With the way the Cleveland Cavaliers have been dominating the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, you may have elected to spend your Sunday night watching the new Twin Peaks or the quality programming over at HBO instead of Game 3. However if you did do that, you missed a gritty performance by the Celtics that resulted in Boston winning their first game of the series thanks to an almost last second shot by Avery Bradley.
Storming back from a 21-point deficit and eventually tying the game, the Celtics had the ball with less than 10 seconds left in the game. This set the stage for Celtics coach Brad Stevens to design a brilliant out-of-bounds play which Boston ran to perfection and resulted in Bradley hitting a game-winning three-pointer with a tenth of a second left on the clock.
The stunned looks on the Cavs’ faces after Bradley’s shot goes in says it all as their dominant, undefeated postseason ended before their eyes. Bradley’s shot gave the Cavs their first loss of the postseason, which Cleveland’s Western Conference counterpart the Golden State Warriors have yet to do. Also, the Cavs now have to go back to Boston if they want to close out the series, a prospect that didn’t seem likely to happen at any point during the first two games.
Overall, Bradley’s game-winner changes the dynamics of the series and shows that the Cavs are not invincible and can be beat. Cleveland could very likely redeem themselves in Game 4 on Tuesday but for now, Boston’s NBA Finals dreams are still alive and the Cavs are the team looking for answers, not the Celtics.
