Avery Bradley helps Boston Celtics beat Cleveland Cavaliers in Eastern Conference finals
Monday 22 May 2017 07:18, UK
Avery Bradley scored in the last second of Game 3 to give the Boston Celtics a stunning 111-108 road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference finals.
It was an incredible and unlikely finale for the visitors with Cleveland now leading the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game Four in Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday.
While the Celtics had to deal with the absence of Isaiah Thomas who is out for the remainder of the postseason because of a hip injury, the Cavaliers had lost just one game at home to an Eastern team in the playoffs going back to 2015.
However, Thomas' replacement, Marcus Smart, scored a career-high 27 points and handed out seven assists, and Bradley had 20 points.
Al Horford added 16 points, Jae Crowder amassed 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Kelly Olynyk contributed 15 off the bench for the Celtics, who were beaten by an average of 28.5 points in the first two games.
Cleveland forward LeBron James had a miserable night, scoring just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting with five turnovers. He was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, missing all three shots.
Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said: "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 (Boston) played hard, they scrapped."
Kyrie Irving led the Cavs with 29 points, and Kevin Love added 28 points and 10 rebounds. Tristan Thompson scored 18 points to go with 13 boards.
Cleveland blew a chance to set a playoff record for consecutive wins (14) dating to Game Five of last year's NBA Finals and become the fourth team in history to start the playoffs 11-0.
