CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers‘ struggles with the Boston Celtics early in the East finals involved nuance, circumstance and shades of gray.
Also, they couldn’t make a 3-pointer, open or contested.
The Cavs’ various ills have a way of fading into the background when the 3s drop, and those deep makes tend to unlock energy to execute in other phases of the game. For example, following the trades in February, the Cavs averaged 13 3-pointers on 42 percent shooting in wins and just nine on 29 percent shooting in losses.
When the Cavs went 0-of-14 on 3s in the first half of Game 1 and then 3-of-17 in the second half of Game 2 it wasn’t a surprise that they had everything from defensive issues to dribbling issues. They were just 2-of-15 on uncontested 3-pointers in those games, which explains a great deal.
So we could spend time at this juncture examining Cleveland’s defensive execution (it was vastly improved) in Game 3 Saturday night. We could talk about how Boston seems to lose its swagger on the road in the postseason (1-5). And so on.
Instead, all you need to know is the Cavs looked like a different team from 3-point range and it was a totally different outcome. They went 9-of-17 on triples in the first half alone and finished 17-of-34. Thusly, they won easily 116-86 to pull within 2-1 in the series.