Game 3 Recap: The Future Is Bright, But Damn
Welp.
I probably should wait until the morning to write this but fuck it, I need to get it out. With each game in this series comes a more painful loss, and while on the surface it fucking sucks to see Lebron & Co come out on top you cannot deny there are a lot of positives to take away from this series. Before we get to those, we need to have a serious discussion about what we saw in Game 3…
For the first time all series, the Celtics started this one off slow, especially Avery, and that would prove to be not ideal. To those who have watched this team play, you know that they struggle almost every time they stop moving the ball on offense. Shit, we just saw them lose Game 2 playing this exact style of basketball. Just incase any of the players fall asleep during film sessions and by chance are reading this blog, this is what you need to not do
Not only is everyone standing around, but there is literally no one there on the offensive glass. Out of the thousands of options you have on offense, this is literally the worst type of basketball you can play. Especially when you are running it with Evan Turner and not Lebron.
Now despite this, Cleveland didn’t shoot that well either. Lebron probably missed like 4 layups, and yet they were able to stay ahead. Would you be shocked if I told you the Cavs took 13 FTs in the first quarter to 3 for the Celtics? Nah that’s probably not important.
Frankly this game should not have even of been close if the Cavs hit their generously given free throws. They would miss 9 of their 24 attempts, and were not sloppy, with just 11 turnovers and 18 fouls. Impressive!
Defensively, the Celtics for some reason were like “Yeah let’s rotate off Kevin Love, he’ll be wide open for a 3 but whatever”. Bold strategy, did not pan out. He would hit 6, each one bigger than the previous and essentially the game winner. Brad dared him to make em and he did.
Where you almost have to tip your cap to the Cavs is the absolutely ridiculous contested shots they have made. We saw it in Game 1 with Kyrie and his ridiculous threes and we saw it again in this game. I’m talking everyone. We had J.R fucking Smith, who finally showed up just as Boy Wonder Brad Stevens predicted.
Kyrie who was actually held in check for about 75% of this game, was killer in the late third and fourth quarter. He would hit a couple big threes, including this one
And Lebron. God damn you. I remember on a Rundown they were talking about how you can appreciate watching greatness, or something. Nope. I can’t appreciate shit like this. Because when you see Lebron do something like this you say “damn he is just on another planet”, but then you see him flop against Jae Crowder, or literally complain about every foul call against the Cavs, or fake getting hit in the face by Marcus, and you say “for someone who is so good he is such a fucking bitch”. But facts are facts, he has murdered us.
Ultimately this game was won by the continuing phenomenon, the Celtics inability to get a defensive rebound. Game 1, Game 2 were literally the exact same. Rebound the basketball you probably win. Find Tristan Thompson and you probaby win. The Celtics decided to stay the course and let Tristan Thompson get 5 offensive boards (felt like a million) and with each one came a dagger three. Inexcusable, and the blame at least in this game resides with Tyler Zeller.
For a 7 footer, he can’t rebound. Or box out. It’s pretty simple, just don’t let Thompson establish position. But as we have seen, Thompson has been the difference in each loss. The Celtics needed either Bass or Sully to match that production and it just hasn’t been there.
Also, Isaiah picked a bad night to have his worst game as a Celtic. Virtually nothing from him and that is probably what is most frustrating. While he hasn’t shot the ball well this series, just 42%, he still was putting up 23 and 8. He just didn’t have it, too bad.
Now, for the good.
What else can I say about Jae Crowder. When he was the throw in with the Rondo deal, I was furious. Literally could not have been more wrong. Dude is no joke. Now I wouldn’t say he did a “good” job defending Lebron since he dropped 30+, BUT it was great to see Jae was not afraid of him. Backing up his quotes from early in the week, he just doesn’t take shit and plays really really hard. Unfortunately, this is one of the downsides of the Celtics making the playoffs. Now that other teams are going to see how legit he is, the Celts probably won’t be able to get him on the cheap. Expect someone to throw more than solid money at him in restricted free agency. I bet maybe something like 4yr/32M.
It also shouldn’t be overlooked that despite the talent difference, each game has been winnable late. I am sure there are plenty of people out there who are happy just being competitive with this roster, going up against such a favored opponent. They just don’t quit. Ever.
This brings us to Sunday. At this point, our only hope is whatever the hell happened with the ’04 Sox. Can it happen, sure. Will it? Probably. For those who stayed until the final whistle there was the familiar experience of the classic “Let’s Go Celtics” chant as the clock wound down. Very similar to what happened here in the last game of the Big 3 era. The Celts have played better each game so who knows, maybe the Cavs mail in Game 4 and we make them have to play Game 5.
At the end of the day, another crushing loss in what was a winnable game. While we may not see the second round, we have seen a team that maybe isn’t as far away as we thought.
Bring on Sunday. Let us all pray that it isn’t the last home game of the season.
Go Celtics.