On May 12, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs were in full swing. The Eastern Conference semifinals are in full swing, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are back at home for Game 3 against the Celtics. The Green Army finished the regular season with a 64-18 record, the highest record in the league, and the only team to win more than 60 games. They defeated the Heat 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs and waited early for their next opponent to advance. The Cavaliers fought a tie-break with the Magic in the first round, and finally successfully broke through 4-3. No one was optimistic about the Cavaliers in this series, but the Cavaliers gave the Green Army a disadvantage in the last game. Not only did they win on the road, but they won by a big margin, sending the game into garbage time early, and finally pulled one back 118-94 to make it 1-1. This game will be crucial for both sides, with a win for the Green Army reclaiming home-court advantage, and a Cavaliers' morale boost if they win in a row, and they may even get a match point after two home games.
In the first quarter, the Cavaliers used the scoring method that the Green Army does best to compete with the Green Army, and both sides set up anti-aircraft guns outside the 3-point line. The Cavaliers made 11 3-pointers in this quarter and hit 5 times, with a shooting rate of nearly 5 percent! The Green Army also hit 5 of 11 shots, and the two teams were evenly matched. The inside score was also resolutely impacting the basket, with the Cavaliers being 4-of-8 and the Green Army holding a slight advantage of 5-of-9. At the end of the first quarter, the Green Army led by 2 points at 30-28; Judging from the performance of the first game, both teams played relatively openly, but the Cavaliers relied too much on Mitchell for scoring, he scored 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting in the first quarter, and the highest score of other players was Mobley's 7 points, and the other 3 starters scored a total of 7 points; The Green Army blossomed more, with Tatum scoring 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting;
In the second quarter, the Cavaliers completely missed the game, and Mitchell was almost the only one on the team scoring. He shot 4-of-4, including 3-of-3 from 3-pointer and scored 12 points, while the rest of the players scored a total of 8 points. In this quarter, the Cavaliers continued to shoot 3 points from the outside, but the shooting percentage dropped significantly, and only 3 of 12 shots were made! The interior also encountered the Green Army's shrinking defense, and it was difficult to get space to attack the basket, and he threw 2 goals under the basket. The Green Army was also inaccurate on the outside in this quarter, making 2 of 7 3-pointers, but the efficiency of the impact on the inside was complete, and there was no missing serve under the basket. At halftime, the Green Army led by nine points at 57-48;
Yibian fought again, Tatum took the lead in breaking through the layup to make it 2+1, White continued with 3 points, Brown cut the layup and hit again, and the Green Army stopped the Cavaliers with a wave of 8-0, and the difference came to 17 points! After the timeout, the Green Army's offensive continued, White hit another 3-pointer, Holiday continued with a 3-pointer, another wave of 6-0, and the Green Army led to 23 points! At the critical moment, Mitchell hit a jumper to break the Cavaliers' scoring drought of nearly 3 and a half minutes in the final quarter! LeVert continued to fire with a backhand layup, Strus hit another 3-pointer, and the Cavaliers also returned a wave of 7-0, and the difference came to 16 points, stopping the Green Army! After that, the two sides went back and forth, and the difference remained around 15 points, and the Green Army entered the final quarter with a 15-point advantage at 84-69 in the third quarter;
In the final quarter, the Cavaliers suddenly made a force, Garland broke through and scored a layup, Mobley scored 4 points in a row, and a wave of 6-0 narrowed the difference to 9 points, and also stopped the Green Army! After the timeout, the Cavaliers continued to shrink the defense, Tatum broke through and scored a layup, LeVert made 2 fouls and 2 free throws, Brown responded with a breakthrough layup, and LeVert also broke through to make a layup, and the two sides fought around the 10-point difference! In the end, Mitchell was invincible with two fists and four hands, and the Green Army won with the overall firepower suppression, and the score was fixed at 106-93, and the big score was 2-1 to lead again.
Statistics:
Tatum had 33 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, scoring more than 30+ points for the first time in the playoffs this season! Brown 28 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal, Holiday 18 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block, White 12 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, Horford 2 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Hauser 6 points, Pritchard 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists;
On the Cavaliers' side, Mitchell had 33 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, Mobley had 17 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal, Garland had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists, Strus had 6 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, LeVert had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, and Wade had 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.