Cleveland Cavaliers suffered a disappointing game 3 loss against the Boston Celtics, which was their first loss of the playoffs. The Cavaliers were defeated by the short-handed Celtics who played without Isaiah Thomas, who is their best player. Despite having a 21-point lead, Cleveland collapsed in the second half of the game, allowing Boston to go on a big comeback run and eventually win the game.
LeBron James had a bad performance as he finished the game with only 11 points on 4-for-13 shooting. James was surprisingly bad and he was very passive in the clutch time. However, considering that he's been fantastic so far in the playoffs, he doesn't deserve blame for this performance. His teammate J.R. Smith said LeBron has to be aggressive in game 4 and Smith expects him to have a much better performance.
LeBron will bounce back
With only 11 points on low shooting percentage, LeBron James had one of the worst postseason games of his career. He also turned the ball over six times and did not look focus or interested in the game.
However, it is important to note that this was only one game LeBron underperformed in and he's been nothing but amazing in the entire postseason. There is no doubt that James will bounce back and help the Cavaliers win the next game, as he will not have two bad games in a row.
"He's got to be aggressive, get downhill, play like he's been playing, play confident," J.R. Smith said for ESPN. "You've got to play confident the whole night and play aggressive. It's the Eastern Conference Finals. It's not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it's not enough. He knows that. We know that. Just expect him to be better in Game 4."
James' postseason has been incredible
Despite the awful performance in game 3, LeBron James is still averaging impressive numbers in the playoffs.
The four-time MVP is scoring 32.2 points per game while shooting 55.4 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from the long range. He is having one of the best postseason runs of his career and one bad game means nothing to him.
Furthermore, James is only 62 points away from becoming the all-time scoring leader in the playoffs. There's a chance that LeBron will become number one scorer before he even reaches NBA finals. At the moment, the great Michael Jordan holds the first spot on the list with 5987 points, but it is not very likely he will stay there for a long time. Considering that James is only 32, this will be one of the most amazing achievements of his career.