POST GAME CLEVELAND - PLAYOFFS ROUND #3 - GAME #4 - AWAY

by **112288** Mon May 21, 2018 11:24 pm

Celtics Wrap: LeBron James Drops 44 Points As Boston Falls In Game 4

NESN by Adam London on Mon, May 21, 2018

The Boston Celtics have been able to overcome large deficits all season long, but there would be no comeback Monday night at Quicken Loans Arena. The Celtics spent the bulk of the game chipping away at the Cleveland Cavaliers’ lead, which grew as large as 19. But in the end, the Cavs managed to fend off the C’s to earn a 111-102 win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals. LeBron James was a force to be reckoned with, scoring a game-high 42 points. Despite five Celtics scoring in double figures, including Jaylen Brown’s team-high 25 points, Boston dropped its second straight loss in Cleveland. With the Celtics’ loss, the best-of-seven series now is tied at two games apiece. Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Marcus Morris C: Al Horford DÉJÀ VU For the second game in a row, the Celtics got off to a terrible start. After the two teams traded baskets in the opening minutes, the Cavs went on a 10-0 run midway through the quarter and held a 34-18 lead after one frame. Boston shot an abysmal 26.9 percent from the field in the first, while Cleveland was red-hot with a 60 percent clip. James led all scorers with 11 first-quarter points, while no Celtic scored more than four. The Cavs also dominated the paint to the tune of a 17-8 rebounding advantage.

CAVS KILL RALLY Cleveland stretched its lead to as large as 19 early in the second, but Boston chipped away and cut the deficit to nine with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter. The Cavs fought off the change in momentum, though, outscoring their opponent 13-7 in the remainder of the frame to take a 68-53 lead into the break. James continued his strong night with another 11-point quarter, but a pair of role players chipped in for the Cavaliers as well. Kyle Korver posted 12 second-quarter points — nine from beyond the arc — while Tristan Thompson controlled the interior and pitched in six points. After being held scoreless in the first, Tatum registered six points in the frame, as did Brown and Rozier.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY The Cavs finally turned in a less-than-stellar quarter, but the Celtics failed to capitalize. Despite only hitting seven shots in the third, Cleveland kept Boston from getting over the hump and took an 89-76 lead into the fourth. Boston didn’t do itself any favors in the frame, committing nine fouls. A bevy of trips to line helped James collect 13 points in the third, which accounted for more than half of the Cavs’ points in the quarter. Tatum carried the offensive load for Boston with 11 points in the frame.

CLOSE, BUT NO CIGAR The Celtics hung tough throughout the fourth and cut the Cavaliers’ lead to seven via a Marcus Smart bucket with 4:29 left to play. But as was the theme throughout the game, Boston simply couldn’t get over the hump. Cleveland knocked down two quick buckets after Smart’s layup to swell its lead back to 11. From there, the home team kept its foot on the gas to preserve the victory.

PLAY OF THE GAME Touchdown.

UP NEXT The series shifts back to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday night. Tip-off from TD Garden is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

112288

by **112288** Mon May 21, 2018 11:25 pm

CELTICS HAVE LOST THEIR ATTITUDE SIMPLE AS THAT!

112288

by **worcester** Mon May 21, 2018 11:40 pm

best 2 of 3 now

by **Berlin-T** Tue May 22, 2018 4:27 am

As I said before, the Cavs are playing great defense. That's why we can't execute our offense. If we don't win the next game the series is most likely over. We've overcome the loss of Hayward all year. Missing Kyrie, Theis and Larkin is just too much to overcome.

Berlin-T

by **steve3344** Tue May 22, 2018 6:13 am

https://sports.yahoo.com/series-now-even-celtics-facing-familiar-source-adversity-lebron-james-065823145.html

by **dboss** Tue May 22, 2018 7:15 am

The Celtics offense was sporadic all game. Everytime they closed the gap things would go south.

Defensively Boston could not make up their minds how to defend James. Double team help or no double team help?? They seemed confused all game.

The game was close enough to give us hope for a game 5 win. The Celtics also missed too many layups. The Cavs played good defense obstructing the ability for Boston to move and Boston players did not fight through that. They were very impatient on offense.

by **worcester** Tue May 22, 2018 9:59 am

With Kyrie this series is over. Even with Theis and Larkin we're closer.

by **bobheckler** Tue May 22, 2018 10:05 am

We shot 28% in the first quarter. Some of that can be attributed to missed lay ups (there were several) and a missed dunk. Those don't bother me that much, we won't miss those any more often than we saw Ben Simmons blow a wide open dunk in that series. And Jaylen getting blocked twice by Korver? Same thing, try it some more and see how you do. What did bother me is that the Cavs shot 63%. That's not us having the yips and rushing shots, that's poor defense.

