Cavaliers throttle Celtics, book trip back to NBA Finals

But Cleveland got complacent, Smart got hot and the Celtics, who arrived at Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday morning for their shootaround without Thomas and looking somewhat defeated, never gave up.

This of course comes after Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas told reporters after Game 1 that his team wasn’t afraid of the Cavs.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love, top, shoots over Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley (0) and center Al Horford during the first half of Game 5 of the NBA basketball Eastern Conference finals, on Thursday, May 25, 2017, .

Cleveland not only surrendered a 21-point lead in but blew chances to set a play-off record for consecutive wins (14), dating to Game Five of last year’s National Basketball Association finals, and to become the fourth team in history to start the playoffs 11-0.

It was an odd game for sure, with nothing being any stranger than LeBron James being whistled for not one, not two, not three, but four personal fouls … in the first half. Boston has to rebound by committee, and they did that in this game, but part of that was a seeming disinterest from Cleveland on doing the work.

Cleveland’s three-point shooting has been the difference so far. An extra-amped James is a scary thought.

James’s performance was the major talking point after Sunday’s defeat, with the Cavs star finishing with just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Smith wrote. Deron Williams played 18 minutes after sustaining a shoulder “stinger” in Game 3. “As soon as the ball went out of his hands, you kind of knew that shot was going to go in because of how the game was just played throughout the second half”.

It’s not just the Celtics’ starters who contributed to the win. Jonas Jerebko scored 10 points in 12 minutes without missing a shot.

As is always the case with Cleveland’s superstar, the poor performance prompted the usual speculation and suspicion: Is he hurt? A pair of Kelly Olynyk free throws cut the lead to 77-61.

James was also asked about his comment following Game 3 when he said the loss could prompt Cleveland to play “desperate” basketball again. “He’s most likely going to be a lot more aggressive”. We know what we did wrong in Game 3. The Cavaliers are 6-4 SU and 4-6 ATS in their last 10 games as a double-digit favorite. Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue called it “a weird game, a weird-feeling game”. The Celtics led 57-47 at the break. She was born almost five months early. The 43 points Cleveland scored in the first quarter set a team postseason record for a quarter.

“Everybody had to step up their game, especially with one of our brothers down”, Thomas’ replacement Marcus Smart said. They proved as much in the first half, but just got too complacent and couldn’t close the Celtics out.

Yet, Boston still managed to win.

Game 4 is Wednesday in Cleveland.

Avery Bradley, who finished the night with 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, knocked down the game-winning three-point shot with only 0.1 seconds remaining.

Just as he did in Game 3. They were more physical. The point total was stunning considering it broke James’ streak of scoring at least 30 points in eight straight playoff games. Look at it this way: When Thomas was off the court this season the Celtics defense was slightly better than the Spurs, but when Thomas was on the court they were essentially the Knicks.