The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
LeBron: We let our foot off the gas a little bit
Cleveland needs two more wins over Celtics to advance to NBA Finals
LeBron James knew a loss would come sooner or later in the playoffs for the Cavaliers. As far as he is concerned, sooner is much better.
The Cavaliers, with three straight victories to close out the 2016 NBA Finals for their first championship, followed by 10 straight to start the 2017 postseason, were humbled by the Boston Celtics, 111-108, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals on May 21 at Quicken Loans Arena.
All is not lost — far from it. The Cavaliers lead the series, 2-1. They need to win two more times to get back to the Finals for the third straight year. Their first chance comes at 8:30 p.m. on May 23 at The Q.
“What happened hurts. It’s a loss in the postseason,” James said after the Cavs squandered a 21-point lead in the third quarter. “But I’m kind of glad it happened the way it did. We let our foot off the gas a little bit. We didn’t keep the pressure on them the way we’ve been accustomed to.
“I feel we have to have some type of adversity in order to be successful. If it was going to happen, let it happen now. Let’s regroup. Let’s get back to playing desperate basketball, which (Boston) did (May 21). We have to be a lot better, for
sure.”
What made the loss so stunning for players in the Cavs’ locker room, as well as the fans who couldn’t believe what they witnessed, was just two nights earlier the Cavs set records for the way they dominated the Celtics in Game 2. They led by 41 — 72-31 — at halftime and won the game, 130-86.
The Celtics were humiliated and bickering among themselves. Guard Marcus Smart, who led Boston with 27 points, said the team set those differences aside and just played hard-nosed, unselfish basketball.
The result was a 61-point second half in which the Celtics dished out 16 of their 28 assists. Avery Bradley, whose three-pointer from 26 feet with a tenth of a second remaining was the winning basket, said the Cavs should expect to see from
the Celtics more of that same desperate basketball James mentioned.
“Once we were able to get together (May 20), we decided we’re just going to play hard — whatever happens, happens,” Bradley said. “We’re going be the toughest team. We’re going to battle for the loose balls.
“We never counted ourselves out. We knew if we played hard, we’d give ourselves
a chance. You saw that (in Game 3). We’re going to continue to play that way the entire series.”
Las Vegas isn’t buying what Bradley is selling. The Cavaliers are 14.5 favorites to get back on track and take a 3-1 series lead with a chance to close it out on May 25 in Boston. Whether that happens could be determined by how James responds in Game 4. James had his worst night of the playoffs in Game 3, scoring only 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting. He was three of six from the foul line.
James said he just had an off-night. The Celtics believe their defense had a lot to do with that, although James said Boston didn’t defend him any differently than when he scored 30 points in just 33 minutes in Game 2.
“Guys like Jay Crowder and Al Horford, whoever switched on him, did a great job,” Bradley said. “We understand not only him but Kyrie (Irving) are going to make tough shots. It’s our job to make sure we make everything hard for them and chip away.
“What I mean by chip away is not try to get back into the game with one shot. We have to move the ball around and get continuous stops on the defensive end.”
Despite the off-night, James is still averaging 32.2 points a game in the playoffs.