POST GAME CLEVELAND - PLAYOFFS ROUND #3 - GAME #6 - AWAY

Celtics Wrap: LeBron James, Cavs Force Game 7 In Boston With 109-99 Game 6 Win

NESN by Joshua Schrock on Fri, May 25, 2018

With the Boston Celtics leading the Cleveland Cavaliers 3-2 in the Eastern Conference finals, LeBron James and Co. needed a Game 6 win Friday at Quicken Loans Arena to force a decisive Game 7 back in Boston. And the Cavs did just that. On the back of James’ near triple-double performance, Cleveland grabbed a 109-99 win and will head back to TD Garden for a winner-take-all Game 7. King James tallied 46 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the win. The Celtics got off to a good start, but James and the Cavs’ bench overtook them in the second quarter and held off a valiant fourth-quarter rally to keep their season alive. Terry Rozier led the Celtics with 28 points, while Jaylen Brown (27), Jayson Tatum (15), Marcus Smart (10) and Marcus Morris (10) also notched double figures. The series is now tied at 3-3. Here’s how Game 6 unfolded:

STARTING FIVE PG: Terry Rozier SG: Jaylen Brown SF: Jayson Tatum PF: Al Horford C: Aron Bayes WHAT CAN BROWN DO FOR YOU? The Celtics tried to buck their road woes early at the Q, as the C’s took a 25-20 lead into the second quarter. Brown had a brilliant first stanza for Boston. The second-year guard tallied 15 first-quarter points, scoring from beyond the arc and in the painted area at will. The Cavs lost Kevin Love early in the quarter as he had to go to the locker room after colliding with Tatum. Love did not return to the game. James had a decent first quarter, going 4-for-8 from the field for eight points. Boston shot 61.1 percent from the field in the first quarter. The C’s got a ton of good lucks in the paint due to Cleveland’s decision to double Horford almost every time he touched the ball.

THE JAMES GANG Boston held the lead for the opening minutes of the second quarter, but the Cavs’ role players finally showed up. Trailing 27-22, Cleveland unleashed a 22-7 run over the next 7:03 to take a 44-34 lead, causing Brad Stevens to call a timeout. James was crucial throughout the Cavs’ run, but he got help from Kyle Korver, Jeff Green, Larry Nance and Jordan Clarkson who were vital on both ends of the floor. Those five players were on the floor for the entirety of the run, spacing the floor on offense and hounding the C’s on the defensive end of the floor. Cleveland ended up outscoring Boston 34-18 in the period and led 54-43 at halftime. James led all scorers with 25 in the half on 9-for-17 shooting. Brown paced the C’s with 17 and Rozier added 13.

KEEP AWAY Boston battled in the third quarter, but the C’s were unable to cut into Cleveland’s lead despite solid play from Rozier. Every time the Celtics threatened to get within single digits, James made a play to push the lead north of 15. The Celtics continued to struggle with turnovers and shot selection in third, as sloppy passes, ill-advised 3-pointers and missed layups characterized Boston’s offense. But Boston went on an 8-3 run over the final 2:12 of the third to cut the lead to 83-73 heading into the fourth. Rozier scored 10 in the quarter and led Boston with 23 points after three, while James was the high-man with 32.

BACK TO BOSTON The Celtics immediately cut the Cavs’ lead to single digits at the start of the fourth quarter when Brown banked home a shot to open the frame. But while it looked like the Cavs might let the young Celtics steal an elimination game at Quicken Loans Arena, James and the Cavs would not let their season end. Every Boston hoop was met immediately by a Cleveland basket on other end keeping the lead between seven and 12 throughout the period. Boston kept it within striking distance until James put the final dagger in the C’s coffin with back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 11 with 1:33 to play and cause Stevens to call off the dogs.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE GAME Role reversal.

UP NEXT The series will shift back to TD Garden for a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

112288

THEY DESERVE TO LOSE!

