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Post by 112288 Wed May 17, 2017 11:06 pm

LeBron James, Kevin Love throttle the Celtics in Game 1; Tristan Thompson provides muscle

WEEI

By Mike Petraglia

LeBron James and the Cavaliers were not about add to the Celtics’ fairytale week.

In a display becoming of a defending champion, the Cavaliers, coming off a nine-day hiatus, came to Boston and put a stranglehold on the team that was just 48 hours removed from an electrifying and draining seven-game victory over the Washington Wizards and a day from winning the NBA Draft lottery for the first time in franchise history.

James scored 23 of his 38 points in the first half while Kevin Love added 32 points as the Cavaliers routed the Celtics, 117-104, in Game 1 of the Eastern finals Wednesday night at TD Garden. Avery Bradley finished with xx to lead the Celtics, who will try somehow to regroup for Game 2 Friday night at the Garden before the series shifts to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 Sunday and Tuesday.

The win was Cleveland’s 12th straight in the postseason, dating back to their comeback against the Warriors in the 2016 Finals. They are a perfect 9-0 in the playoffs while the Warriors are one better at 10-0 this postseason.

The game started out as the Celtics worst nightmare.

The bigger, stronger Cavaliers made seven of their first 13 shots. The Celtics, on the other hand, missed 11 of their first 14 shots. Most concerning early was Boston’s inability to score when not defended. The Celtics were just 2-for-10 on uncontested shots.

The Cavs raced to leads of 22-9 and 26-13. The Cavaliers also dominated the glass, hauling in 15 rebounds to Boston’s 4.

And then there was James. The superstar made seven of eight shots and posted exactly half of his team’s 30 points in the opening quarter as Cleveland took a 30-15 lead.

Things only got worse in the second quarter. After missing all five 3-point shots in the opening 12 minutes, the Celtics missed 9-of-11 from deep in the second. Throw eight first-half turnovers into the mix – leading to 12 Cleveland points – and you have an unmitigated disaster.

Two Kevin Love free throws with three minutes left in the second quarter stretched Cleveland’s lead to 53-29. James banked in a turnaround fallaway with 1:45 left to build Cleveland’s lead to 57-31. James’ layup with four seconds left gave him 23 points for the half on 10-of-15 shooting and put the Cavaliers ahead, 61-36.

(For a full boxscore, click here).

The only highlight was a pull-up three from 27 feet by Thomas at the buzzer, closing the Celtics to within 22 at the break.

Kelly Olynyk started the second half in place of Amir Johnson and it didn’t make much of a difference. Love was fouled shooting a three and hit a three on the next possession before Tristan Thompson cut to the basket for a uncontested dunk on a perfect pass from James. It was 73-45.

When Love wasn’t hitting open threes and James wasn’t driving the lane, Celtic-killer Tristan Thompson was again abusing the Celtics in the paint and on the glass. The big man hit his first seven shots from the floor while grabbing eight rebounds, including six on the offensive glass in the first three quarters.

The Celtics did try to get inside the head of Thompson late in the third. Marcus Smart got in Thompson’s face after a taking a shove to the back. LeBron was quick to push Thompson away. Moments later, it was Isaiah Thomas’ turn, barking at Thompson before being separated. Thompson finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.

A 10-1 Celtics run cut the lead down to 19, 89-70. Kevin Love hit a three before Al Horford responded in kind. Marcus Smart’s put-back dunk brought the Garden crowd to its feet and sent the crowd into a frenzy. Boston trailed 92-75 heading into the final quarter.

After scoring just two points in the third quarter, James helped put the game away with 13 in the fourth.

The Celtics cut it to 16, 110-94, with 3:45 left but missed a pair of open looks on 3-pointers. James hit one of two free throws with 3:23 remaining to push the lead back to 17, 111-94.

With the reserves in, the Celtics cut it to 11, 111-100 on a Gerald Green three before Iman Shumpert converted a baseline triple to put the game safely away.

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Post by 112288 Wed May 17, 2017 11:16 pm

OFF GAME.........EXPECTED FROM WHAT WE HAD TO DO TO GET HERE. EXPECT NEXT GAME TO BE A ROUGH AND TUMBLE GAME, DON'T BE TO SURPRISED IF A FIGHT BREAKS OUT! THIS IS GOING TO BE A PHYSICAL SERIES.

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Post by NYCelt Wed May 17, 2017 11:31 pm

It went as one would expect.  There was a definite letdown and some fatigue apparent from last game, and Cleveland played like Cleveland.

