninth consecutive home victory over the Pacers. Toronto also locked up its fourth Atlantic Division title in the past five years.
”The journey is not over,” Lowry said.
The Pacers have not won north of the border since March 1, 2013.
Indiana came in after completing a season sweep of reigning NBA champion Golden State with a 126-106 home victory on Thursday night. However, the Pacers fell behind in a poor-shooting first quarter and never seriously challenged in this one.
”They pressured us Byron Maxwell Jersey , they pushed the tempo,” Pacers coach Nate McMIllan said. ”We just didn’t have any legs.”
Glenn Robinson III scored 12 points and Trevor Booker had 11 for the Pacers. Indiana shot 26 for 87 (29.9 percent) and set season-lows in points, made field goals, and field goal percentage.
”They’re a tough team,” Casey said. ”We caught them at a good time.”
After Bojan Bogdanovic made a jump shot with 8:28 left in the first, the Pacers missed 10 straight shots over the next five minutes before Domantas Sabonis snapped the slump with layup at 3:09. Indiana missed 18 of its first 21 shots attempts before ending the first with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Ibaka scored 10 points in the opening quarter and Toronto led 26-14 after one.
Booker made a pair of free throws as Indiana cut it to 32-28 with 5:04 left in the half but Toronto regained control with an 8-0 run. The Raptors led 45-33 at halftime.
Ibaka made all five shots he attempted in the third, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help Toronto take a 72-49 lead into the fourth.
TIP-INS
Pacers: Victor Oladipo extended his streak of consecutive games with a steal to 63, tying him with Gary Payton for the fifth-longest streak in NBA history. … The Pacers have lost 12 of their past 15 regular-season meetings with the Raptors. … Indiana is 20-20 on the road.
Raptors: Ibaka matched a career best with five made 3-pointers. … Toronto had 20 rebounds in the first quarter. … The Raptors won 56 games in 2015-16, when they had 32 home victories. … Toronto had 23 turnovers, a season worst. … The Raptors set a season-best for points allowed.
UPWARD TREND
Casey is the third coach in NBA history to improve his team’s win total in six of seven seasons. The others were Boston’s Red Auerbach (1955-56 to 1961-62) and Phoenix’s John MacLeod (1974-75 to 1980-81).
POWER SERGE
Toronto is 8-0 when Ibaka scores 20 or more.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Indiana didn’t have a double-digit scorer until Booker made a free throw with 9:32 left in the fourth.
STRUGGLE FOR STARTERS
Indiana’s starting five combined for 18 points, shooting 8 for 36.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Visit Charlotte on Sunday. Indiana has lost four straight road games in the series.
Raptors: Host Orlando on Sunday. Toronto has won its past three meetings with the Magic.
Posted September 19, 2018 04:31 AM
Before taking the floor Gerald McCoy Jersey , LeBron James stood in the hallway with his teammates outside Cleveland’s locker room and pounded his chest with both hands.
The Celtics got thumped next.
James had 27 points and 12 assists, Kevin Love added 14 rebounds and the Cavaliers looked like a different team on their home court, tightening the Eastern Conference finals with a 116-86 victory in Game 3 over Boston on Saturday night.
Outplayed during two losses in Boston, the Cavs used a three-day break in the series to regroup and re-grip this series. With James leading the way, they built a 19-point lead in the first quarter, pushed it to 30 in the second half and overpowered the Celtics, who fell to 1-5 on the road in the postseason.
Any discussion of Cleveland’s demise is premature. Kyle Korver made four of the team’s 17 3-pointers, six players scored in double figures and the Cavs, who have spent the season seeking chemistry and cohesion, were connected defensively.
”Even when things broke down, we just covered for one another,” James said. ”We made them make extra passes. We made them make extra dribbles. We were flying around, and I just happened to be one of the guys on the floor that wanted to fly around as well.”
Game 4 is Monday night before the series returns to Boston.
Jaylen Brown was in foul trouble all night and scored just 10 for the Celtics after averaging 23 in the first two games. Jayson Tatum scored 18 and Terry Rozier 13 for Boston, which couldn’t match Cleveland in any aspect.
”They took it to us,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. ”Point blank: They just outplayed us.”
Only 19 of a possible 300 teams have ever overcome a 2-0 deficit in the playoffs. James and the Cavs, who previously did it in 2007 and again in 2016 while winning the NBA title Brandon Carr Jersey , took the first step toward a third comeback.
To return to the NBA Finals for the fourth straight year, the Cavs have to win four of five and re-write Boston’s illustrious history. The Celtics are 37-0 when they win the first two games in a series.
The Cavs came in wanting to play faster and be more physical with the younger Celtics, who were the aggressors in Games 1 and 2.
Not this time.
”The toughest team sets the rules,” Rozier said. ”They came out aggressive from the jump and never looked back. We’ve got to play aggressive from the rip. Tonight, we were all over the place, playing too fast and doing things we didn’t want to do.”
The Cavs needed more from point guard George Hill after two poor performances (8 points, 1 assist) in Boston. Hill responded with a driving layup to start the game and drained three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Cleveland wasted no time taking control.
Hill finished with 13, J.R. Smith 11 – they were outscored 41-3 in Game 2 – and Cleveland’s supporting cast played so well that James was only on the floor for 37 minutes.
Stevens was confident his team would play better on the road than earlier in these playoffs, but the Celtics were shaky early, committing four turnovers and shooting 2 of 10 while the Cavs opened a 27-11 lead.
James said earlier Saturday the fact he has twice rallied from 2-0 deficits in the postseason offered no relief.
”There’s nothing about the playoffs that’s comfortable until you either win it all or you lose and go into the summer,” he said.
Summer might not be as close as it once seemed.
