Post Game - Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers - Tuesay, May 07, 2024 - Game 1 Eastern Semifinals (W 1-0)

Darius Garland predicted before the game they were going to "shock the world". Yep, keep feeding us bulletin board material.

Donovan Mitchell was having his way but so did Jaylen. 33 vs 32, that's really all we needed. We just needed to stay close to their top scorer and then our depth would beat them. They have an excellent back court with Mitchell, Garland and LeVert but are thin at big, especially with Allen out, and at wing. We are not thin pretty much anywhere. If there were any questions about our depth at big with Z out they were answered last night.

What I liked is that we won every quarter. Down 5 after one, after being down by 10 at one point, they thought they were in good shape. Down only 10 at the half, still doable. Down 15 after 3, with that soul-sucking 3 from the back court by Payton at the buzzer? A deep hole, but a solid run to start the 4th and it's still a game, but you cannot lose the 4th quarter TOO. I like the fact that we never let them breathe. We never let them think that they had a chance of coming all the way back after halftime. The lead got no lower than 11 in the 3rd and then ballooned up to 20 less than 2 minutes into the 4th.

Derrick White has to be renewed this summer. I mean, man, he is a killa. 25 points on 9-16, 7-12 from 3. 5 assists and zero turnovers. Outstanding defense, as usual. When he's looking to score we are almost impossible to stop because you cannot just forget about the Js and Z. Our 4th scoring option was 3rd high game scorer last night.


Cleveland Bench = 15 points in a total 71 player minutes
Payton Pritchard = 16 points in 24 minutes


I'm going to miss Luke next year. His play this year, and especially his play in the playoffs, is going to earn him a bigger paycheck than we can offer him. He was great last night, moving up to 2nd big with Z's absence. 10 rebounds, including 6 of my beloved offensive rebounds in 21 minutes, a +12 plus/minus. That's a legit NBA back up big boxscore and there's always a need somewhere for one of those.

Despite Z being out, thereby opening up minutes for X he only got 7 minutes. That's odd, to me. Q played 3 minutes of garbage time, got 2 rebounds, which is more efficient than X's 3 rebounds in 7. This isn't a big deal, I just find it interesting that the player that Brad went out and got specifically for depth at big if Al or Porzingis are out barely played when one of those two were out. Granted Al and Luke were playing very well but, still.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 8 hours ago
Sam Hauser entered the night leading the NBA Playoffs in Net Rating. This after leading the NBA in the regular season. Tuesday in Game 1, not only did he not score in 17 minutes, he only took one shot... ...and was a game high +22. Sam Hauser...Advanced Stat Master.


Sean Grande @SeanGrandePBP
about 8 hours ago
TEAM A .780 win% 1st in Offense 1st in 3's 2nd in Defense 1st in Net Rating 1st in scoring margin TEAM B .833 win% 2nd in Offense 1st in 3's 3rd in Defense 1st in Net Rating 2nd in scoring margin TEAM A: Celtics in the regular season TEAM B: Celtics in the playoffs

When you consider our regular season had a healthy percentage of Detroits and other bottom feeders and we're only playing playoff-qualified teams in the playoffs (obviously!) this is pretty impressive through 6 games.


They need to win one in Boston. It didn't have to be this one, they could have shocked the world like Garland predicted, but it didn't need to be this one. If they win Game 2 they will have accomplished their mission here. On the other hand, if we win Game 2 also they are in BIG trouble.


Bob


.

I'm posting this to highlight two plays.  On the first play in this video Pritchard takes Garland to the rim and just shrugs him off for the layup.  A muscle play.

The second is at the 2:00 mark.  That's where he drives on 6'6" Caris LeVert.  There's contact near the arc and the much bigger LeVert goes flying.

I love how much dawg is in Pritch da god.





Bob


.

Anyone want to buy some Game 7 tix vs. the Cavs super cheap???