Playoff Live Thread: Cavs @ Celtics, Game 2 (#ScaryMonstars)

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Who says LeBron James isn’t scary? Well, apparently… the 5’8 dude who got the majority of his shots altered by the monstrous defense LBJ and the Cavs played on him in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“We’re not scared of Cleveland. They’re not the Monstars. They’re not on ‘Space Jam,'” Thomas said. “They lace up their shoes just like us. They just happened to play better than us in Game 1. We just gotta protect [our] home court in Game 2 and get the win.”

Umm… you sure about that Ike? I mean that had to be pretty frightening how the Cavs stopped you and took your team apart on Wednesday… and even though they played better than you, LeBron himself didn’t think they played anywhere close to their best basketball. In fact, outside of the Cavs’ starting front court, nobody else in a wine & gold jersey really did much offensively.

The truth is, the Celtics don’t have a whole lot of options to fall back on, other than to try and scare the Cavs with physical play and general thuggery (which they already started employing in the third quarter of Game 1). Sure, they could certainly shoot better from beyond the arc… but so could the Cavs… especially if Brad Stevens decides to start doubling LeBron. If that happens… things could get really ugly. You have to believe there will be an abundance of open shooters, and odds are against Kyrie, J.R. and Kyle Korver going 1-10 from three again.

When, not if, the aggression comes from the likes of Marcus Smart, Jae Crowder, Kelly Olynyk, et al… the true test for the Cavs is how well they keep their composure… not only for sake of this series, but also so they don’t incur any suspensions for the next round. There’s also the potential for injury (as we’ve seen) when the tactics go bush league… so hopefully, the Cavs can also take precautions to protect themselves from cheap shots.

This should be the most competitive game the Cavs see from the top-seeded Celtics, mainly because this could be the last winnable one for Boston in this series. I expect it to be a harder fought, even more physical, grind it out affair, but in the end, the Cavs should be able to pull away. The starting lineups should remain the same, although there has been speculation that Stevens could go smaller with Gerald Green starting in place of Amir Johnson to try and counter-act the Cavs’ front line dominance.

Prediction: The Celtics might give them a scare along the way, but ultimately the Cavs put their monster talent on display to show them they should be afraid… very afraid… Final score: 109-103.

Catch all the action on TNT starting at 8:30pm (EST), and don’t forget to chime in here…