NBA Playoffs 2015, Cavaliers vs. Hawks Game 3: Recap and highlights (Video)

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Things got testy in Game 3 of the Cavaliers vs. Hawks series, but ultimately it was Cleveland walking away with the 3-0 series lead.

After suffering two brutal injuries in two games this series, the Atlanta Hawks decided to fight back in a physical way — and they even managed to do that wrong too. Atlanta is a team without a superstar player, and they finished Game 3 down two of their best options.

Kyle Korver was already lost for the duration of the series before Game 3 started, but it’s not his absence that everyone was talking about before the night was over.

In one of the most controversial calls of the postseason, Al Horford was ejected in the second quarter for elbowing Matthew Dellavedova in the torso. Many believed that this wasn’t warranting an ejection because Al Horford didn’t connect to Delly’s head — but the NBA saw it differently.

That ended up being a brutal blow to the Hawks, as they lost their last ‘superstar’ caliber player and were left without most of the options that made them a 60-win team this season.

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It wasn’t the end of the Hawks though as they battled the Cavaliers close the rest of the way through, despite losing Horford.

LeBron James was a big factor in that on both ends, as his slow start allowed the Hawks to get early points that ended up paying off big down the stretch of the game. It was a dichotomy of LeBron though, as he went 0-10 in the first quarter but ended up getting a triple-double before the third quarter was done.

To say LeBron James wasn’t amped up in the second half would be to underestimate his night overall.

Things were physical before the game too though, with some Cavalier-on-Cavalier violence in the form of Tristan Thompson posterizing Timofey Mozgov and giving him a bloody nose.

Thompson had the reverse game that LeBron James had, as he started out great but ended up getting into foul trouble late in the contest. A costly foul in the fourth quarter gave Thompson five on the night at that time and allowed the Hawks to tie the game at 95-95.

J.R. Smith started hot as well and cooled off on both ends of the court. Smith had a nasty lock on Dennis Schroder early on in the game, but wasn’t as dominate late in the game when the Hawks took the lead.

But when you need something, J.R. Smith usually steps up and he did that when he hit a deep three to tie the game 100-100 late in the fourth.

It was LeBron James who let the Cavaliers down in the end though, as he failed to hit the free throws he needed to and allowed the Hawks to take the game into overtime. Leave it to J.R. Smith to save things and make them interesting down the stretch of overtime. Tristan Thompson did his part by making a clutch bucket, but shanked the free throw which would have been easy points.

J.R. Smith stepped up when he needed to though, and he gave the Cavs a late lead.

But what’s a game like this without LeBron James redeeming himself, which he did late win overtime to give his team the extra push they needed.

The series will head to a critical Game 4 on Tuesday night, as the Cavaliers are going to try and close things out and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since the last time LeBron James was in town. It was a tighter than tight game, but the Cavaliers gave it their all and they now own a 3-0 series lead as a result.

Date: Tuesday, May 26th
Start Time: 8:00pm ET
Location: Cleveland, OH
Venue: Quicken Loans Arena
Series Lead: Cavaliers lead series 3-0
TV Channel: TNT
Live Stream: TNT Overtime

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