Smart going 0-4 and Jaylen going 0-2 from 3 in that first quarter sure didn't help though. It just blows my mind how, when we are in a shooting slump, the #1 worst shooter in the league thinks he's the one to pull us out of it.

By far, the worst game by Smart in a very long time. 2-8, 1-5 from 3, 5 TOs. There was a point where he had more TOs (5) than points (3).

Jaylen ended up 10-23, 43.4%, but he was awful for most of the game. He rallied towards the end and, to be fair, might have been 12-23 if Korver hadn't played better defense than he has in his entire career. Korver won't do that again, I'm betting.

After promising better defense against LeBron, Morris picked up quick fouls and was largely ineffective.

The biggest cause of our poor defense was that Tyronn Lue finally figured out that Brad likes to switch on everything and, as a result, Terry Rozier found himself defending a much bigger player in the low blocks. LeBron, Love, Thompson were all posting him up and no help was coming to force a pass out. I blame Brad for that. He wanted to change coverage on players like LeBron, but when Lue figured out what those changes were going to be, Brad didn't play another card.

Tatum went into last night needing 29 points to be just the 6th rookie in NBA history to score 300+ points in their first round of playoffs. The other five are Kareem, Alvin Adams, Elgin Baylor, George Mikan and Jack Sikma. Adams and Sikma aren't in the HOF, and Sikma has an argument for why maybe he should be. Still, that's pretty damn nice company. Kareem, Baylor and Mikan. We're talking thin air up there. He scored 17 last night, so he only needs another 12.

Despite very good defense by George Hill, TRo still shot 6-15 and had 11 assists with zero turnovers. He was 3-9 from 3. A little 3-happy.

In the end, you cannot shoot 41% for a game and let them shoot almost 51% and expect to win. It can happen, turnovers and steals and whatnot helping, but you are not doing it the easy route. We lose on the road because our shot selection becomes poor and the home team's defensive intensity ratchets up. Al was rushing shots, and he's supposed to be the last one to do that. That's the bad news. The good news is that, after that awful first quarter, we won the next 3 quarters. If we can't score more than 18 points like we did in the 1st, then we have to at least stop giving up 34 points like we did in quarters 1 and 2.

Chris Forsberg @ESPNForsberg
about 8 hours ago
Celtics missed 15 dunks/layups during Game 4. Maybe more painful: The Cavaliers turned those misses into 15 points (4-of-8 shooting, 7 free throws), per @ESPNStatsInfo Jaylen Brown: "Just going too fast, too excited. Just need to slow down."
MY NOTE: If we focused on finishing through the rim and hit even half of these misses, we win.

Brian Robb @BrianTRobb
9 hours ago
Marcus Smart on Game 5: "Back to the crib. We play well at the crib. We know it. We just have to come play."

Chris Forsberg @ESPNForsberg
9 hours ago
Brad Stevens: "It's the best 2 out of 3 to go to the NBA Finals. Doesn't get better than that. Anybody that didn't think this was going to be tough -- I mean, everything is tough. In this deal, it's a blast to have to grit your teeth, get up off the mat and go after it again."

http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401032843

bob

.

by **dboss** Tue May 22, 2018 10:11 am

worcester wrote:With Kyrie this series is over. Even with Theis and Larkin we're closer.

Worcester

Kyrie is an elite shot maker and there have been several games where we needed a basket or two but could not get them.

I hope that fans will appreciate that when they think about trading Kyrie because we have Terry.

While disappointed with the outcome of games 3 and 4, I remain optimistic that Boston can advance to the finals.

LeBron James remains the best player in the game so the task is daunting but still quite possible.

by **worcester** Tue May 22, 2018 10:13 am

I love Jaylen, but probably too much. When I said I would rather have him than Steph, hands down, I was Shaqtin the Fool.

by **worcester** Tue May 22, 2018 10:14 am

Kyrie gives us back court offense we lack.

by **dboss** Tue May 22, 2018 10:20 am

The Celtics have to figure out how to stay out of so many mis matches. Even though Terry had 3 steals he was the weak link on defense

Did anyone see the several plays where Terry ran away from defending his man. It was bizarre.

by **bobheckler** Tue May 22, 2018 10:33 am

worcester wrote:I love Jaylen, but probably too much. When I said I would rather have him than Steph, hands down, I was Shaqtin the Fool.

