Post Game - Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers - Monday, May 13, 2024 - Game 4 Eastern Semifinals (W 3-1)

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401658227

Hi,
I was wrong about Cavs being broken. They put a good fight last night.
On the other side, credit to Celtics - they kept intensity on, stuck to their course. I hope they'll do the same tomorrow.
7 down, 9 to go.

AK

Cavs played as hard as they could with no DM, very courageous effort by them. We responded with our usual stellar defense. Tatum seems back to his self, with 2 b2b 30-10-5 games and getting us out to good starts with hot first quarters. Essentially punching them in the mouth first. I especially love the way he is defending in the paint and rebounding. Huge games by Jaylen and Drue, both excelling both ends and hitting huge shots. Jaylen 7-7 from line after missing first 2. Al tired and in a slump as is DWhite. Hopefully we can close them out next game and give Al 5-6 days off.

Gutsy effort by both teams. Jrue is really stepping up. These last two games he's been great. The J's are doing everything on both ends. Nice job by Jaylen at the line 7-9 after missing his first two. Each point was important last night so these FTs were important. JT's rebounding and defense are so impressive. He is now a complete player. That kick out to Jaylen for the big three is something he wouldn't have done a couple years ago. The scary thing is, his offense can only get better. His shooting is still somewhat off.

The negatives were, we got stagnant again in the fourth quarter on offense and let them hang around. I know we are trying to work the clock, but must be a better way to get some type of motion and better shots. As Cowens pointed out Al looks tired. His three point shooting is hurting us. He had three or four clean looks last night and couldn't hit one. He still played good D though.

So important we finish them off tomorrow night. Al need some rest and JT played 44 minutes last night and Jrue 43.

No longer the two J's. Now they are the 3 J's.

If anyone experienced any level of frustration while watching this game, just imagine how it would feel to be a Cleveland Cavalier diehard fan.  

Once again the Boston Celtics secured a good win in what I call a pre-closeout game.  No one should be surprised that the Cavs put up a good fight even without DM.  It should be a reminder that NBA players are really good.  The Celtics did not take them lightly.

The Celtics defense is the reason why they are back in Boston with a 3-1 lead.  The guy that triggered our defense was Jrue Holiday.  He is truly an amazing defensive player.  He has taken his game up to another level and his offensive production was the difference maker in both wins down in Cleveland.  

Our offense does not look great.   I still am not seeing anywhere close to the way we played during the regular season.  The pace remains too slow and the ball movement is sporadic.   The TOV bug almost cost us the game last night.   From what I can see, there is a heavy inclination for free lance basketball.  We are not seeing enough structured plays.  Everything seems to be read and react.

The luxury that this team has is a duo of All-NBA quality players.  It is undoubtedly a fact that the Celtics will go as far as the Jays take them.  Jaylen has been our top player throughout our 9 playoff games.  High level play from him at both ends of the court.  Tatum has posted B2B 33 point games along with 13 and 11 rebounds respectively.  He is fully engaged on the defensive end.  his shooting inefficiency however continues (B2B 11-25 games)  He has compensated for his poor shooting by getting to the line and making his free throws.  At times the only player on the court that can stop him is himself.  When that happens, the Celtics also come away with a few too many empty possessions.  

The Celtics are locked into an 8-man rotation.  They must derive quality play out of PP, SH and LK.  SH is limited by a stagnant offense (not getting enough looks)  Last night he was being targeted on defense.  PP has shot the ball well in this series but he got lost on defense last night.  LK needs to bring a consistent level of intensity.

AH is being put in untenable situations as he cannot defend in space when the Cavs run their high screen game.  The Celtics need to do a much better job  keeping him out of those actions.  Jrue did a fantastic job fighting over screens but will not work all the time.  Also Al is struggling to knock down wide open 3 pointers from his usual spots.  He is 4-22 in this series (18%) and is one of the reasons why our offense becomes choppy.

As is always the case, there are NO bad wins only bad losses.

Wrap it up tomorrow night and secure our 6th ECF appearance in the last 8 years.

