Cavs lay inexcusable egg coming out of halftime at home, dooming them in Game 3 | Ulrich

CLEVELAND — The Cavaliers showed who they can be in Game 2, but they reminded everyone who they are in Game 3.

Talented, yet incredibly inconsistent.

The 14-0 run the Cavs allowed the Boston Celtics to assemble to start the second half of Game 3 Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse could prove to be the turning point of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

At the very least, it was the undisputed death knell for the Cavs in a 106-93 Game 3 letdown, and now they trail the Celtics 2-1 in the best-of-seven, second-round playoff series.

For the Cavs to come out of halftime and lay an egg for more than the first three minutes of the third quarter at home is inexcusable. When there is virtually no sense of urgency at such a crucial juncture, the blame lies with coach J.B. Bickerstaff and his players. By the time the stretch had ended, a nine-point halftime hole had expanded to a 23-point crater.

The Cavs didn't score during the second half until — guess who? — All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell made a shot with 8:39 left in the third quarter. The closest the Cavs came to completing a comeback was cutting their deficit to nine points on three separate occasions in the fourth quarter.

This is not a recipe for postseason success, especially against the East's top-seeded Celtics, who had an NBA-best record of 64-18 in the 2023-24 regular season.

Did the Cavs learn nothing from their previous home playoff game about the value of coming out of halftime with proper postseason energy and intensity? They trailed by as many as 18 points in the second quarter May 5 against the Orlando Magic, but they outscored their opponent 32-15 in a dominant third quarter and captured a 106-94 victory in Game 7.

No, the Magic are not the Celtics, and the fourth-seeded Cavs are no strangers to experiencing trouble at the beginning of third quarters. Still, with what was at stake for the Cavs — a chance to shock the world by hopping into the driver's seat of this series in Cleveland's first home playoff game against Boston — their early third-quarter trance in Game 3 was stunning. They were punched in the mouth and failed to counter.

“We've got to come out of halftime better,” Cavs sixth man Caris LeVert said. “That was a point of emphasis at halftime for sure. We just didn't meet the bell.

“We knew it was a possibility. They're a really good team. I think we kind of let him off the hook. We let them [score] in transition. I think they got a couple open looks as well. Derrick White got some wide-open looks, so we just can't let that happen.”

A three-point play by All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who tied Mitchell for a game-high 33 points. Two White 3-pointers accounting for half of his 12 points and sandwiching a layup by All-Star forward Jaylen Brown, who scored 28 points. A 3-pointer by point guard Jrue Holiday, who added 18 points.

Meanwhile, the Cavs went ice cold on offense.

The sequence perfectly illustrated how the Cavs have such a slim margin for error in this matchup. Fall asleep for three minutes and change and awaken in a coffin nailed shut. The sound of the shovel piercing the ground and soil dropping onto wood could be heard for the duration of Game 3.

“That really changed the complexity of the whole game,” Mitchell said. “It's hard to fight an uphill battle, and we fought and we clawed back. But that start of the third quarter, that's what did it.

“It is disappointing because we've shown the capability to come out and start the quarter off strong. At the end of the day, we didn't do that tonight, and we paid for it.”

Mitchell also lamented the Cavs giving the Celtics too many open shots at the beginning of the game. Discipline disappeared. Although the Celtics averaged 14.6 more points in the regular season than the 106 they produced Saturday, they had a comfortable cushion for the vast majority of the night. A central culprit: The Cavs reverted to familiar offensive woes not detected Thursday when they rolled to a 118-94 triumph in Game 2 at TD Garden.

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There seemed to be a disconnect with the approach in Game 3.

Evan Mobley, who shifted from power forward and started at center with Jarrett Allen missing his sixth consecutive playoff game because of an injury to his ribs, explained the Celtics kept switching on defense to get big defenders on him. After scoring 17 points and grabbing eight rebounds, Mobley said he thought the Celtics' strategy slowed the Cavs.

“We've just gotta find different advantages and take those advantages instead of trying to do the same thing over and over,” Mobley said.

If the Cavs aren't on the same page Monday night in Game 4, this series will slip away as quickly as Game 3 did in those fateful three-plus minutes to begin the third quarter.

More on Cavs' loss to Celtics in Game 3: Boston regains control of Eastern Conference semifinals vs. Cleveland

Nate Ulrich can be reached at nulrich@thebeaconjournal.com. On Twitter: @ByNateUlrich.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: The Cavs didn't win on Saturday vs Celtics because of atrocious third