The Cleveland Cavaliers are a tough enough proposition when LeBron James is scoring all kinds of points. But in Game 3 of the NBA Eastern Conference finals, they proved that they might be even tougher to deal with when he ISN'T scoring so much. The Boston Celtics were left grasping for answers, and it leaves us also guessing as to whether Cleveland is going to be able to get everyone involved as they attempt even up this series in Game 4, scheduled for 8:35 PM ET at the Quicken Loans Arena. Remember that if you are a BetAnySports customer, you can place wagers even after the game begins, as you access the state-of-the-art software from Live Betting Ultra.

LeBron, who scored 42 points in Game 2, as the Celtics went up 2-0 with a 107-94 victory, dialed things down on the scoring end on Saturday, with just 27 points, but he played the role of the playmaker, dishing out 12 assists, which enabled all five starters to be in double figures in the 116-86 victory. And Kyle Korver was a not-so-secret weapon off the bench, shooting four times from beyond the three-point arc and nailing all of them.

Interestingly enough, Lebron's Usage figure wasn't even the highest on his own team (24.1), with Kevin Love, who scored 13 points with 14 rebounds, at 27.8. What this illustrates is that sometimes it's not a bad idea to give up the ball. Granted, when you get off to a 32-17 lead at the end of the first quarter, it's easier to follow along with the game plan. But the reason the Cavaliers came out of the gate quickly is that they used the additional size to get an advantage. Tristan Thompson made the start at center, while Boston sat its own pivot man, Aron Baynes. The Celtics don't necessarily have another imposing big man to put out there aside from Al Horford, so Brad Stevens decided to go small, with Marcus Morris occupying one of the starting forward positions so that he could pay attention to Lebron.

Now the Cavs know that they can win without King James dominating the ball, and as a result they present a more expansive defensive puzzle for Stevens to solve. And the Celtics need to get their act together on offense as well; they shot only 39.2% from the field. Boston has now lost five out of six games on the road during the playoffs, and four of those defeats have come by double digits.

In the NBA playoff betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, Cleveland is favored:

Cleveland Cavaliers -7
Boston Celtics +7

Over 205.5 points -110
Under 205.5 points -110

So will Boston try to get physical here? Certainly they have the ability to do that with backcourt men like Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart, but the scoring load has to be shouldered by a number of people equally. That means Jaylen Brown and Horford, who combined for only five field goals on Saturday, have to improve on that Game 3 performance.

Cleveland made 17 out of 34 from beyond the arc in Game 3, while Boston was held to 6-22 (27.3%). That is surprising, because it is so out of the ordinary. During the regular season, the Celtics might have been the NBA's best team around the three-point line, in measuring offense vs. defense. They were sixth in the league in "makes" at 11.5 per game, and they were second in the NBA with 37.7% accuracy. Their opponents, on the other hand, made just 9.4 triples per game (fourth best) and no one held their opposition to a lower percentage (33.9%). Defensively, they have not been far off those numbers in the playoffs. Offensively, they have lagged.

We DO know that they have a coach who knows how to adjust when the situation calls for it. And Stevens has been doing that even more since this team lost leading scorer Kyrie Irving with a knee injury. If this team goes "big," Love may have to deal with Horford at both ends of the floor, and Boston isn't likely to come out flat again.

If you're talking about technical trends, that may be something to point you in the right direction. Boston is not only 23-9 ATS as an underdog, they have covered nine of 10 games on the heels of a double-digit loss. Meanwhile, Cleveland has covered less than 32% of their games as both the favorite and a host. Were looking for something much tighter on Monday night, so we're taking the points.

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