P.S. Whoever drafts Brony gets Lebron for a year!

So would LeBron be willing to play alongside Bronny on the Maine Celtics?

Good game all around.  They are starting to sense the magnitude of their playoff trek and are playing like it.  Here's what I saw:

1.  Held their own against a valiant effort from CLE.  Got the lead up to 13 or so, weathered the storm and won a well played, well-fought game.  

2.  Not sure about the tripping call on Jaylen in the first half and the hullabaloo that followed.  How were their two fouls on the same play?  Please explain.  I think it has to do with once you separate a call on the floor and throw it into the replay/flagrant silo, it's like nothing happened and you can call another foul.  Just need clarification because I've never seen that before that I recall.  

3.  Odd stats.  14 TOV's.  15 Assists on 38 FGM.  Lopsided FT's which means we were getting fouls on the way to the basket/in the act.  We did crush them on the boards.

4.  Maybe just a slight little bit of looking ahead to Wednesday by Boston but not so much that it was going to effect the outcome of this game.  We played well overall.  

5.  Things are beginning to ever so slightly break our way.  Of the two remaining teams in the other bracket, the NYK at some point are going to collapse from the weight of themselves and just not having enough horses in the barn.  If IND makes it, and at this point I believe they will, we can run with them and the resulting no defense IND will put up, 3-bomb and defend them to death.  The door to the Finals just cracked opened.  Now we may come out Wednesday and pull what we all are thinking and that door will be slammed shut again.  But comparing this opportunity to last year vs. ATL in the first round where we lost G5 at home and had to go to ATL to win G6 (totally unnecessary), let's see tomorrow if we have learned anything year over year.  We won't know anything about the mysterious G2 hemorrhaging until next round if we make it, but let's address being up 3-1 and do we wrap it up or lapse into last year's ATL mindset.    

6.  It's funny.  I believe players definitely like/want home court and the potential G7 weight that carries.  Home court is for the fans, though.  But for the most part, I believe players would much rather play on the road...and win.  That's the challenge for them.  They want to end those games to a silent, empty arena.  It's the ultimate eff you and middle finger to all the obnoxious fans that have been screaming at them for the last 3 hours.  Boston is imposing their will in the most hostile of territories.    

7.   Take care of business.  Over the last couple of days, Boston has taken the ever so hopeful collective hearts of CLE fans everywhere, carved said hearts out of each and every CLE fan, stomped on it to a pulp and handed it back to them.  This team doesn't have what it takes?  You might be looking in the wrong places.  

Of the four series going on, after four games each, there are 3 series tied at 2-2.  There is only one at 3-1 yet you would never know.  Media still nit-picking Boston.  Easier East, Jayson up and down, shoot too many/die by the threes, blah, blah, blah.  Feel free to jump right on in with all I've left out.  Keep it coming.  Or not.  At some point media will have to resign itself that Boston is the best team.    

db

P.S. Remember, we are doing all of this without KP!! Media mentioned DM 1,000, 483 times last night. KP maybe twice.

worcester wrote:So would LeBron be willing to play alongside Bronny on the Maine Celtics?

Apparently he did quite well at the NBA combine.  The only negative was that he is really only 6' 1.5"  inches tall.  He was excellent shooting the 3 ball and also did well in the agility tests and his vertical was 40.5 inches.

I can see a team using a 2nd round pick on him especially if they can also get Lebron.  That would be a no brainer.

Lebron is the only one who knows when he will retire.  He has already told the basketball world that he wants to play with his son.  That may be more important to him at this point in his storied career, than winning another title.

No one expected him to return to Cleveland after his 4 years and 2 championship runs in Miami.  He could head back there one more time.

It was reported that him and his wife were in Cleveland to visit their mothers for Mother's Day.  His agent Rich Paul was also with him.

db

The media acts like vultures circling their prey. You can really tell by the comments that they make. They do not want the Boston Celtics to succeed and begrudgingly attempt to have a positive perspective.

Helluvan effort by Cleveland. Respect!

An "ugly" win? No such thing. Every win is beautiful in its own way.

