Eastern Conference Semifinals G3
The Celtics, who are the first in the league, once again lost their home court, allowing the Cleveland Cavaliers to tie the series at 1-1. However, everyone knows how outstanding this Celtic team is, and maybe the Cavaliers can create some suspense, but there is very little hope of getting down the line. It's not that he looks down on the Cavaliers, Mitchell's performance in the playoffs, a well-deserved superstar in the league, is even better than Tatum. However, the gap between the Cavaliers' roster talent and the Celtics is very obvious.
The Celtics have a Big Four combination, and outside of the Big Four are White and Horford. Despite Porzingis' injury, the Cavaliers' Allen is also unavailable. The Green Army has one less Porzingis, which naturally has an impact, but the impact is not so great. But if the knight has one less Allen, the offense and defense will be greatly reduced.
Cavaliers vs Celtics
At the beginning of the first quarter, the Celtics dominated the game, Tatum scored 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal on 5-of-9 shooting, Holiday also had 8 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists, Brown was 5 points and 1 rebound, the team scored 30 points in a single quarter, and the Cavaliers only scored 28 points, including Mitchell 11 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal on 4-of-8 shooting, and Mobley Jr. 7 points and 3 rebounds. After returning from the game in the second quarter, the Celtics continued to exert their strength, Brown scored 8 points and 3 rebounds on 4-of-4 shooting, Tatum had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and Holiday also had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and the team scored another 27 points in a single quarter.
The Cavaliers had a dip, with Mitchell scoring 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting, but the team only scored 20 points, and at halftime, the Celtics led the Cavaliers by nine points at 57-48. In the second half, Tatum scored 9 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and Brown also had 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. The Cavaliers kept catching up, Mitchell got 7 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists, and LeVert also had 7 points and 2 rebounds, and the team worked hard to narrow the gap to 15 points, and the suspense of the game returned.
In the final quarter of the game, the Cavaliers once narrowed the gap to single digits, but Pritchard and White hit consecutive three-pointers, Garland scored five consecutive points to keep the suspense, but the Celtics always maintained a double-digit lead, and the clock was passing by minute by second. With the final whistle, the Celtics successfully defeated the Cavaliers 106-93 to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Tatum scored a new high
The Celtics showed absolute strength, Tatum had 33 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, setting a new playoff high this season, having never scored more than 30 points before. That's the strength of the Celtics, who don't even need Tatum to score to beat their opponents in the playoffs. Brown had 28 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists, and was efficient on 13-of-17 shooting, while Holiday had 18 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, and was equally efficient on 7-of-10 shooting. White didn't feel good, with just 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists on 4-of-13 shooting.
The Cavaliers lost to the Celtics in their first game back at home, which was somewhat regrettable. It's worth mentioning that this is the Cavaliers' first road loss in the playoffs this season. Mitchell's individual performance is still at the star level, 12 of 22 shots, 7 of 12 three-point shots, 33 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, perhaps, the Celtics are the better team, but Mitchell is a better player. Garland had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists on 6-of-15 shooting, Mobley had 17 points and 8 rebounds, and LeVert off the bench also had 15 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist.