POST GAME CLEVELAND - PLAYOFFS ROUND #3 - GAME 1 - HOME

Celtics Wrap: Boston Blows Past Cavs With Convincing Game 1 Win

NESN by Adam London on Sun, May 13, 2018 at 5:49PM BOSTON — What a difference a year makes. After being throttled by the Cleveland Cavaliers in last season’s Eastern Conference finals, the Boston Celtics flipped the script with a 108-83 shellacking of the Cavs in Game 1 of the ECF on Sunday at TD Garden. It was a wire-to-wire rout for Boston. Jaylen Brown led the way with a game-high 23 points and was one of four Celtics to score in double figures, along with Marcus Morris (21 points), Al Horford (20 points) and Jayson Tatum (16 points). Cleveland shot a lowly 37 percent from the field in the contest, while LeBron James’ path of destruction came to a pause as the star forward was limited to just 15 points. With the win, the Celtics take a 1-0 series lead. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Marcus Morris C: Al Horford

HOT AND COLD It seemed as though the Celtics couldn’t miss in the first quarter, while the Cavs couldn’t even buy a basket. And after 12 minutes of play, Boston held a commanding 36-18 lead, which marked a new record for the largest playoff first-quarter deficit James has faced in his 15-year career. Behind 63.6 percent shooting from the field, the C’s had to players score in double figures in the first. Brown pitched in 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, while Horford knocked down all four of his field goals in his 11-point quarter. James led the way for the Cavs — who shot 31.8 percent from the field — in the first with a mere five points. Boston also outrebounded Cleveland by a 14-6 margin.

ONSLAUGHT CONTINUES Things didn’t get much better for the Cavs in the second. After converting on just eight of its 25 shots from the field, Cleveland faced a 61-35 deficit at the break. Cleveland particularly struggled from distance as it missed all 12 of its 3-point shots in the first half. Boston, on the other hand, posted a 5-for-12 mark. Tatum got into a bit of a groove in the second after a quiet first, scoring seven points in the quarter. Brown also finished the first half strong with five second-quarter points by knocking down both of his shots and one free-throw attempt. The 16-point halftime deficit also marked another playoff career-worst for James.

NOT SO FAST The Celtics looked as though they were going to entirely put the game out of reach when they extended their lead to 28, but the Cavs stayed the course. Cleveland nearly cut the lead in half as Boston took a 78-64 advantage in the final frame. The Cavs’ stars helped them get back in the game, as James (eight points) and Kevin Love (nine points) combined for over half of the team’s third-quarter points. It was a quiet frame for the Celtics, who only managed to score 17 points on 7-of-19 shooting. Morris and Horford each provided six points in the frame.

FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED The Celtics weren’t going to let the Cavaliers make this one interesting in the fourth quarter. Boston got off to a quick 7-0 run in the frame and never looked back. Morris and Tatum carried the load in the fourth with seven points apiece, while Smart (five points) and Rozier (four points) weren’t far behind. Boston held Cleveland to 19 points in the quarter.

PLAY OF THE GAME An end-to-end gem from Brown.

UP NEXT The Celtics and Cavaliers resume the series Tuesday night. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 8:30 p.m. ET
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Game 1 credit goes out to Stevens and the coaching staff for coming up with a gem of a defensive strategy!

Also BIG KUDO'S go to the players for executing the plan!

An old time classic Celtic win on Mothers Day!

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PS REMEMBER TUESDAY NBA LOTTO DRAFT BEFORE THE CELTIC GAME ON ESPN - 7:30 PM.

Another brilliant adjustment by Brad Stevens when Morris was put in the starting lineup.

By making Horford the Center, the Cavs lost the advantage of having Kevin Love as the Center.

Celts are taller, bigger, and faster.
I'm not going to be surprised if the Celts win this series.

The Mother's Day Massacre.

LeBron James, 15 points on 5-16, 0-5 from 3, 7 TOs and, very significantly, on 6 ftas. Marcus Morris 21 points on 7-12, 3-4 from 3, 10 rebounds.

The only players on the Cavaliers who can handle Jaylen Brown are LeBron and Jeff Green, and Jeff Green is unreliable as we all know. Nobody else has the combination of size and athleticism necessary. That gives us a big mismatch at that position since, if LeBron covers Brown then who is guarding Tatum?