Jrue was EVERYWHERE. He was blowing up everything on defense and providing solid and timely offense. Nobody has bemoaned the loss of Marcus Smart more than I but Jrue was doing Marcus Smart things last night. He was willing us forward.

Derrick with another poor game. 1-6, 1-4 from 3. He shot 21-44, 47.7%, from 3 in the Miami series and is "only" shooting 12-32, 37.5%, in this series. It feels so much worse, doesn't it? 37.5% is about league average, so he's not "cold" but he shot 39.6% on the season and was blazing hot in Round 1. It was his 7-12 in Game 1 that has dragged it all up. He shot a combined 2-12 in Games 2 and 4. Right now it doesn't matter, we're up 3-1 and heading home. This series is well in hand, but next two series? It'd be nice to see Derrick get his groove back on.

Al's been great absent Z. He's been active on both ends. For a 37 year old, 38 on June 3rd, his switches have been very good. You can just tell he is completely aware he might not get another bite at this particular apple and he's playing accordingly.

The Js combined for 60 points on 20-40, 4-11 from 3. Jayson was 2-8 from 3, but Jaylen was his usual efficient scoring self.

There is a lot of complaining from the Cleveland media about the disparity in frito attempts. It was 24-7, which is a big difference...HOWEVER, IF YOU LOOK AT THIS MORE CLOSELY, you'll see that 32 of our 78 fgas were 3s, 41% (which is a low percentage for us) and 48 of their 94 fgas were 3s, 51%. You don't usually get whistles on shots when the shots are 3s, you get them more often when you're creating contact in the paint. The Js drove, consistently throughout the game, taking a total of 40 of our 78 fgas, creating contact, and they got a combined 18 ftas out of our 24. Looking at the Cavs, Darius Garland took 27 fgas and went 4-13 from 3. Aside from the shitty 3pt fg% almost half his fgas were 3s. LeVert took 18 fgas and 8 were 3s, 44.4%, and Strus took 12 fgas and he was 5-9 from 3. Total, Cleveland's top 3 fg attempters took 57 fgas and 30 of them were 3s. If you're going to take that high a percentage of your fgas as 3s you're not going to get a lot of shot fouls.

Overall, the total number of personal fouls called was 14 on the Celtics and 17 on the Cavaliers. So it was close, our whistles were on shots and theirs wasn't and the reason is because of all their 3s. Over the course of the regular season we were 26th in the league in ftas/game. We were also #1 in the leage in 3pt fgas/game. See the correlation? You take a lot of 3s, you don't get a lot of +1s.

This won't stop the Cavs fans from bitchin' though.

It's 3-1 and we're heading home to Boston. I shouldn't say this but I don't think Donovan Mitchell AND a returning Jarrett Allen could go 3-0 with 2 in Boston.


Bob


.

Bob

As long as the Celtics defend especially on the 3 point line, we will win game 5 no matter who is playing. The maturation of the Celtics can continue to become a reality with them closing out this series in 5 games.

Our guys the Win against the short-handed, “How’d They Even Do That” Cavs. And sure, we know they’d tagged us in a similar way earlier this year, so a W is good. Right? …
But somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better about this one. Because we let them hang around like some gum stuck to our sneakers that we couldn’t shake off.

Yes, we were Good Enough. just Good Enough.
I’m watching a lot of games from both conferences right now, and what I’m seeing … (Seen the Knicks lately?  Passion and Hunger and Drive, not relaxing for a single possession, all ninety feet for all 48 minutes) … says that Good Enough already isn’t nearly good enough.