GREAT FIRST PERIOD WITH A ROTATIONAL OFFENSE AND MOVING THE BALL UP THE COURT WITHOUT THEM SETTING UP THEIR DEFENSE................AND THEN IT ALL STOPPED! ISO BALL EVERYONE STANDING AROUND, NOT EVEN GETTING INTO REBOUNDING POSITION........NOT GETTING THE BALL TO TATUM.

ALL BULL SHXT!

112288

Lebron continues to torture us. After a poor first game in the series he's 37-8-8 in the last five, shooting over 50% in every game, 55.6% overall in them (and 48.4% on threes). In three of the five, he scored at least 42. He played almost the entire game tonight (46:05) but I'm not counting on him getting tired for a game 7 on Sunday when he will be desperately wanting to extend his streak of seven straight appearances in the Finals. That's a big deal to him. We need to contain everyone else. Love's availability is a question mark. James however is not. He's a friggin' beast. Otherworldly. We're gonna have our hands full. But we certainly expected that. Even getting to a game 7 is a major accomplishment. You take away the two best players from any team and not only would none of them win a playoff series, no team would even win a single playoff game without their top two players. And we've won 11 of 'em. #12 will come on Sunday in an epic battle.

That was probably the greatest playoff performance I ever saw, better than the best of Larry, Magic, Jordan, was unbelievably great. That was Ali and Frazier in one, it was that thorough of great plays, bullyball plays right in heart of our defense, taking on all comers. We needed Baynes so bad....dumb move. Was he hurt? We could have used his bulk against this Beast, couldn’t hurt? We sure could use a Draymond Green type, Lebron was just too much. He was a super hero, one man wrecking crew.

Jaylen tried, looked good/great at times, fought hard, if not such an amazing performance by 23, we’d be raving about Jaylen and Rozier.

cowens/oldschool wrote:That was probably the greatest playoff performance I ever saw, better than the best of Larry, Magic, Jordan, was unbelievably great. That was Ali and Frazier in one, it was that thorough of great plays, bullyball plays right in heart of our defense, taking on all comers. We needed Baynes so bad....dumb move. Was he hurt? We could have used his bulk against this Beast, couldn’t hurt? We sure could use a Draymond Green type, Lebron was just too much. He was a super hero, one man wrecking crew.

Jaylen tried, looked good/great at times, fought hard, if not such an amazing performance by 23, we’d be raving about Jaylen and Rozier.

Word is, according to Tommy, they sat Baynes because he wasn’t mobile enough to go out on the perimeter and defend.!?

Why did Brad sit Aron and then limit Jaylen's minutes? I would have played Brown 45 or til he dropped.

I expected us to lose last night, for a couple of reasons.  One was that, unlike the regular season, we have not been a good road team in the playoffs.  Another is that the Cavs play MUCH better at home.  All I really hoped for from last night was that LeBron play 38 minutes or more and that none of us get injured.  Not only did I get my wish but Kevin Love is being considered under concussion protocols.  I don't wish harm on players but they are part of the game and losing Love hurts them a lot.  The latest word is that he "needs to rest" before being evaluated for Game 7.  Watch for Cavs fans trying to turn Jayson Tatum into the next Kelly Olynyk.

What else can be said about LeBron?  Is he even human?  I sure hope so.  I asked for 38, I got 46.  Let's face it, there isn't much more that could have been done.  He hit 2 3s late in the game, from the same place, with Tatum right there on his hand.  What is even more amazing is that LeBron claims he drinks a glass of wine everyday.  If that's how you can perform drinking wine everyday I'm stocking a cellar...


Jared Weiss @JaredWeissNBA
about 10 hours ago
So @heydb reminded LeBron it's National Wine Day in their walk off interview and he then went to the podium and mentioned National Wine Day multiple times.

Morris with another magnificent 3-10, 2 rebound game.  Thank God he's the best defender in the league against LeBron.  If not for Morris LeBron might have beaten Wilt's 100 point record.  Time to wake up and smell the sarcasm...

