2024 NBA Playoffs: East Semifinals: #1 Boston Celtics vs #4 Cleveland Cavaliers (BOS WINS 4-1)

[Dirk]

[JujitsuFlip]

Hahahaha I'm famous, i really made it!

Now let's hope we don't lose the next 3 straight.

[Dirk]

Hahahaha I'm famous, i really made it!
Now let's hope we don't lose the next 3 straight.

I came here looking for some JBB apologies.

[JujitsuFlip]

Hahahaha I'm famous, i really made it!
Now let's hope we don't lose the next 3 straight.

I came here looking for some JBB apologies.

"Those 2 gentleman loving it".

But heck no, jb deserves nothing lol but if he can make this series competitive, he probably saved his job.

[thinktank]

The Tatum obsession is hilarious. They can't stop talking about him.

They hate him so much more than Celtics fans love him, that's for sure.

There’s no reason to hate Tatum. Name one.

Not sure. Probably best to not ask me but instead ask the numerous people on the GB who clearly hate him.

LOL. Nobody is jealous of Tatum and his continual failures. Maybe you just can’t face the fact that he’s reached his ceiling of “success”, hmmm?

[Fantaxp7]

There’s no reason to hate Tatum. Name one.

Not sure. Probably best to not ask me but instead ask the numerous people on the GB who clearly hate him.

LOL. Nobody is jealous of Tatum and his continual failures. Maybe you just can’t face the fact that he’s reached his ceiling of “success”, hmmm?

Oh? It's a fact that he's reached his ceiling?

Turned 26 in March and he's done. Maybe we'll just let him walk then instead of that super max.

[thinktank]

Not sure. Probably best to not ask me but instead ask the numerous people on the GB who clearly hate him.

LOL. Nobody is jealous of Tatum and his continual failures. Maybe you just can’t face the fact that he’s reached his ceiling of “success”, hmmm?

Oh? It's a fact that he's reached his ceiling?

Turned 26 in March and he's done. Maybe we'll just let him walk then instead of that super max.

Up to you. Whatever is clevaahhhhh. I certainly won’t HATE whatever your team decides.

[Capn'O]

Celtics are weird. They seem to have an on/off switch and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the championship or lost this round. It looked like Miami found something last round and then the Cs cleanly discarded them.

[KingDavid]

Celtics are weird. They seem to have an on/off switch and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the championship or lost this round. It looked like Miami found something last round and then the Cs cleanly discarded them.

We got hot from three while they were cold. Nothing was found and there's nothing to learn about the Celtics from facing us this year. We didn't have the personnel to even hope to make it a semi-competitive series.

[Capn'O]

Celtics are weird. They seem to have an on/off switch and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the championship or lost this round. It looked like Miami found something last round and then the Cs cleanly discarded them.

We got hot from three while they were cold. Nothing was found and there's nothing to learn about the Celtics from facing us this year. We didn't have the personnel to even hope to make it a semi-competitive series.

I meant in the moment. Time certainly fleshed out that nothing was found. There's just a lot of variance in how they play.

[The Corey's]

ijs a healthy Dean Wade and Jarrett Allen would make a difference. The Cavs just beat you last night without em, something you thought was an impossibility.

You beat us with a guy who wouldn't even be in the starting line up and yet you don't think it's a wash that our third best player isn't out there.

I said it's impossible to win the series and it still is. I mean I know you don't think you're holding the Celtics offense in check all series so in reality if your argument is the Cavs are good enough to win a single game and maybe 2 fully healthy then so what. My argument is they don't have the guns to win the series.

Healthy or not.

So a single game or 2 in addition to the one they won last night? Because that would put them up to 3.

I think it's mad to expect the Cavs to win this series if healthy.

[KGDirkTD_Fan]

Celtics are weird. They seem to have an on/off switch and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the championship or lost this round. It looked like Miami found something last round and then the Cs cleanly discarded them.

Why do the Celtics in these games look so relaxed when they play. It feels like it's slow motion compared to the Western series. Even game 1 looked like the Celtics were playing a game in December. I'm expecting a game where they absolutely decimate the Cavs or let people know that they are winning the championship...I haven't seen it.

[Capn'O]

Celtics are weird. They seem to have an on/off switch and I wouldn't be surprised if they won the championship or lost this round. It looked like Miami found something last round and then the Cs cleanly discarded them.

Why do the Celtics in these games look so relaxed when they play. It feels like it's slow motion compared to the Western series. Even game 1 looked like the Celtics were playing a game in December. I'm expecting a game where they absolutely decimate the Cavs or let people know that they are winning the championship...I haven't seen it.

That's what I'm getting at. They looked that way when we played them at the end of the season too. Which, you could explain away because they already had things wrapped up. But it's not like the Heat where, if you're in the playoffs, you know you're getting their A game every night.

[JujitsuFlip]

You beat us with a guy who wouldn't even be in the starting line up and yet you don't think it's a wash that our third best player isn't out there.

I said it's impossible to win the series and it still is. I mean I know you don't think you're holding the Celtics offense in check all series so in reality if your argument is the Cavs are good enough to win a single game and maybe 2 fully healthy then so what. My argument is they don't have the guns to win the series.