What I liked:
Defense
Shape-shifting Jrue Holiday.  What do we need right now? I. Got it ! — so, start of the 3rd Q he hits full thrusters on “turn-it-up-a-notch-right-NOW!” defense.
Agree with Worcester. It’s the three J’s now.  
Tatum too (not “2”).  He picked that spot to hit turbo on D. Lights out on Rim protection and Boards. He was There

Offense:  
JB has been working on all this roughly since Draft Day. Last year he had a solution for driving into the lane (aka Strip City) on a wing and a prayer: pivoting into a fade-away turn-around J at the elbow. This season a whole lot more work has come together for him.
Agree with the member who said it first that JB has been the best of us on offense for the 2024 Playoffs. (with a tip o’ the cap in the direction of DW, who only does everything. Thanks, Pop)

Also saw what dboss said - Big Al has been struggling some lately. Short-arming corner 3’s, hook-shots on some bunnies.
Having KP out (and I’m hoping he stays out a while yet), Horford is playing a LOT more minutes right now.  He takes pride in his work effort and ethic, and deserves to. He’s earned it.
So, what do you think - tired legs?  He’s not gonna say No I can’t Go and bail on the team cuz his legs don’t have much lift right now.  Call his # and he’ll be there. But we’re going to need him better rested and with fresher legs Real Soon a lot more than we do now.
Luke is playing great. Why not spell those two with more Tillman (or Queta? ) 

[dboss said]
“Our offense does not look great.  I still am not seeing anywhere close to the way we played during the regular season.”
Me either. (Or me too. Whatever.). Point being: why haven’t our guys learned to play Now like they’ll need to play later.  It feels frighteningly like they still think: “We can do Turn it on whenever we have to. Whenver we need it.”

That’s the recipe for disaster we were treated to last year. And so on ..
Plus, they really DO need to do it now.  That is th real problem with how we played in Game 4 against the Cavs.  I really don’t like it.

The time to turn it on isn’t Later … When we need it.
It’s Now. How about against the (“Hey, can that Security Guy dribble?”) Cavs in Game 4, with a bare 4 points of separation?  

I heard Chuck somebody say: “They were shooting it lights out. They won’t keep that up.”  Well now. They did.
“We’ll show up all in when we need to.”  
We’ve heard that before - every spring for awhile now. Like clockwork.
- hearing those words means the tulips will be along anytime now. You can count on it.
Maybe you can’t be sure much else is gonna happen, but you can count on them tulips to to rise to the occasion!

“Can do it whenever we want.” (Uh huh)

So that’s what bugged me about Game 4.  

“Gonna do it when the chips are down!”
They already down.
They BEEN down. You seen any Clippers around lately? Are you paying any attention at all ??

I’ve been Celtics fan for a long time. My dad took my to the Garden in 1958.

Believing is good. Helps you think you can do it.

“Doing It” - even better.

“Doing It” helps you know you can do it.

Mikl

Insightful post on all points Mikl.

My first trip to the Old Garden was November 5, 1960, 2nd row seats for a loss to the Big O and the Cincinnati Royals. I was 13 and astounded by how tall the players were. My friend Ray Gottlieb's father got the tickets and took us to the game, and I've never come that close to the court since.

Love the story, Worcester. Am glad you told it. BTW, I spent some time up on Mt St James in that fair s ,city back when the earth’s crust was still warm.
Mikl

Mikl, Andy Laska, the backup point guard on that Holy Cross 1947 NCCAA Championship team, was my basketball coach when I was 9 years old. He would always tell us to watch our opponent's hips when we played defense, saying that he could always try to fake with his head or arms, but his hips told us where he was really planning to go. That was back in 1956, two lifetimes ago.

Dee Rowe ran  the summer basketball program at Worcester Academy then, before he moved on to UConn and helped create that dynasty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Rowe

As part of that summer program, we also ran around the cinder track. I fell and skinned my knee once, and the staff brought me into Mr. Rowe's office, where he cleaned it and applied a bandage. He was a very warm and kind-hearted man, and I will never forget the care he showed me.

Worcester was lucky to have men like him , Laska, Cousy, Heinsohn,

Togo Palazzi  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togo_Palazzi ,

and Jack the Shot Foley   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Foley_(basketball)  to bolster our city's love for basketball.

I was at Holy Cross's game against UConn when Foley scored his 56 points. That was BEFORE the three-point line was instituted.  Today he would have had an 80 point game.

Those were the days my friend. We thought they'd never end. But now we have the three J's, DW, PP, LK, SH, AH, Zinger and the rest, just waiting to make more Celtics history.