They doubled Horford almost every time he got the ball, just about everywhere on the floor.  Clearly they have realized that they not only don't have anybody who can defend him they also realize how important he is to our offensive coherency even when he isn't shooting.

They got only 2 more ftas than us but shot 55% for ours.  7 more ftm by them.  We lost by 10.  Jaylen, who had an otherwise great game, was 3-6 from the line and Morris was 2-4.  Even solid Al Horford was 2-4 from the line.  This is eminently fixable.  We lost by 10, flubbed several fritos we should have hit, on the road with Zeus Incarnate throwing lightning bolts from Shaker Heights.  I'm not feeling too bad about this.  LeBron having an un-freaking-real game and us missing gimmes.




Adam Himmelsbach @AdamHimmelsbach
yesterday
Rozier on Game 7: "We need the whole city of Boston to be behind us."

You'll get it, Terry, you'll get it.




http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401032845





bob



.

I still don't get limiting Jaylen to 33 minutes.

Next season we really need to upgrade on Morris next year.

worcester wrote:I still don't get limiting Jaylen to 33 minutes.

Next season we really need to upgrade on Morris next year.

That statement about Morris is the understatement of the year.

We would have been better off playing Semi and Yabu those minutes and tell them to just defend and make hustle plays, on half court offense I don’t care if it’s 4 on 5, just get other players more shots. Morris has costed us too many games this year.

Here is the Game Flow for the game:

Not a chart which describes how tired LeBron gets playing 46:05.

If he can play 46:05, why can't Jaylen play even 38 minutes and have Marcus Morris read his Kindle instead?

A look behind the numbers tells you everything you need to know about this game.

The game was lost in the second quarter (outscored 34-18)

The Cavs put up 87 FGA to only 74 for us

We turned the ball over 13 times.  They turned it over only 9 times

They hammered us on the glass 44-31. They had 15 offensive rebounds and we had only 5.  Often we would make the initial defensive stop and quit on the glass.  Defensive rebounding positioning was awful.

Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier Combined for 56 and the rookie Tatum scored 15 even though he got very few looks in the first half of this game.  Our least experienced players carried us all night.  Our veterans basically gave the game away.

Morris plays like an idiot.  Bad decisions by him tend to duplicate themselves.  He seems incapable of rebounding the ball the way we need him to.  He drifts in and out of the offense, often settling for one on one attempts.  

Monroe is a useless center.  He only played 6 minutes.  He is a worse defender than anyone on the team and is remarkably clumsy.

The Celtics basically tried to win this game playing 7 guys.  Morris did little to slow down Lebron James.  Semi got another DNP which makes little sense to me.

Jaylen Brown only played 34 minutes.

Horford got a lot of double teams tonight and had few open opportunities.  He was 2-8 for 6 points in this close out game.  They need much more from him on the offensive end.

Tro led the team in scoring with 28 and only 1 turnover and 7 assists.  He shot the ball exceptionally well

Marcus Smart showed the good, the bad and the ugly parts of his game.  He led the team in assists with 8 but also lead the team in turnovers with 3.  He threw some brain fart passes.  he shot 4-7 but only 1-4 from deep.  I hate it when he actually makes a 3 point shot.  He always seems to engage in taking more.  Call it a heat check meltdown.  he is shooting 23% from deep through 14 games and there is nothing that makes me believe that he will realize any meaningful improvement.  Most of the time his 3 point shot attempts are wasted possessions.

The most talented players on this team are Rozier, Brown and Tatum.  In game 7 Boston will do well to make certain that those guys are the focal point on offense.  I expect All to get more looks and I hope that both Morris and Smart play pass first basketball.  I would not play Monroe at all but I would get semi some meaningful minutes matching up with James on defense.

The Celtics pace will improve if they stop turning the damn ball over and if they execute more runouts.

Overall I was disappointed with them not winning a winnable game.

Let's see them end this drama tomorrow.

Cleveland is a better team with Love not playing, IMO.

dboss wrote:A look behind the numbers tells you everything you need to know about this game.