Our shot selection continues to be especially poor, and since we can't rebound effectively, helped shut us down.  We need to rely less on the three and find a way to get inside to score.

James and friends are a formidable obstacle that will be tough for any remaining playoff team to get around.  Even so, I do expect we'll be more competitive next game.
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Post by steve3344 Thu May 18, 2017 9:12 am

A friend in Dallas texted before the game “Cavs in 5.” At the end of the first quarter he texted “Cavs in 3.” By halftime he tweeted “Cavs in 2.” At that point LeBron James had not only the Celtics’ number but his own. He had 23 points and a plus-minus of plus-21.


http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/celtics/2017/05/borges_king_james_cavaliers_rule_garden_court_by_royal_decree

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Post by bobheckler Thu May 18, 2017 9:31 am

Nobody except for Jaylen Brown looked good for the first 30 minutes or so, and even he made at least one bone-headed mistake on defense, allowing Tristan Thompson a clear path the rim because he was more concerned about defending his man in the corner. Nobody. I'm not even going to begin to start picking out individual players to dress down. General mental fatigue?

Everybody tried to guard LeBron and nobody could.

Nobody stayed on Kevin Love on the perimeter even though he was red-hot from 3 all game.

55.56% from the frito line. IT 1-3. The wheels came off.

Expect to see Brad put Gerald Green in sooner if we start off cold again.

Tristan Thompson with 9 boards, 6 offensive. I know he's a beast but damn!

We actually won the 3rd and 4th quarters but we lost the first two so badly we couldn't make up the difference. Giving up 61 points on 57% shooting while only scoring 39 on 35% shooting is not a good half, to say the least.

Marcus Smart looked just as bad as everybody else in the 1st half but he turned back into Marcus Smart in the last quarter and a half until he fouled out.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400953694


bob


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Post by dboss Thu May 18, 2017 1:45 pm

bobheckler wrote:Nobody except for Jaylen Brown looked good for the first 30 minutes or so, and even he made at least one bone-headed mistake on defense, allowing Tristan Thompson a clear path the rim because he was more concerned about defending his man in the corner.  Nobody.  I'm not even going to begin to start picking out individual players to dress down.  General mental fatigue?

Everybody tried to guard LeBron and nobody could.

Nobody stayed on Kevin Love on the perimeter even though he was red-hot from 3 all game.

55.56% from the frito line.  IT 1-3.  The wheels came off.

Expect to see Brad put Gerald Green in sooner if we start off cold again.

Tristan Thompson with 9 boards, 6 offensive.  I know he's a beast but damn!  

We actually won the 3rd and 4th quarters but we lost the first two so badly we couldn't make up the difference.  Giving up 61 points on 57% shooting while only scoring 39 on 35% shooting is not a good half, to say the least.

Marcus Smart looked just as bad as everybody else in the 1st half but he turned back into Marcus Smart in the last quarter and a half until he fouled out.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400953694


bob


.

What about AB? Jaylen was Not the only Celtic to contribute. What about Crowder. I thought he was pretty solid.

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Post by bobheckler Thu May 18, 2017 1:52 pm

dboss wrote:
bobheckler wrote:Nobody except for Jaylen Brown looked good for the first 30 minutes or so, and even he made at least one bone-headed mistake on defense, allowing Tristan Thompson a clear path the rim because he was more concerned about defending his man in the corner.  Nobody.  I'm not even going to begin to start picking out individual players to dress down.  General mental fatigue?

Everybody tried to guard LeBron and nobody could.

Nobody stayed on Kevin Love on the perimeter even though he was red-hot from 3 all game.

55.56% from the frito line.  IT 1-3.  The wheels came off.

Expect to see Brad put Gerald Green in sooner if we start off cold again.

Tristan Thompson with 9 boards, 6 offensive.  I know he's a beast but damn!  

We actually won the 3rd and 4th quarters but we lost the first two so badly we couldn't make up the difference.  Giving up 61 points on 57% shooting while only scoring 39 on 35% shooting is not a good half, to say the least.

Marcus Smart looked just as bad as everybody else in the 1st half but he turned back into Marcus Smart in the last quarter and a half until he fouled out.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400953694


bob


.

What about AB?  Jaylen was Not the only Celtic to contribute.  What about Crowder.  I thought he was pretty solid.

dboss


dboss,

Yeah, I guess I did diss AB unfairly. He was 4-8 in that awful 1st quarter and 5-9 at the half. If it wasn't for AB that 30-19 first quarter might have been 34-14. As it is we needed another 12 minutes of play, and a 31-20 2nd quarter, to get there...

Just disgusted in general.


bob


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