Just A Handful Of Plays Kept Celtics From Stealing A Win

Just a handful of plays kept Celtics from stealing a win







The Celtics’ Avery Bradley is upset that he’s called for a foul on Cleveland's Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter.
JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF
The Celtics’ Avery Bradley is upset that he’s called for a foul on Cleveland's Kyrie Irving in the fourth quarter.


By Gary Washburn GLOBE STAFF APRIL 22, 2015



CLEVELAND — Five to seven plays. That was it. That’s what separated the NBA title-competing Cleveland Cavaliers and the 40-42 Celtics.

That’s why the Celtics are going home for Game 3 at TD Garden trailing two games to none after a frustrating 99-91 loss Tuesday night in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference first-round series.


The Celtics forced 18 turnovers, forced 22 missed 3-pointers, and limited Cleveland to 10 fast-break points, although 4 of those in the third quarter were significant.

The Celtics’ approach was the right one. They played hard, making the sellout crowd of 20,562 at Quicken Loans Arena anxious until the final minute.

But those five to seven plays . . . the lack of a boxout. A bad turnover. An untimely foul. Allowing Kevin Love to streak for an halfcourt alley-oop. Those were the difference.

When the Celtics’ season finally ends and they reflect on what has been a successful bounce-back season and return to respectability, they will lament those plays, ignoring the little things, slightly slipping in the second half, perhaps tiring under the pressure put on them by LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

The dynamic duo combined for all 24 of Cleveland’s points in the final quarter. Only two other Cavaliers attempted shots. The two All-Stars, with a plethora of accolades and recognition, challenged the no-name Celtics and the Celtics relented. Barely. But they relented.

“They can score all the points in the fourth [quarter],” forward Jae Crowder said. “You take away the offensive rebounding. You take away some of our turnovers, we would have been scoring [more] in the fourth quarter, so if they want to do that, we feel like [we have enough to counter it].

“You know you can’t make those mistakes. We had a lot of mistakes in a row. We were trying to stop their run. You’ve got to limit the mistakes in a timely manner.”

The plays were noticeable and painful. Jared Sullinger essentially screening out Avery Bradley from defending James and then allowing him to score a layup. Sullinger also twice allowing Tristan Thompson — the series X-factor — to grab offensive rebounds. How about an Iman Shumpert offensive board that led to an Irving 3-pointer?

James and Irving were a combined 19 for 40 shooting and 4 for 13 from the 3-point line — nothing spectacular but effective. And it was difficult to overcome that when the Celtics responded with shabby execution, when they were at less than their best in the critical moments.

They are already a flawed team, one that lacks the talent of the Cavaliers, but they have been successful this season by making those important plays down the stretch. Their third-quarter performance was again putrid and the Cavaliers went And1 Mixtape with a Love alley-oop followed by a thunderous James dunk off an Irving pass for a 68-54 lead.

The Celtics responded as they always do, by rallying. They cut the deficit to 2 three times, but each time the Cavaliers countered and the Celtics failed to get a defensive stop. The little things.

“We made those guys earn everything they got,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “That’s a step in the right direction from Game 1. But I think still we can hopefully improve a little bit on those guys [James and Irving] but it’s the other stuff that’s magnified because you can’t get offensive rebounds when you work so hard on those two guys. If you hold them to 99 points, you have a shot to win and I thought our defense was drastically better tonight.”

Overall the Celtics were better than Game 1, but it still wasn’t satisfactory because the Cavaliers were just a tad better on critical plays. They grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the second half to Boston’s four. They outrebounded the Celtics, 27-16, overall in the second half and blocked four shots. They were more active, and perhaps the officiating allowed them to be.

Boston took a mere 2:31 of the third quarter to put Cleveland in the free throw bonus and the Cavaliers converted all nine free throws in the period. The Celtics weren’t as generous with their fouls in the fourth, but it was the timing of those fouls, especially with 3:08 left and Boston trailing, 91-87, with Cleveland’s shot clock at four.

Irving pulled up for a desperation heave from the corner and Bradley challenged and was called for a foul, much to the chagrin of the Celtics.

“Avery’s a known defender, so to call a foul right there, where the guy’s behind the backboard, it should never be called,” swingman Evan Turner said. “It wasn’t a makeable shot. That was a crazy call. That was a big game-changer down the stretch.”

But the Celtics almost have to expect the Cavaliers are going to get those calls, and that’s what makes this series even more difficult to compete in, let alone win. Isaiah Thomas is the closest Celtic to getting “star” calls and he’s not in the stratosphere of Irving or James.

So the Celtics essentially have to be near perfect. While the officiating was shaky at times, the Celtics have no one to blame but themselves for this defeat. They budged when they couldn’t. They were a half-second slow on defensive rebounds. They fouled when they couldn’t. They missed open shots.

Game 2 was a lesson learned about execution when you’re an underdog on the road. The Celtics had to be near-perfect to steal a game in Cleveland. B-minuses were unacceptable at this level. There are at least two games left and both will be in Boston, and perhaps coming home will motivate the Celtics to be better than they have been.



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