Worcester,

Bleed green, brother, bleed green...

bob

.

by **cowens/oldschool** Tue May 22, 2018 10:42 am

We’re in a shitload of trouble, since inserting TT in starting line up, Cavs have owned the paint. A supposed bad defensive team suddenly makes our offense look terrible. Now they are taking advantage of our switching defense, how many times do we have to see Lebron post up Rozier? I think they like that match up. Lue has badly outcoached BS in these 2 games.

by **112288** Tue May 22, 2018 11:16 am

Since Irving is very familiar with Cleveland and how they operate their offense, surprising he has not helped Stevens devise a defensive game plan to stop the blowout in game #3 and a poor defensive effort with so many mismatches in game #4.

He has to know what is in Lue's head and what they tried before.

Irving would not have made a difference in games 3 & 4 even if he can score. He is not a good defensive player. His lateral movement is poor and perhaps he would have cost us either game 1 or game 2.

Hey, if you are the mind set of pilling up points to win games verses a strong defense with good shot selections to get you a win, I get it..........however it isn't Celtic ball!

What we are missing is a rim protecting center and power forward not an isso scoring point guard who cannot play defense well.

Just remember if you sign Irving to a multi year max deal you will not be able to sign key players like Smart, Rozier, Brown in the near future as you already have Horford and Hayward at max deals. Remember Rondo did not have a max deal contract. The Celtics concentrated their Max Spending on scoring - Allan, Pierce, and rim protection/defense with scoring in KG!

Our weakness is defense at the center position, we need a center who also has size, muscle and is somewhat mobile, so we need to spend a max deal at that position not point guard.

Move Hortford to power forward. Baynes is bulk but a little undersized for a center at 6' 10" and cannot move as quickly. We are getting killed with small ball with Cleveland and James running a point forward offense.

Worried about scoring, Hayward will give us scoring next year, that is why we got him!

BTW I have not seen one good HARD SCREEN set by any of our players for our shooters....what 's that all about.......yet Cleveland is able to do it for Korver!

112288

by **mulcogiseng** Tue May 22, 2018 11:43 am

When I say I don't like Smart's game, last night is what I am talking about. A bad shot followed by a turn over followed by another bad shot results in 3 opportunities for Cleveland to extend their lead. But it was worse than that. He killed chance after chance to get back in the game. Everyone loves Smart's hustle plays (except the opposition that is) but the guy can't shoot and can't be relied upon to score. When he does its an extra above his contributions on defense. The only reason we won game 3 vs Philly was because he fouled out. But Smart is not why the Celtics lost last night.

Every once in awhile you see an NBA team miss shots. They miss easy layups and dunks. They miss wide open jump shots and threes that would normally fall. The Celtics lost because they missed shots they would make in any other game. They got blown out early and then played even the rest of the game. They stopped the hemorrhage and found a way to keep it close.

They started Morris and that needs to change. They miss home cooking and that is changing. Our young players played like deer in the headlights. That won't last. Tatum shot 38% and missed his only 3. Brown came back to shoot 43% from the field but only 33% from 3. TRo shot 40% only hitting a third of his 3s. Smart 25% and 20%. It wasn't just the kids. Horford 38% and 33%. Morris hit 50% but did not defend well.

The above is not happening at TD Garden.

by **Ktronic1** Tue May 22, 2018 11:56 am

steve3344 wrote:https://sports.yahoo.com/series-now-even-celtics-facing-familiar-source-adversity-lebron-james-065823145.html

Mr. Mannix,
With all due respect and I mean that literally as I have the utmost in you and your insite but this piece wreaks of deception.

“LeBron has owned the C’s”. What series and Games are you including into your equation to come up with that. In the Big 3 era (PGandA) The Celtics sent Lebron home twice in the playoffs while he was with Cleveland. Lebron and the Heat sent The C’s home twice.
The last 2 series the Cavs were a much better team and Boston was on the “rebuild” So it wasn’t so much as LeBron but more of the Cavs (sweep and in 5) being a much much better team than the C’s so I think you have to take those to playoff series out of the equation. So, basically the C’s and the Cavs, being on equal footing are 2 and 2 going into this series. Hardly a statement of “ownership” by LeBron as you put it.
Finally, I am very surprised that you’ve become a front runner. All season you’ve been saying the Cavs are no good and will not go far. Now, (and after the Toronto fiasco) they’re the toast of the town after these 2 wins.

by **gyso** Tue May 22, 2018 1:40 pm

cowens/oldschool wrote:We’re in a shitload of trouble, since inserting TT in starting line up, Cavs have owned the paint. A supposed bad defensive team suddenly makes our offense look terrible. Now they are taking advantage of our switching defense, how many times do we have to see Lebron post up Rozier? I think they like that match up. Lue has badly outcoached BS in these 2 games.

