Boston strong
Marcus Smart, right, and the Celtics show toughness, resiliency in Game 3 rally vs. Cavs,
Regardless of what you think the Boston Celtics’ chances are of coming back to win the NBA Eastern Conference finals, there’s no denying the resiliency built into their DNA.
Along with the fate of their season, their pride was on the line Sunday night. Another humiliating loss might have rendered their special 53-win charge to the No. 1 seed in the East meaningless.
Humbled and embarrassed by the Cleveland Cavaliers in a record-setting Game 2 defeat, the Celtics could have folded well ahead of Game 3 and accepted that a comeback against a team led by a player of LeBron James’ caliber was unlikely.
And then news of Isaiah Thomas’ season-ending hip injury landed and for most teams would have sealed their fate. Take a look at the Western Conference finals, and see how the San Antonio Spurs have fared without their most valuable player, Kawhi Leonard.
But the hours after Friday’s 44point pounding by the Cavs were important. The Celtics regrouped and recognized that despite the jarring margin, it only counted for one game.
“We’re going to be the toughest team,” guard Avery Bradley told reporters of how the Celtics expected to play in Game 3. “We’re going to battle for the loose balls. We’re going to play hard for consistently the entire game. We wanted to be that team.”
After winning 111-108 Sunday, the Celtics trail the series 2-1, with Game 4 here Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
Bradley, perhaps as much as anyone on the Celtics, has been miscast as a defensive specialist. His teammates often refer to him as the best perimeter defender in the NBA, but he’s quietly in the midst of a stellar playoffs on both ends. At 16.2 points per game, he is second on the team to Thomas, and he’s equally capable of stepping up on the road as he is at home. Though it kissed seemingly every part of the rim, his gamewinning three-pointer Sunday was no fluke. Bradley is shooting 41% from beyond the arc away from Boston this postseason.
The Celtics’ other star Sunday was Marcus Smart, who has been widely chastised for his 29% three-point shooting percentage throughout his career. All he did was drill seven of 10 Sunday.
“We can talk about his shooting all year long, but you know when it’s in a big moment that kid is going to rise to the occasion,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said after Game 3. “He just always has.”
It was Smart’s first postseason start this year and just the fifth of his career, but his confidence seemed to ignite the Celtics’ shooters. After yielding 14 threepointers in the first half to the Cavs, Boston stormed back with 11 of their own throughout the last quarter and a half.
“Everybody in this locker room, on this team, has been told we couldn’t do something or had somebody that really didn’t believe in us,” Smart said after scoring a playoff career-high 27 points.
Known more for his toughness and confidence rather than for his scoring, Smart has become a cherished Celtic in Stevens’ eyes. The same goes for forward Jae Crowder, a throw-in in the 2014 trade that sent Rajon Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks. Crowder has gone from a second-round pick to movable asset to the Celtics’ primary hope of slowing James.
Although James took the blame for his atypical 11-point showing, it was clear Crowder had an impact, especially since the Celtics switched far fewer times on screens than they had in Games 1 and 2.
It wasn’t just the starters. The Celtics wouldn’t have come close to winning without the 25 combined points from Kelly Olynyk and Jonas Jerebko. The latter didn’t play double-figure minutes in the Celtics’ second-round series, and the former was thrust into action after starter Amir Johnson injured his shoulder in the first quarter.
The Cavs are undoubtedly more talented and in all likelihood will advance to their third consecutive Finals. But the Celtics, despite their circumstances, did snap the Cavs’ 13-game postseason winning streak.
“A lot of these guys have been overlooked, and this is their first opportunity to play a meaningful role,” Stevens said. “And as they’ve continued to play and play better and better and better, they’ve just risen in their games and with our team.”