Playoffs Live Thread, ECF Game 1: Cavs @ Celtics
2018-05-13
Happy Mothers Day, and Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals, Cavs fans. The Cavaliers travel to the TD Garden this afternoon, to take on the Celtics and their hungry cast of young players. The last time the Cavs took on this squad in the playoffs, Boston was without NBA All-Star Isaiah Thomas, who’d been shut down because of a lingering hip issue, and the Celtics had new life because they’d won game three without him. The Cavs won game four comfortably and then stepped into game five in the Garden and dropped a 135-102 beatdown on Beantown that made us all laugh at NBA Analytics.
This time, the Celtics are better, though. Replacing Avery Bradley is Terry Rozier who’s averaging 18/5.5/5.8 in 37 minutes a night. Replacing Jae Crowder is rookie Jason Tatum who isn’t a rookie anymore and is dropping 18.8/4.5/3.8. Al Horford is having possibly his best year as a pro, and definitely his best playoffs while Jaylen Brown is chipping in a 58 TS%. The Clovers have those four guys averaging 17 or more a night, and six averaging at least double digits when you add the Marcus brothers, Smart and Morris, to the mix. Rounding out the top eight is bruiser, Aaron Byanes.
Thankfully the Celtics are without backup point guard Shane Larkin, who is out with a shoulder strain and likely out for the “entire series.” Normally, the, diminutive point guard’s absence would be a fairly nominal event, but the 14-minutes per game he plays are as Boston’s lone backup point guard. This leaves Marcus Smart as the backup one for the Celtics. Depth at guard is going to be an issue for the Celtics, and Tatum and Brown will likely play a good bit of time there.
The Celtics have certainly have had their share of injuries this year, having lost Hayward, Irving, and Daniel Theis for the season, and now Larkin for the series. But expect no sympathy from the Cavs and their fans. There’s little love lost for Irving even though the events of last summer and the trade that sent Crowder and Thomas packing from the Cavs both seem like a lifetime ago.
Tactics: I’m the Cavs, I’m giving help off Tatum, who is shooting just 31% from three this playoffs. I’m also going after Rozier defensively to get him into foul trouble as often as possible. For Cleveland, pressing their advantages over Horford (Tristan Thompson), Baynes (speed), and Rozier (lack of depth), and keeping Boston off the o-boards will be key, as will limiting turnovers that get the crowd and their young guns into transition and into the game.
Prediction: holiday afternoon games seem to favor the road team to me, as distractions are greater at home, and the road team is more irritated. Cleveland wins the war and wins semi comfortably 112-104.
https://www.betlabssports.com/blog/lebron-wins-road-except-game-1/
This article is from last year, so LeBron’s updated record for Game 1s on the road is 3-11.
https://twitter.com/Rachel__Nichols/status/995797023969435650
nothing in NBA is consistent, there is always a reaction to everything, Game 2 will be much different game as Cavs will make adjustments and some Celtics will fall back to the mean….it happens all the time…even when cavs swept Raptors, every game was different and some players went nuts while others dropped to mean, Cavs missed a lot of point blank and wide open shots, they hit those, we have different conversation. Just remember, this Celtics crowd got funeral quiet when Cavs got within 14 points, which isn’t very close…Cavs keep this close, the crowd tightens and so will… Read more »
https://twitter.com/CLEsportsTalk/status/995853057270435840
For Lebron, I think this game was like the equivalent of a batter “taking all the way” on a pitchers first pitch. Bat on the shoulder, clocking the speed, letting the pitcher throw a strike. We’ve seen Lebron do this before. The proof is in how he played: Lemme see what happens when I drive to the hoop on them…lemme see how they defend my turnaround…what’s it gonna do to them if I pull up for 3 after the pick?….what passes are gonna be open for me out of the post? HE WAS EXPERIMENTING!! The turnovers are just a result… Read more »
I agree tonight was an aberration but this series is going to be a slog. People got a little too excited by the Raptors sweep. Fundamentally this is still the same Cavs team Boston faced in 2017 minus Kyrie and Boston isn’t scared of that combination, unlike the Raptors who suffer from permanent LeBron PTSD. Their mascot should the guy in Edmund Munch’s “The Scream”, not a dinosaur. The thing that worries me about these Cavs is that their game plan seems to basically be “have LeBron keep us in it until the other team stops executing or gets cold… Read more »
*Edward Munch. Way to step on my own joke…
Yeah, I agree that probably won’t work against Boston. Non-Lebron’s are likely going to have to be a lot more self sufficient against Boston’s pressure.