I expected Brad's answer to TT would have been to start Baynes and move Horford back on Love. Then keep Morris on LeBron until the fouls pile up. That puts Tatum on the bench, but that is preferable to him covering Love.

Baynes, Horford, Morris, Brown and Rozier start.

If TT sits, sit Baynes and move Horford to 5.

Take out Morris, bring in Tatum. Move Brown onto LeBron. Sometimes Semi O covers LeBron.

Take out Rozier, bring in Smart.

Horford has to play big minutes, but it is do or die time.

by **112288** Tue May 22, 2018 1:49 pm

gyso wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:We’re in a shitload of trouble, since inserting TT in starting line up, Cavs have owned the paint. A supposed bad defensive team suddenly makes our offense look terrible. Now they are taking advantage of our switching defense, how many times do we have to see Lebron post up Rozier? I think they like that match up. Lue has badly outcoached BS in these 2 games.

I expected Brad's answer to TT would have been to start Baynes and move Horford back on Love. Then keep Morris on LeBron until the fouls pile up. That puts Tatum on the bench, but that is preferable to him covering Love.

Baynes, Horford, Morris, Brown and Rozier start.

If TT sits, sit Baynes and move Horford to 5.

GYSO

Now you are thinking out of the box. I agree with your strategy.

112288
Take out Morris, bring in Tatum. Move Brown onto LeBron. Sometimes Semi O covers LeBron.

Take out Rozier, bring in Smart.

Horford has to play big minutes, but it is do or die time.

by **NYCelt** Tue May 22, 2018 4:12 pm

Damn good thing we're such a good team on our home court.

Last night's game? No over-analysis from here, just a simple 'yuck.'

by **mrkleen09** Tue May 22, 2018 4:49 pm

One of the few games when I feel the youth of this team really showed its head. In the midst of a couple of good comebacks, the Celtics shot themselves in the foot. Smart threw the ball away a few times, Brown was lost on a few plays, Rozier lost his man over and over, Tatum drove into traffic with nowhere to go.

I think all of this is a benefit in the long run, as any adversity now will battle harden the guys going forward. But yeah, they looked a bit like deers in the headlights on more than a couple of occasions.

by **hawksnestbeach** Tue May 22, 2018 9:26 pm

IMO, the key to beating Cleveland two out of three is to harass LeBron every minute, even if the player on him piles up fouls. No walking the ball up for him, no uncontested layups, no ticky-tacky fouls. This defender will foul out so we don't want it to be Brown, Horford isn't tough enough, Baines is too slow. That leaves Ojeleye and Morris. Morris might get hot against a tired Lebron, a better bet in the fourth quarter. Therefore start Ojeleye and don't yank him when he doesn't get the benefit of the star calls. If Cleveland starts Thompson, start Baines, Horford (on Love), Ojeleye, Brown, and Rozier. This leaves Smart, Tatum, Morris and Monroe in reserve. Go Celtics! Hawk

by **cowens/oldschool** Wed May 23, 2018 1:49 am

gyso wrote:
cowens/oldschool wrote:We’re in a shitload of trouble, since inserting TT in starting line up, Cavs have owned the paint. A supposed bad defensive team suddenly makes our offense look terrible. Now they are taking advantage of our switching defense, how many times do we have to see Lebron post up Rozier? I think they like that match up. Lue has badly outcoached BS in these 2 games.

I expected Brad's answer to TT would have been to start Baynes and move Horford back on Love. Then keep Morris on LeBron until the fouls pile up. That puts Tatum on the bench, but that is preferable to him covering Love.

Baynes, Horford, Morris, Brown and Rozier start.

If TT sits, sit Baynes and move Horford to 5.

Take out Morris, bring in Tatum. Move Brown onto LeBron. Sometimes Semi O covers LeBron.

Take out Rozier, bring in Smart.

Horford has to play big minutes, but it is do or die time.

