WALTHAM, Mass. — When the Eastern Conference finals schedule was released, there was a theory that the spacing of games would benefit the Cleveland Cavaliers.


It's an older squad, with a 33-year-old superstar in LeBron James, who has put plenty of mileage on his body since coming to the NBA out of high school 15 years ago.The thought was that the three days off between Games 2 and 3 would help Cleveland rest up and recalibrate no matter what happened in the first two contests [...]

By Scott Souza The MetroWest Daily News

WALTHAM, Mass. — When the Eastern Conference finals schedule was released, there was a theory that the spacing of games would benefit the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It's an older squad, with a 33-year-old superstar in LeBron James, who has put plenty of mileage on his body since coming to the NBA out of high school 15 years ago.The thought was that the three days off between Games 2 and 3 would help Cleveland rest up and recalibrate no matter what happened in the first two contests against the Celtics.

Given exactly how those first two games played out, however, the welcomed break has turned into a three-day wave of criticism nationally toward James and the Cavaliers for how they played in Boston. The no-show effort in a 108-83 loss in Game 1 was one thing, but the 107-94 defeat in Game 2 when James put up 42 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds was even more eye-opening for those who saw James deliver a tour-de-force performance that wasn’t nearly good enough.

“That's a game-changer in itself,” Marcus Smart said following Thursday's Celtics practice. “LeBron came out and did everything he could, and they see that, and they still came up short. That's the feeling going back home.

“It kind of puts you in a mood that you don't want to be in. We've got a lot of momentum, and we're going to try to use it, and ride it.”

The Celtics will look to do just that on Saturday night in Game 3 as they attempt to move to within one victory of the NBA Finals.

“We have a lot of guys that have been through it before,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said during a Friday conference call, “and we've got some guys going through it for the first time. But these experiences in the last month feel like they're worth three times what you would normally get just because we're going through it together as this group.

“When we went to Milwaukee for Game 3 (a 24-point loss), I thought we were poor. I thought Game 4 (a two-point loss), we played pretty darn well. And then when we went to Philly for Game 3 (an overtime victory), I thought we were obviously pretty good.”

Boston’s last road game was a foul-marred loss to the 76ers in the conference semifinals that dropped the Celtics to 1-4 on the road in the playoffs — compared to 9-0 at TD Garden — but they have also now won seven of last eight in the postseason overall.

“I think we've gotten better as the playoffs have [gone] on,” said second-year guard Jaylen Brown, coming off back-to-back 23-point games. “We didn't get a road win against Milwaukee, but we got one against a good team in Philly. We just needed to see one go in. Sometimes you've got to see one go in and you feel better about yourself. So we're going into Cleveland feeling good.”

While James was otherworldly, and Kevin Love had a nice bounce-back effort with 22 points and 15 rebounds, in Game 2, the rest of the Cavaliers have yet to show up in the series outside of a flurry of 3-pointers from Kyle Korver in Tuesday’s first half. Boston’s starting backcourt of Brown and Terry Rozier outscored the Cleveland starting tandem of George Hill and J.R. Smith, 41-5, in Game 2.

The role player rotation of Hill, Smith, Jeff Green, Rodney Hood and Jordan Clarkson are a combined 18-for-57 (31.6 percent) through the two games with each also proving to be a defensive liability.

“We're expecting them to come out and play very well,” Smart said. “We have to bring our own energy. That's what we plan on doing.”

Cavaliers coach Ty Lue concluded a rocky post-game press conference on Tuesday saying the Celtics “did what they were supposed to do” in winning the first two games and that “they’ve shown they haven’t played that well on the road” in the playoffs.

Over the next few days in Cleveland, the Celtics will be looking to show once and for all that they are the better team in the series no matter where the games are played.

“We're pretty confident,” Brown said, “just as confident as we were at home. There's a difference definitely between being on the road and at home — just the energy disparity.

“But if you do what you're supposed to do, and you are who you are, it'll show home or away.”