What went wrong for the Cleveland Cavaliers during Game 3?

The Boston Celtics served the Cleveland Cavaliers a slice of humble pie.

Things weren’t all bad for the Cleveland Cavaliers as they took on the Boston Celtics in Game 3.

Kevin Love got off to a very hot start, finishing the game with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Kyrie Irving shot the ball well too, scoring 29 points on 10 of 15 shooting from the floor, but it wasn’t enough for the Cavaliers.

Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley knocked down a game-winning three pointer with only 0.1 seconds left on the clock.

The Cavaliers led by 21 points in the third quarter, but Boston consistently chipped away at the lead one possession at a time.

Boston was without their best player, Isaiah Thomas, but they didn’t seem to miss a beat. Thomas’ replacement, Marcus Smart carried the Celtics to victory. Smart scored a career high 27 points and 7 assists. Smart is not known for his three-point shooting, but he lit up Cleveland for seven threes Sunday evening’s game.

The shocking loss ended the Cleveland Cavaliers’ record 13 game postseason winning streak.

LeBron James had by far his worst performance of the postseason. He finished with only 11 points on 4 of 13 shooting and a game high 6 turnovers. After James’ hot streak to start the playoffs, we have to remember that he is still human. Coach Tyronn Lue gave the Celtics credit for their hard play.

"“He’s human, so he’s going to have a night like this. He didn’t shoot the ball well and we still had a 20-point lead. They played hard, they scrapped. “"

What went wrong for the Cavaliers?

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn’t seem to have the same killer instinct that we saw in the first two games in Boston. They were up 2-0, in Cleveland, and Isaiah Thomas is out for the season. The Cavs did not seem to be locked in. They coasted through the game as if Boston was going to hand them the win.

Kyrie Irving knows that the Cavaliers have to show up ready to play every night, because the Boston Celtics will not go down without a fight.

Per cleveland.com‘s Chris Fedor:

"“We got a slice of some humble pie. We’ve got a lot to learn going forward, but they hit us in the mouth and they also got payback.”"

Cleveland seemed to really fall in love with the deep ball. The Cavs shot well, connecting on 16 threes, but many of those threes came early in the game. As the Celtics shaved the lead in the fourth, Cleveland took a lot of difficult, late shot clock three-point shots.

With LeBron struggling to score and get into the lane, Cleveland was not able to get many high quality looks lat in the game. I expect Coach Lue to try to get LeBron the ball while he is closer to the hoop to put more pressure on the Celtics defense.

Also, Cleveland struggled on the defensive end. Boston got a few easy buckets off of Cleveland’s defensive mistakes, including Avery Bradley’s game winning shot.

Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley ran a mix direction play leading into an Al Horford screen. Crowder cut baseline, bringing both Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith with him and Bradley flashed out for a wide open three-point shot.

Such defensive woes plagued Cleveland throughout the night. Boston scored 111 points, their highest scoring output of the series even without Isaiah Thomas. The Celtics were able to erase the 21-point deficit because they made 18 three points shots.

The Cavs continued to go under on the pick and roll throughout the game, allowing for Boston’s guards to step into their threes in rhythm. I expect to see the Cavaliers run the Celtics off of the three-point line in Game 4. Without Thomas, Boston does not have any players that can consistently score in the paint, so it doesn’t make sense for Cleveland to let Boston take open threes.

What else must Cleveland do to win Game 4? Leave your thoughts in the comment section or on Twitter @KJG_NBA.