The Cleveland Cavs were picked by many to steamroll an Atlanta Hawks team in Game 3 that has been absolutely ripped apart by injuries.
What they got was a epic playoff fight against a team who, with Kyle Korver injured and Al Horford ejected late in the second quarter after a scuffle with Cavs guard Matthew Dellavedova, still pushed the home-standing Cavs to overtime.
Cleveland would pull ahead for good on the back of a purely legendary performance by LeBron James, sealing a 114-111 OT victory in what will qualify as one of the best games of these playoffs.
The Hawks played catch-up the first three quarters, keeping it within two possessions at 81-76 after three. Cleveland would extend their lead to nine in the fourth, but Atlanta would put together a 20-7 run late (with seven-straight points by a heat-checking Kent Bazemore) to take a four-point advantage.
Cleveland wasn't done though. They'd tie it up with four straight points capped off by an Iman Shumpert free throw. Jeff Teague would miss a sweet-spot three at the buzzer, sending this game to an extra five minutes.
A crowd-igniting JR Smith triple would give the Cavs a boost midway through overtime -- something they needed with LeBron James hobbling around with an apparent injury. Jeff Teague would punch back with a brilliant step-back triple to push Atlanta up two with under a minute to go, but LeBron would counter with a dip, dive and drain from deep in the corner.
After a fruitless Hawks possession, LeBron would break down the Hawks defense with a sweet move to his left, taking it to the rack to extend the lead to three with time winding down. Atlanta would get two shots on the other end with a chance to tie, but a Teague corner triple would go begging.
Following one of the most dizzying and entertaining playoff games of this decade, the Cavs now lead the series 3-0 with a closeout game coming on Tuesday.
Key Number: 19
Cleveland dominated the offensive boards with 19 to Atlanta's 6. All those second chances helped the team weather a puzzling 0 for 10 start by LeBron James from the field and keep the game close when Atlanta could have easily built a double-digit lead.
Cleveland MVP:
LeBron James posted his first playoff double-double since 2013, dropping 37 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists on the Hawks in one of those games that we'll be replayed over and over on ESPN Classic. LeBron took a career-high 37 shots to do it, but he still carried Cleveland to a triumph that no one will soon forget. Oh yeah...and he did THIS.
Atlanta MVP:
Split the award between Paul Millsap (22 points, 9 rebounds) and Jeff Teague (30 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) for doing a banner job keeping the Hawks afloat following Horford's ejection.
What's Next?
The teams take a day off before resuming the series on Tuesday in Cleveland. Game 4 is slated to tipoff just after 8:30pm local time.
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