I could have done without Marcus Smart's 4-12 but his 6 assists helped a lot. Athletically they cannot stay with us, so if we are moving the ball and passing it around, making cuts and hitting the cutter, we can beat those bums.

Thompson had 7 boards, 3 offensive in his 12 first half minutes, most of them off Baynes. Then we got serious and held him to 4 rebounds, only 1 offensive in his 9 minute 2nd half. Keeping Thompson off the offensive boards is critical for this series.

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Scary Terry going to the next level



3 Celtics with 20+ points, and none of them were named Jayson Tatum. That's bad news for Tyronn Lue.

9 down, 7 more to go.

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401032840


bob


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Game didn’t go as I thought, but can’t complain about a 25 point beatdown. I thought Lebron would get his and other guys we would shutdown, shows how little I know...???

So many great plays, one was Jaylen swatting Lebron as he was thinking of posting up, he didn’t try that again. So many great drives by 2 J’s and when we move the ball like that and create mismatches, well right now I don’t know how they can adjust, you can’t make Kevin Love faster?  What another nice swat by Jaylen on Love close to the basket, I think Jaylen has earned his minutes. Love the way we swarm and press body up on defense, giving them no good looks....then we are good enough, skilled enough, athletic enough to get to our spots on offense and one on one we can exploit the best match up. Kudos to Stevens and Ainge, and the development of our young players, were way way ahead of schedule.

Nice!!! commentator said we just punched them in the mouth on NBA TV.

The Boston Celtics had a game plan. They didn't listen to all the talking heads. They didn't listen to other players. They only listened to their coaches and they executed that game plan. They won convincingly, like in the first Philly game, but they can't afford a similar game 2 let down.

They haven't won anything yet. But they are on their way.

LeBron is truly amazing. After stinking up the place all afternoon he smugly sits in the post game presser and sez he has zero concern. He almost always talks in a royal "we". You may not have gone to college LeBron, but you know what affected behavior is. I love it!

The most important game of the year? That would be this Tuesday

Yes, I am the idiot who questioned Brad for giving Morris so much time on the court and so many shot opportunities. Keep on making a fool of me Marcus, PLEASE!

As the Navy Seals say, the only easy day was yesterday. Go Celts.

Hi,
Excellent game and very important W!
Celtics threw everything at Lebron and cut all passing lanes. I wonder if Lebron and Lue can figure out how to get out of this predicament.
Celtics, once again, exposed the Cavs: if their shooting isn't lights out their defense can't sustain even an above average shooting of a good defensive team.
I hope they can repeat it on Tuesday.

AK

I want to see what Lue can come up with, maybe he’ll start Thompson for Korver? They can’t go small against us, they’re too slow, might as well go big and see if they can slow us down.

"This is the third time Brad Stevens has taken a mid-major to the Final Four" - Brad Botkin

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/brad-stevens-is-great-but-danny-ainge-is-the-real-genius-behind-this-celtics-story/

This will be the key to this series.

A big part of the Celtics success is the positionless nature of this team. They dont have anyone on the court that opposing teams can pick on defensively on a regular basis.

Milwaukee had Henson, Snell, Delavadova and Maker.
Philly has Reddick, Covington, Iliasova (sp), Bellanelli
Cleveland has Hill, Korver, Clarkson, JR Smith

I dont see anyone in the Celtics regular rotation other than maybe Baynes from time to time and Rozier on switches - that the Cavs can dominate on the offensive end. Now, mind you - LeBron can likely dominate anyone in NBA if he wants to - but on a regular basis, the Celtics can all switch and guard anyone they are faced with.

If the Celtics continue to go hard at the weak links - they will win.

As I said last week, Celtics in 6.

cowens/oldschool wrote:I want to see what Lue can come up with, maybe he’ll start Thompson for Korver? They can’t go small against us, they’re too slow, might as well go big and see if they can slow us down.

Baynes and Monroe will abuse Thompson in the paint.

fierce wrote:

cowens/oldschool wrote:I want to see what Lue can come up with, maybe he’ll start Thompson for Korver? They can’t go small against us, they’re too slow, might as well go big and see if they can slow us down.

Baynes and Monroe will abuse Thompson in the paint.

Hope your right

First game all year where Lebron had more turnovers (7) than made baskets (5).