Cleveland’s season is all but over after losing to New York 108-121 in Game 3 to put them in a 0-3 hole. Despite returning home to Rocket Arena where they have lost just one game this postseason, Cleveland never looked comfortable in this battle, quickly sliding to a 1-9 deficit inside the opening two minutes and the hosts never really recovered, failing to lead at any point in the game. A 12-4 second quarter run got them within one point, at 44-45, but their defence never allowed them to truly get back in the fight, as New York’s shooting and finishing at the rim inflicted all sorts of damage on Cleveland. That really limited the hosts’ transition opportunities, and tied in with a rather clunky halfcourt offence, good looks were often hard to come by. Donovan Mitchell struggled again, with 23 points on 48.6% TS%, with four assists, three steals and five turnovers, and James Harden’s impact was also limited, with 19 points, five assists and six turnovers. Evan Mobley top-scored with 24 points but he was also turnover prone, with five, and his defensive impact was much less obvious in this game, with no steals and one block. Jarrett Allen also had a quiet defensive night, failing to record a steal or block, and Max Strus was the only significant bench contributor, putting up an impressive 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and one steal.
New York’s offence really came to the party in this game, finishing with a 125.5 offensive rating to keep a sweep on the cards and get within one win of a finals berth. It was a convincing performance from Mike Brown’s team, who raced out to a first quarter lead and then finished the second half with an important 8-0 run to head to the locker rooms up 60-51. That appeared to be the backbreaker, as Cleveland never really threatened in the second half and led by as many as 17 points midway through the fourth. Jalen Brunson was the heart of the offence again, with an efficient 30 points and six assists, while Mikal Bridges continued his rampant postseason, with 22 points on 73.3% TS%, along with three steals and two blocks. His partner on the wing, OG Anunoby, also added real impact with 21 points and four assists and Karl-Anthony Towns again led his team’s assists tally with seven dimes, along with 13 points, eight rebounds, three steals and one block. Landry Shamet continued his emergence as a cult favourite with his 4/5 shooting from deep helping him to 14 points, and Josh Hart was busy again with 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.
It continues to look like New York have Cleveland’s number in this series, with none of Kenny Atkinson’s stars looking particularly comfortable. They have no defensive answers for Brunson either, and that’s proving to be particularly troublesome, while Anunoby and Bridges look to have figured out Mitchell and Harden. All of this makes for an incredibly difficult matchup for Cleveland and the market still seems to be underrating New York. There is the argument to make that Cleveland will be desperate to avoid the sweep, but that’s not going to matter when push comes to shove. NY have covered nine of their last 10 games and will close out the series here.