If you can’t find your car keys, just ask LeBron where you left them.
https://twitter.com/DanFeldmanNBA/status/995808125717540865
The only thing that lebron messed up on in his assessment of the beginning of the 4th quarter was mistakenly calling jc -Jordan Crawford ,,,,, wow wonder what kind of regard he has for jc
LeBron: “I got a good sense of how they played me today, and how I need to play going into Game 2.”
Me: Better.
I will say as far as defending LBJ, Boston is more suited than Indy just based off their personnel I think. Boston has way more big, physical, and athletic bodies to make LBJ work hard on getting to the bucket in isos than Indy does. Morris, Brown, Smart, Horford, and Tatum are better than everyone but Young and Lance on Indy in terms of the combo of physicality/size/athleticism on LBJ. Dipo is quick but too small. Joseph was too small. Same with Collison. Bogdan, Turner, booker, and Sabonis were too slow.
I would have to disagree on the Bogdanovic part. I think he played LeBron great defensively.
Ok some games and got torched others. I don’t think he has the tools of Morris, Brown, or Tatum.
Also Bogdanovic would disappear on O for stretches or entire games if his threes weren’t falling. I don’t see Tatum, Brown or Morris putting up lines like he did in Game 7 (37 minutes, 3 points, 2 assists, 0 rebounds). You have to make LeBron work on both ends of the floor to beat him consistently, and Indy ultimately couldn’t do that.
That’s not even including Ojeleye and Yabusele
thought it was interesting how when Cavs got within 18 and then to 14 to end 3rd the whole arena was dead quiet, and that was at a 14 point game, which can be considered a blowout….if Cavs keep things close or start making comebacks the crowd is going to get tense and go into their favor….the start of the 4th was straight ugly that they let crowd and team right back in the game.
wouldn’t be surprised to see TT in starting lineup next game, think Korver will be better off bench….also think Clarkson had moments but again tries to do too much, wonder how long leash he will have before they go to Calderon…Hill has to be more aggressive to start…no one on Celtics scares me, but as a team they play fairly well and had incredible turnout today….nothing stays the same in NBA, so look for Cavs to bounce back in a close one and the series starts over next Saturday
Watching the highlights of the first half, seems like the cavs struggled stopping the Celtics (especially Horford) physically in the paint. Looked like Horford outmuscled love a number of times for post buckets and that brown, Rozier, and Tatum kind of bulled and muscled their way into the paint for layups against a number of perimeter defenders. Morris did too. Wonder if tt starting may be help. Also looked like they went at Korver doing something Baby Dinos couldn’t do or didn’t try much. Not surprising, but the cavs will probably have to help.
Also hopefully the Celtics three point proficiency doesn’t continue. If Morris, Horford, Brown, and Tatum are hitting at high rates and under semi-contested conditions in addition to Rozier, who was cold, they are going to be difficult to stop. Credit to Stevens for going with Morris. Provides a lot more spacing. Doubt Baynes gets any minutes with Horford this series.
They may not have to play together if they can split minutes at center and each go +17…
A-freaking-men:
does entire coaching staff not have this info or not get this in their coaching head? or is Lue still experimenting until he is fired?
Guarantee you thay have this info. Yet this lineup still sees the floor. Why.
I feel like we perpetually swing on a pendulum between “man, the Cavs really aren’t very good” to “wow, Lebron’s the GOAT!”
Both can be true at the same time. One does not preclude the other.
Everybody other than LeBron is just so damn inconsistent. If at least a couple of other guys reliably played well every night it would easier to draw a bead on them. Literally nothing they do surprises me. TT could grab 20 boards, Love, Korver and JR could hit 15 threes and this team could win by 30, or they can play like dog crap and lose by 30, and any result in between. All I know for absolutely sure is that LeBron is the GOAT and Jordan Clarkson is terrible.
Lue should be fired on the spot if he brings out the Clarkson/ TT/ Lebron/ Hood/ Green lineup again. Yet I have zero doubt we’ll be seeing it Tuesday.
Unfortunately he won’t.