Leave it to LeBron James to prove why he is the 2nd best to ever do it in Eastern Conference Finals matchups next to Michael Jordan. He’s been a monster for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the absence of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, by taking over games offensively. LeBron knew what he was doing this off season, as Cavaliers in partial GM, he got himself a bunch of shooters, which would be able to help him get a lot of drives to the basket. He surrounded himself around J.R Smith, Iman Shumpert, James Jones, and recently Matthew Dellavedova. With the help offensive rebounding dominance of Tristan Thompson and Mozgov, the Cavaliers have handled the Atlanta Hawks. In game 3, they wanted to change that.
The Atlanta Hawks started off with a little bit of momentum, because LeBron James was ice-cold. He shot 0/10 for his first 10 shots, and didn’t make a bucket unti late in the 2nd quarter, which eventually fueled a Cavaliers run to end the half at 49-48 in favor of the Hawks. Al Horford got ejected late in the 2nd qaurter for an elbow to the head of Matthew Dellavedova. Dellavedova also received a technical for the play. In my opinion, Horford just fell by accident. He’s a 6’10 Power Forward, when someone cuts him off like that he may not be able to control how he falls.
In the second half, it was all Cavaliers basketball. LeBron came back from having started off 0/10, to finishing off the game with 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists. He passed Karl Malone for the 6th all time position in Playoff scoring, and he was hurt. He hurt his ankle late in the 4th quarter, and was limping for basically the rest of the game, which ended up being about 12 minutes. This was LeBron James ‘flu game’, many had doubted his ability to persevere in tough situations, and he proved them wrong with this game.
The dismantled and frankly broken Atlanta Hawks have to now regroup, being down 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals is not a good thing. No one has ever came back from that deficit in the NBA, so they know that their season is near its end, but they need to see the positives in this season. Broke franchise records, went to the Eastern Conference Finals for 1st time in a while, and you were close with King James, it wasn’t a bad season.
For the Cavaliers it will all be about staying healthy. Varejao and Love are out for the season, Kyrie is hurt, and LeBron is hurt now too. They may decide to rest LeBron in Game 4 and push this series to 5 and have LeBron finish it there. If LeBron does decide to play, the Cavaliers may have a sweep and a trip to the NBA Finals by Tuesday.
