Boston doesn't have the height or any kind of defensive stopper to prevent LeBron James and Kyrie Irving from penetrating and either scoring inside or dishing off for open look jumpers. The Cavaliers have made 52 percent of their two-point shots in the series and that's with Kevin Love hitting only 8-of-22 from the floor. Love should pick up his scoring making Cleveland's offense even more deadly in this game.




The Celtics are going to come out hard here. Brad Stevens has definitely gotten the most out of his team. Boston's offense has been efficient and could be even better with the home crowd behind them for the first time in the series. The Celtics have a winning home record.




Stevens is astute enough to realize he can't stop Cleveland by slowing pace. So I see the Celtics speeding up their attack. This is the shortest point spread of the series. The oddsmaker is anticipating a fairly close game and so am I. That means there should be more scoring - if not fouling - during the final three minutes of the game.




Because of Cleveland's big leads in the first two games there were only 14 combined points scored during the last three minutes of the first two games of the series.




It's a plus for Boston that streaky Isaiah Thomas is playing well, scoring 22 points in each of the first two games while dishing off for 17 assists. The Celtics need to ride Thomas, who is small and a weak defender.




Note, too, that Cleveland has gone over in 10 of its last 11 road games versus opponents with a winning home record.