Much has been said about the Boston Celtics' stifling team defense all year. A defense so smothering that, while is statistically inferior compared to their postseason numbers, it's still within the top of the pack and has been their calling card in every victory. In a way, you can call their defense a byproduct of their “Celtic Pride” warcry.

So with the C's surrendering 116 points to the Cleveland Cavaliers — a team they previously held to 83 and 94 points respectively in Games 1 and 2 — the fault lies purely on how they defended the Wine & Gold. At least big man Al Horford thought so.

In addition to the final score, the defensive breakdowns showed up all across the board. The Cavaliers shot 48 percent as a team on Game 3, and they also gave up 32 points in the first quarter — the most points the Celtics ever allowed on any quarter in the last three games. The backcourt of George Hill and J.R. Smith also had breakout games. After only scoring eight points in the last two games, Hill had 13 points on this one, while Smith had 11 points despite scoring only four (including zero last game) up to that point. The Celtics were also outrebounded for the first time in the series.

While there were also some glaring offensive miscues for the Celtics, such as their measly 38 points in the paint compared to the 50 and 60 points they scored the previous two outings, in the end, the team believes that their defense is to blame for this defeat and we could expect the Beantown team to make adjustments and bounce back next time around.