TIP-INS
Celtics: Seeking to become the sixth No. 2 seed to win the East in eight years. Boston was a No. 4 seed when it advanced to the finals in 2010. … Fell to 3-8 in playoff games in Cleveland, the most by a Cavs opponent at the Q. … Stevens was relieved to learn that Boston legend Bill Russell was recovering after a hospital stay brought on by dehydration. Russell won 11 NBA titles with the Celtics. ”He’s the ultimate basketball winner,” Stevens said. ”The way he impacted winning, the unselfishness of a teammate, what he stood for off the floor – everything about him.”
Cavaliers: James needs six field goals to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (2,356) for the most in postseason history. … Cleveland has won six straight playoff games at home. … Improved to 14-6 vs. Boston in the playoffs.
DOWN BROWN
The Cavs focused their defense on slowing Brown Wes Schweitzer Jersey , and it worked. He was 3 of 8 from the floor and never found his flow after getting two early fouls.
”They were denying me the ball, and when I did get it, it was in positions that I’m not comfortable in,” he said. ”Give credit to Cleveland. They were physical and we settled for jumpers too much.”
DOWN TIME
The long layoff between Games 2 and 3 revived the Cavs.
”It was three days of stewing on Game 2,” Korver said. ”It probably did something good in us. It’s frustrating to have to wait that long for another game. We were able to put in some new things on offense, too.”
ROAD KILL
Before the game, Stevens downplayed his team’s road issues, saying there was a ”small sample size.”
It got a little bigger, and a little more troubling. Still, he won’t focus on Boston’s road woes.
”In my 11 years as a head coach, I probably haven’t talked about road and home five times with our team,” he said. ”It’s about how you play between the lines. Because I think if you start talking about that, then you find excuses in both places. We can’t play like we played tonight no matter where we played. If we would have played in Boston like that, we There’s a new regular-season champion in the Eastern Conference.
Serge Ibaka scored a season-high 25 points, DeMar DeRozan had 12 and the Toronto Raptors beat the Indiana Pacers 92-73 on Friday night, clinching the top seed in the East for the first time in team history.
”There’s gratification but you’re not satisfied Earl Thomas III Jersey ,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. ”We haven’t got to our ultimate goal, but it’s a feeling of gratification.”
Jakob Poeltl scored 10 points as the Raptors set franchise records for wins in a season (57) and home wins (33).
”We’ve got home-court advantage throughout the (East) playoffs,” DeRozan said, ”so let’s use that to our advantage.”
The Raptors have lost to LeBron James and Cavaliers in each of the past two postseasons, including a Conference finals defeat two years ago and a second-round exit last spring.
Toronto is the seventh different team in as many years to finish first in the East, following Chicago, Miami, Indiana, Atlanta, Cleveland and Boston. Still, James’ team has represented the East in the NBA Finals in each of those years.
Kyle Lowry had nine points and nine assists, and Jonas Valanciunas added 12 rebounds for Toronto, which never trailed in its ninth consecutive home victory over the Pacers. Toronto also locked up its fourth Atlantic Division title in the past five years.
”The journey is not over,” Lowry said.
The Pacers have not won north of the border since March 1, 2013.
Indiana came in after completing a season sweep of reigning NBA champion Golden State with a 126-106 home victory on Thursday night. However, the Pacers fell behind in a poor-shooting first quarter and never seriously challenged in this one.
”They pressured us Byron Maxwell Jersey , they pushed the tempo,” Pacers coach Nate McMIllan said. ”We just didn’t have any legs.”
Glenn Robinson III scored 12 points and Trevor Booker had 11 for the Pacers. Indiana shot 26 for 87 (29.9 percent) and set season-lows in points, made field goals, and field goal percentage.
”They’re a tough team,” Casey said. ”We caught them at a good time.”
After Bojan Bogdanovic made a jump shot with 8:28 left in the first, the Pacers missed 10 straight shots over the next five minutes before Domantas Sabonis snapped the slump with layup at 3:09. Indiana missed 18 of its first 21 shots attempts before ending the first with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Ibaka scored 10 points in the opening quarter and Toronto led 26-14 after one.
Booker made a pair of free throws as Indiana cut it to 32-28 with 5:04 left in the half but Toronto regained control with an 8-0 run. The Raptors led 45-33 at halftime.
Ibaka made all five shots he attempted in the third, including a pair of 3-pointers, to help Toronto take a 72-49 lead into the fourth.
TIP-INS
Pacers: Victor Oladipo extended his streak of consecutive games with a steal to 63, tying him with Gary Payton for the fifth-longest streak in NBA history. … The Pacers have lost 12 of their past 15 regular-season meetings with the Raptors. … Indiana is 20-20 on the road.
Raptors: Ibaka matched a career best with five made 3-pointers. … Toronto had 20 rebounds in the first quarter. … The Raptors won 56 games in 2015-16, when they had 32 home victories. … Toronto had 23 turnovers, a season worst. … The Raptors set a season-best for points allowed.
UPWARD TREND
Casey is the third coach in NBA history to improve his team’s win total in six of seven seasons. The others were Boston’s Red Auerbach (1955-56 to 1961-62) and Phoenix’s John MacLeod (1974-75 to 1980-81).
POWER SERGE
Toronto is 8-0 when Ibaka scores 20 or more.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Indiana didn’t have a double-digit scorer until Booker made a free throw with 9:32 left in the fourth.
STRUGGLE FOR STARTERS
Indiana’s starting five combined for 18 points, shooting 8 for 36.
UP NEXT
Pacers: Visit Charlotte on Sunday. Indiana has lost four straight road games in the series.
Raptors: Host Orlando on Sunday. Toronto has won its past three meetings with the Magic.
—
More NBA basketball: Denver Broncos Elite Jerseys