Healthy or not.

So a single game or 2 in addition to the one they won last night? Because that would put them up to 3.

I think it's mad to expect the Cavs to win this series if healthy.

They won a game without Wade and Allen last night, i don't think it is that far fetched to assume the Cavs would have a punchers chance with those 2 healthy, if the C's were still without KP.

But maybe none of Wade, Allen, or KP play in the series and it is all moot.

[The High Cyde]

Celtics acting arrogant like the Clips without a title. They’ve been stellar all year and play like they should start the playoffs in the Finals, I don’t get it.

[The Corey's]

So a single game or 2 in addition to the one they won last night? Because that would put them up to 3.

I think it's mad to expect the Cavs to win this series if healthy.

They won a game without Wade and Allen last night, i don't think it is that far fetched to assume the Cavs would have a punchers chance with those 2 healthy, if the C's were still without KP.

But maybe none of Wade, Allen, or KP play in the series and it is all moot.

So what. It amazes me that people think like this. Why is it you don't consider the fact that had they been playing Mobley doesn't have 21 points?

His aggression set the tone and pace for the Cavs.

It changes the whole game and maybe it doesn't unfold that way.

Had KP been playing then maybe the Celtics aren't 1 for whatever the hell it was from 3 point land from White, Brown and Jrue.

The Celtics always have a game like this. If they have another one then I'll concede that a healthy Cavs team might have a chance but then it'll only really be about the Celtics and their tendency to get distracted and take their foot off the pedal.

I'm sorry not sorry. A healthy Celtics team really should cake walk to a title this year. That's how I view this roster.

[CoP]

There’s no reason to hate Tatum. Name one.

Not sure. Probably best to not ask me but instead ask the numerous people on the GB who clearly hate him.

LOL. Nobody is jealous of Tatum and his continual failures. Maybe you just can’t face the fact that he’s reached his ceiling of “success”, hmmm?

I didn't say that people were jealous. rif.org

[CoP]

Boston's D sure isn't Orlando's that's for sure. Only team that scares me in the east is the Knicks. Everyone else is a layup.

So you think it will be Cavs (your team) and Knicks in the ECF?

I took it as they are a Western Conference fan.

[JujitsuFlip]

So you think it will be Cavs (your team) and Knicks in the ECF?

I took it as they are a Western Conference fan.

Yup, looks West coast to me.

[bmurph128]

It wont be.

People said the same thing about Miami


Last night,

Everything went great for Cleveland
Everything went wrong for the Celtics.

its as simple as that.

I think Boston will still win the series, but there's a pretty big difference in talent level between the Heat team the Celtics faced and this Cavs team.

"Everything went great for Cleveland" - lets dive into that:

Cavs - 13/28 on 3s, and a TON of wide open looks - there were also a ton of open looks in game one, but less went down - 13/28 with good looks is.....not what Miami did in game two.

Free throws:

Cavs - 11/16
Boston - 20/24

Two fold here - first, Boston got to the line more despite the Cavs attempting more shots closer to the rim - that's fine, but that definitely did "not go the Cavs way". Second, the Cavs were pretty bad from the free throw line, while the Celtics were good.

The Cavs turned the ball over 10 times, the Celtics 7.



Again, I think Boston should win the series - however, the main reason the Cavs won this game - rebounding and then scoring/defending the paint - are things that SHOULD happen in this series. There is no decent rim protector on the Celtics, while it is something Mobley is great at.

From the Cavs perspective, we should be able to score in the paint and rebound. We should shoot free throws better. And if the looks are THAT open, we should be close to13/28 from 3.

I'm sure Boston will adjust on the latter and the defensive intensity will ramp up, and they won't shoot as bad as they did last night every game.

Lets actually dive into the numbers
Cavs - 13/28 on 3s, and a TON of wide open looks - there were also a ton of open looks in game one, but less went down - 13/28 with good looks is.....not what Miami did in game two.
In game 2 these are the stats:
Cavs shot 10-22 on wide to wide open 3s, 3-6 for tightly defended 3s
Celtics shot 7-27 wide to wide open 3s, 1-8 for tightly defended 3s
Celtics created 22% more wide open 3s but only made 26% of them while the Cavs made 45% of theirs.

Two fold here - first, Boston got to the line more despite the Cavs attempting more shots closer to the rim - that's fine, but that definitely did "not go the Cavs way". Second, the Cavs were pretty bad from the free throw line, while the Celtics were good.

Cavs ranked 24th in getting to the line and 22nd in making their FT. So expecting them to get to the line more and make shoot better from FT line doesn't make sense. Sure, they shot a bit worse than their season average, but the Cavs are not a good FT shooting team.

Out of the 89 games the Celtics played thus far this season, game 2 against cavs is ranked 84th of 89 in points per possession for the Celtics. The Celtics gave up 1.283 points per position, ranked 87 of 89 in games this year. If you want to believe the Celtics will play at almost their absolute worst in Offense and Defense for the entire season then that seems quite unrealistic.

I was talking about THIS game where the Cavs attacked the basket relentlessly, not the FT rate for the regular season - because you said "everything went the Cavs way", which is a straight up incorrect statement.