Recap: Cleveland 135, Boston 102 (or, goodnight Boston, hello rubber match!)

The Cavs are the deepest team in NBA history led by a man who will go down as the greatest player in NBA history. The team destroyed the Celtics Thursday night, and it was clear early that Cleveland’s Game 4 victory had crushed Boston’s will. The Wine and Gold were dominant from the start, and methodically and spectacularly built a 20 point lead and kept Boston at arm’s length till they put the Leprechauns out of their misery with a 34-17 third quarter.

Yes, Cleveland was transcendent, especially offensively. They set franchise records for points in a half (75), and a quarter (43 in the first!), and as Tom Pestak noted in the instacap, they could’ve scored 90. Leading the way was LeBron who in the first quarter alone dropped an insane 11 points, six assists, four rebounds, two steals, and one block in the 10 minutes and 44 seconds he played. I’m pretty sure his PER that period was infinity. Kevin Love “chipped in” 10 and five in the first, as Cleveland made it a point to get him involved very early, and he rewarded that focus by cashing behind the arc and in the paint. Kyrie added nine, and Kyle Korver swished a couple treys.

Boston seemed hapless, as Avery Bradley seemed their only efficient offensive player, and Cleveland was locked in defensively. Our favorite Cavalier opponent, Al Horford was a laughable -21 in nine first quarter minutes. I think I saw him checking Travelocity on his phone during the game. Cleveland steamrolled on drives, transition opportunities, and threes, and simply competed against Boston who was not running its motion offense with much fervor.

The interesting thing to me is the adjustments that the Cavs made throughout this series. After Thomas went down in game two, Boston switched to a motion offense, and it took Cleveland about six quarters to adjust. But once they did, Boston had no way to consistently manufacture points as long as the wine and gold took care of the rock. Avery Bradley was their best player, but they had nothing left to hang their hat on, and as CtB predicted at the season’s beginning, Al Horford got pwned.

Boston tried to rally in the second quarter, but it was about like this…

The Cavs’ defense relaxed a bit, and Bradley got hot scoring 14. I’ll give Beantown credit. Despite a deficit in the high teens, their fans were loud and supportive as they tried to will the Celtics to a rally. Unfortunately, the Cavalier bench is much better than the Celts’. It might be the best bench in NBA history.

Deron Williams came in and aggressively looked to score off the dribble after being passive for much of the series. I remember yelling at him to stop passing up shots in Game 3, but when word came out just yesterday that he and LeBron had been suffering from a flu bug, it all made sense. In game Deron seemed rejuvenated in the second as he got to the rack for a pair of and-1s and hit 2-3 from downtown to score 14 in the frame. And Shump added this nifty Eurostep which JR enjoyed immensely.

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/867915007979335681

The Cavs offense was great: little wasted motion, fantastic ball movement. The Cavs used ball screens to free the ball handler and get to a shot. If help came, they swung it to the weak side until it whipped around into an open shot. Or they off-ball ran screen action to free guys on on the wing and into the post. It was beautiful to watch. When the Cavalier offense is humming like this, I’m wondering who can stop them.

Cleveland (knock on wood) has also appeared to have solved some of their free-throw problems, going 12-13 from charity in the second. Though he doesn’t score every game, the Kyle Korver effect on the wine and gold has been palpable. His presence on the floor opens driving lanes, and it’s been reported that he’s helped LeBron and Tristan tremendously with their free throws. After the first 24 minutes, the score was 75-57.

At halftime we were treated to far too much bizarre promo for TNT’s Claws series, including a regurgitation inducing shot of Shaquille O’Neal’s toes, which I’ll spare you. It’s safe to say that none of us will be missing TNT show promos during the finals.

The third quarter turned into a victory lap for Cleveland as they clearly looked to end the series and put Boston away. LeBron had 15 and Kyrie a magical 13 on seven shots, as they each canned jumpers and layups with ridiculous degrees of difficulty. This Ky-three spin into a stepback trey was legendary as were his drives and dishes.

As LeBron passed Michael Jordan for the lead on the all-time playoff scoring list, Ty Lue rode the starters for the entirety of the third, which made box scores easy.

Kyrie and LeBron’s wizardry was self evident, and J.R. was ball hawking and diving for loose balls up 20+.  Kev was a defensive and rebounding anchor. And as the third ended with the Cavs up 109-74, we knew Cleveland was going to a third straight finals against Golden state, the NBA’s first ever finals rubber match.

We never saw the starters again. I am still looking for a LeBron, Kev, and Kyrie nickname. Tonight, I’m going superhero. Your North Coast Avengers numbers…

LeBron: 36-8-8, three swipes, a block and +36 in 34 minutes.

Kev: 15-3-11, four steals, a block and +43 in 28 minutes.

Kyrie: 24-8-2, two steals and +33 in 32 minutes.

Garbage time was fun. RJ dropped nine. James freaking Jones had a dunk! Even Dahntay had a slam (that barely got over the rim). And Channing Frye chipped in a couple treys. After being a huge bench asset in the regular season and earlier in the playoffs, he was an afterthought this series, but I saw that as Cleveland pushing their interior superiority against Boston. They’ll need Channing in the finals to pull Dray and McGee out of the paint.

As the game wound down we all started getting giddy at the prospect of the matchup we’d all been anticipating since last July when the best player in the west, Kevin Durant, bailed on his town and went and joined the best team in the West. Yes, this is going to be something special. LeBron and Co. took time to savor his and James Jones’ seventh straight trip to the finals. LeBron gave Isaiah Thomas a big hug, and it was all smiles from the Cavs’ locker room.

The game has been over for an hour. Kevin Love still hasn't showered. "We're listening to Shump rap," he said as he headed to a back room

— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) May 26, 2017

Plenty of joy to go around for Cleveland. There’ll be plenty of time to hype the coming match-up with Golden State, but let’s take a minute to savor this one. Deron, Kyle, Derrick, and Walter are going to their first finals. LeBron and James Jones are going back to their seventh straight, and the rest of us are truly blessed to be fans of this team and to get to watch basketball played at its highest level for the third year in a row.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFwYdoz_dYY