The game was lost in the second quarter (outscored 34-18)

The Cavs put up 87 FGA to only 74 for us

We turned the ball over 13 times.  They turned it over only 9 times

They hammered us on the glass 44-31. They had 15 offensive rebounds and we had only 5.  Often we would make the initial defensive stop and quit on the glass.  Defensive rebounding positioning was awful.

Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier Combined for 56 and the rookie Tatum scored 15 even though he got very few looks in the first half of this game.  Our least experienced players carried us all night.  Our veterans basically gave the game away.

Morris plays like an idiot.  Bad decisions by him tend to duplicate themselves.  He seems incapable of rebounding the ball the way we need him to.  He drifts in and out of the offense, often settling for one on one attempts.  

Monroe is a useless center.  He only played 6 minutes.  He is a worse defender than anyone on the team and is remarkably clumsy.

The Celtics basically tried to win this game playing 7 guys.  Morris did little to slow down Lebron James.  Semi got another DNP which makes little sense to me.

Jaylen Brown only played 34 minutes.

Horford got a lot of double teams tonight and had few open opportunities.  He was 2-8 for 6 points in this close out game.  They need much more from him on the offensive end.

Tro led the team in scoring with 28 and only 1 turnover and 7 assists.  He shot the ball exceptionally well

Marcus Smart showed the good, the bad and the ugly parts of his game.  He led the team in assists with 8 but also lead the team in turnovers with 3.  He threw some brain fart passes.  he shot 4-7 but only 1-4 from deep.  I hate it when he actually makes a 3 point shot.  He always seems to engage in taking more.  Call it a heat check meltdown.  he is shooting 23% from deep through 14 games and there is nothing that makes me believe that he will realize any meaningful improvement.  Most of the time his 3 point shot attempts are wasted possessions.

The most talented players on this team are Rozier, Brown and Tatum.  In game 7 Boston will do well to make certain that those guys are the focal point on offense.  I expect All to get more looks and I hope that both Morris and Smart play pass first basketball.  I would not play Monroe at all but I would get semi some meaningful minutes matching up with James on defense.

The Celtics pace will improve if they stop turning the damn ball over and if they execute more runouts.

Overall I was disappointed with them not winning a winnable game.

Let's see them end this drama tomorrow.

"I hope that both Morris and Smart play pass first basketball." Morris stopped doing that when he was 5.

Dboss. You nailed. Correct on all points. Obvious to us all. Why not to Brad?

Steve, glad that you've joined us in the Marcus Morris fan club.

Big mistake not giving more PT to Baynes, we couldn’t rebound the fuckin ball, play him Brad, he should have gotten 30 minutes not the idiot Morris getting 30, he killed us....

You are so right Cow. Too bad Theis has been hurt. He could have kept Morris on the pine as well.

worcester wrote:You are so right Cow. Too bad Theis has been hurt. He could have kept Morris on the pine as well.

Miss Theis great defender, he could have helped us wearing on Lebron, Morris has got to go....asap, sure he’s a nice guy, he just can’t play for shit playoff level basketball.

worcester wrote:Steve, glad that you've joined us in the Marcus Morris fan club.

He was a valuable member of the team in many regular season games (remember when he won back to back games for us with last second shots?) but as the playoffs go deeper he is increasingly absent on the boards and his shot is off. Absent of that he is just a big (slow) body to bang Lebron with. That's not enough. Granted he doesn't make much money at around $5 million but he's been a disaster lately.

Yes on all points.

Cow is absolutely correct about Baunes not getting enough playing time.  We desperately needed more physicality in the post area and especially on the glass.

With Love out for Game 7, Baynes and Horford, and even Monroe should be able to dominate the glass. Just no long rebounds, set some picks to get some penetration, draw the defense, throw the ball up and if it doesn't go in those 3 can go get the rebound.

Lue might get desperate and play Zizic, for size and rebounding. If so, we can sag WAY off him.


bob


.

Is Love out?

worcester wrote:Is Love out?

Yes