Cavaliers-Celtics Game 3 Preview

The Cleveland Cavaliers play host to the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of the Eastern
Conference Finals at Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday. Cleveland holds a 2-0 lead.
To say the Celtics have been overmatched in this series would be a drastic
understatement. Not only did they lose both of their home games in wire-to-wire
fashion, both fixtures were well out of hand in the third quarter, What makes it
all the more concerning for Boston is the fact that they lost their leader in
that 44-point Game 2 loss, as Isaiah Thomas suffered a serious hip injury that
will keep him out for the remainder of the playoffs. Thomas finished third in
the league in scoring and it can’t be understated just how much he means to this
team. That means it’s time for players like Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley and
Terry Rozier to take on more of the offensive load and try to get a win out of
this ugly series. The Cavaliers are now a perfect 10-0 in these playoffs, as
they are playing the best ball of their season right now. The Game 2 blowout win
was especially impressive, as Cleveland’s 44-point margin of victory was one of
the worst in NBA playoff history. Kevin Love and LeBron James are both
destroying this Celtics defense right now and they haven’t even gotten Kyrie
Irving going yet. It’s King James whose really putting his foot down, as he’s
averaging 34.3 points, 8.5 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks on
57 percent shooting in this postseason. That’s just an incredible line and it’s
clear he’s going to will his team to an incredible seventh-straight Finals
appearance. Cleveland have now defeated Boston in 11 of their last 13 meetings
in total, by a margin of well over 10 points per game. The Cavaliers hosted the
Celtics twice this season and won both games, while averaging 126 points per
outing.