East Conf. Finals - Game 3: Boston Celtics 86-116 Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 Talking Points

The Cleveland Cavaliers welcomed the Boston Celtics to the Quicken Loans Arena with a rude awakening as to the size of the task at their hand. In a game where they won all 4 quarters by a margin of 4 points or more, the seasoned veterans in the Cavs' setup displayed their expertise at turning the onus up, as all five of their starters along with Kyle Korver finished in double digits on the offensive end.

The Celtics, on the other hand, continued their trend of underperforming in road games. They now have a 1-4 win-loss record in the playoffs on the road. They came into this game averaging a paltry 94.5 points per game in road games, and that average dipped significantly in this 86-point outing.

The Cs failed to get going on either end of the floor. Unlike Game 1 and 2 when they stymied Cleveland defensively with spells of scoreless basketball, they were unable to get multiple consecutive stops to coincide with good offensive possessions in succession.

The following are 5 talking points from the game:

#5 Jaylen Brown puts in an underwhelming performance

Jaylen Brown

The sophomore came into this game averaging 17.8 points per game through 13 postseason outings. That average fell to 17.3 after a game when he was unable to find his way around the hoop, getting up only 8 shot attempts while connecting on just 3 of them. He was unable to draw fouls either, and he looked clearly below his best self on the offensive end.

At the other end, Brown did an acceptable job of covering LeBron James during the first half. He went into the locker room at halftime with 2 personal fouls on his name. He'd earned these fouls by the 7:13 mark of the first period, but he negotiated his way through the second quarter without another foul to his name.

It was at the start of the 3rd quarter that he picked up 2 fouls with just 3 minutes played. This caused coach Stevens to bring him off the floor and prevented him from getting into a rhythm during a crucial phase of the game when the Celtics could have staged a comeback.

He earned a 5th call with a needless gamble trying to double LeBron in the elbow region, capping off a forgettable night.

#4 LeBron James puts in his most dominant performance of the series

LeBron James

The King played his most watchable game of the series for neutrals back at the Quicken Loans Arena. While he tallied a triple-double in Game 2 as well, his passing tonight was at quite a different level to that game.

Time and again he was setting up the likes of Larry Nance Jr., Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love in the interior with delectable passes and lobs. His best play of the game was an immaculate bounce pass right into Thompson's midsection while he got double-teamed by the Celtics.

He bossed the tempo of the game like only he can in the modern NBA, and every time that the Celtics threatened to cut the gap, he took the ball to the rack with force and finished plays inside the paint with amazing alacrity. He was perfect from the 3-point region, hitting on all 3 of his tries.

His stat line of 27 points, 12 assists and 5 rebounds is not nearly as indicative of his dominance as his game-high +/- of +31 is.

#3 The game was effectively decided in the first quarter

George Hill scored or assisted on the first 9 points of the game.

LeBron James had a 12-0 record in the postseason in games when he finishes the first quarter with a 15-point lead or better. That record turned to 13-0, as the Cavs raced to a 20-4 lead with 5:03 left in the quarter.

They were able to hold the Celtics scoreless for a whopping 4 minutes and 43 seconds of game time, starting at the 9:26 mark of the first quarter with the score at 7-4 and culminating at 22-6. This was a hole that the Celtics were unable to dig themselves out for the rest of the game, as the Cavs led by at least 14 points for the rest of the game.

That spell of 4:43 was punctuated by stagnant offensive rotations, easy shots missed by all Celtics turn by turn and an inability to drive against a Cleveland defense bolstered by the presence of Tristan Thompson inside the paint. Thompson has been the Cavs' best interior defender by a fair margin this postseason, and he featured in Tyronn Lue's lineup for the second consecutive game.

#2 Tristan Thompson should start every game for the Cavs

Tristan Thompson

In both previous playoff series, Ty Lue has made one key adjustment that has directly led to an impact on the fortunes of his team. In the Indiana Pacers' series, it was the high-risk, high-reward strategy of throwing hard double-teams at Victor Oladipo that caused a drastic reduction in his efficiency during the series, while in the Conference Semifinals it was his decision to surround LeBron with at least three 3-point shooters at all times.

In this series, the resurgent Tristan Thompson has so far been a big positive for the Cavaliers. Having him on the floor at the same time as Kevin Love forces the Celtics to go big, bringing the likes of Aron Baynes or Greg Monroe into the mix and affecting their offense.

Brad Stevens has earmarked Marcus Morris as LeBron's primary defender in this series. But with Thompson in the mix, he's forced to guard the 6'9" forward, while the young guns Jayson Tatum or Jaylen Brown is matched up with LeBron James and his 260-pound frame.

Thompson finished Game 3 with 10 points and 7 rebounds while playing exemplary defense on Baynes, Monroe and Horford.

#1 The Cavaliers' shooting clicked for the first time this series

Kevin Love shoots it over Semi Ojeleye

The Cavaliers were thus far shooting abysmally bad through the games they played in Boston. They finished 2-of-15 on wide open 3s during Games 1 and 2 - a figure they improved to 5-of-10 for Game 3.

Historically, role players have been known to perform better in home games during the playoffs, and this rule of thumb held true this time around as well. JR Smith bounced back from two torrid games to shoot 3 3-pointers out of 8. Kyle Korver was mightily impressive, as he's been throughout these playoffs - Korver converted all 4 of his 3-pointers to total 14 points on the night.

Jordan Clarkson had 3 of his own, LeBron was perfect from downtown, going 3-for-3 with all of those shots taken during the first half. George Hill, however, was the best complementary piece for LeBron on the night, finishing the first quarter with 11 points to add to James' 12 at the end of the period.

The Cavs shot 17-of-34 for a robust 50% conversion rate, and they were quite impressive to watch as well.