I would rather go with Baynes Horford Tatum Brown Rozier with Baynes on TT AND Al on Love, then have Jaylen defending Lebron and put Tatum on Smith. Morris can’t keep up with James, I don’t care what the analytics say....

by **cowens/oldschool** Wed May 23, 2018 2:07 am

112288 wrote:Since Irving is very familiar with Cleveland and how they operate their offense, surprising he has not helped Stevens devise a defensive game plan to stop the blowout in game #3 and a poor defensive effort with so many mismatches in game #4.

He has to know what is in Lue's head and what they tried before.

Irving would not have made a difference in games 3 & 4 even if he can score. He is not a good defensive player. His lateral movement is poor and perhaps he would have cost us either game 1 or game 2.

Hey, if you are the mind set of pilling up points to win games verses a strong defense with good shot selections to get you a win, I get it..........however it isn't Celtic ball!

What we are missing is a rim protecting center and power forward not an isso scoring point guard who cannot play defense well.

Just remember if you sign Irving to a multi year max deal you will not be able to sign key players like Smart, Rozier, Brown in the near future as you already have Horford and Hayward at max deals. Remember Rondo did not have a max deal contract. The Celtics concentrated their Max Spending on scoring - Allan, Pierce, and rim
protection/defense with scoring in KG!

Our weakness is defense at the center position, we need a center who also has size, muscle and is somewhat mobile, so we need to spend a max deal at that position not point guard.

Move Hortford to power forward. Baynes is bulk but a little undersized for a center at 6' 10" and cannot move as quickly. We are getting killed with small ball with Cleveland and James running a point forward offense.

Worried about scoring, Hayward will give us scoring next year, that is why we got him!

BTW I have not seen one good HARD SCREEN set by any of our players for our shooters....what 's that all about.......yet Cleveland is able to do it for Korver!

112288

Bro how do you know Kyrie hasn’t given Brad tips on how the Cavs run their offense? Also their offense is different this year, it went from 2 shot creators that took turns initiating the offense to one guy that has to do it all. We are getting killed by their big line up with TT starting, not small ball.

by **112288** Wed May 23, 2018 7:52 am

cowens/oldschool wrote:
112288 wrote:Since Irving is very familiar with Cleveland and how they operate their offense, surprising he has not helped Stevens devise a defensive game plan to stop the blowout in game #3 and a poor defensive effort with so many mismatches in game #4.

He has to know what is in Lue's head and what they tried before.

Irving would not have made a difference in games 3 & 4 even if he can score. He is not a good defensive player. His lateral movement is poor and perhaps he would have cost us either game 1 or game 2.

Hey, if you are the mind set of pilling up points to win games verses a strong defense with good shot selections to get you a win, I get it..........however it isn't Celtic ball!

What we are missing is a rim protecting center and power forward not an isso scoring point guard who cannot play defense well.

Just remember if you sign Irving to a multi year max deal you will not be able to sign key players like Smart, Rozier, Brown in the near future as you already have Horford and Hayward at max deals. Remember Rondo did not have a max deal contract. The Celtics concentrated their Max Spending on scoring - Allan, Pierce, and rim
protection/defense with scoring in KG!

Our weakness is defense at the center position, we need a center who also has size, muscle and is somewhat mobile, so we need to spend a max deal at that position not point guard.

Move Hortford to power forward. Baynes is bulk but a little undersized for a center at 6' 10" and cannot move as quickly. We are getting killed with small ball with Cleveland and James running a point forward offense.

Worried about scoring, Hayward will give us scoring next year, that is why we got him!

BTW I have not seen one good HARD SCREEN set by any of our players for our shooters....what 's that all about.......yet Cleveland is able to do it for Korver!

112288

Bro how do you know Kyrie hasn’t given Brad tips on how the Cavs run their offense? Also their offense is different this year, it went from 2 shot creators that took turns initiating the offense to one guy that has to do it all. We are getting killed by their big line up with TT starting, not small ball.

Little Bro,

Got to get your facts straight > Love is listed at 6"10" and TT is listed at 6"9" and so is Jeff Green - so where is your SO CALLED BIG LINEUP!

Regarding how they run their offense..................it has never changed............the ball goes through James PERIOD!

Regarding Irving giving Brad insight to Lue's coaching..................Let us say he did............that leads me to form 2 conclusion's.....
either Brad has no answers to what Lue is drawing up offensively or the players cannot execute what is being given them.............
THAT TELLS ME ONE OF THE ABOVE CITED PARTIES SUCKS!

112288

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Mannix miss!!!

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