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

[The Corey's]

I'd say tonight was a little bit of evidence.

Of what? The Cavs won one. I picked Celtics in 5.

If the Celtics don't want to protect the baseline and let the Cavs drive to the hoop with ease then maybe they can pull of a win or two.

I expect them to shut that **** down just like they did with Miami.

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.

[bmurph128]

This series could be more interesting than I thought

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.

[Magicman125]

This series could be more interesting than I thought

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.

Gotta agree, this wasn't a fluke. It proved CLE can exploit Mobley's advantages in terms of rebounding, rim protection, and his matchup against a much older and less long Horford defending him.

If Mobley can keep this up, CLE can make it much more competitive than MIA without Butler did (honestly comparing the Jimmy-less heat to this CLE team is insulting to CLE). I still say Celtics in 6, but they're missing Porzingis more than I expected they would.

[JujitsuFlip]

Of what? The Cavs won one. I picked Celtics in 5.

If the Celtics don't want to protect the baseline and let the Cavs drive to the hoop with ease then maybe they can pull of a win or two.

I expect them to shut that **** down just like they did with Miami.

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.

[INKtastic]

This series could be more interesting than I thought

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.

Cavs are significantly better than a Heat team missing Jimmy Butler.

[Zman80000]

Cavs are simply at a talent disadvantage. Garland is a tiny PG that is a sieve on defense. Okoro is useless. Mobley is a liability on defense for the most part except for the occasional block which is mostly due to bad offense rather than his defense. Mitchell is legit but he's one guy. This Cavs team needs a massive overhaul. No chance Mitchell is staying long term. They're kinda screwed because any team building with Garland as the #1 and Mobley as the #2 is destined for play-in territory at best.

Mobley is a liability on defense?
That's the best part of his game currently.

You do know he has finished very high in defensive player of the year rankings in both of his seasons, right?

[Roger Murdock]

I think Celtics will win in 6 but the Cavs have a path to victory

Mitchell can absolutely outperform Tatum in a 7 game series
Cavs should outscore the Celtics in the paint and outrebound them
Cavs are more likely to get help if Wade or Allen comes back, doesn't seem Zingus will be back
The Celtics need to be splashing 3s. 1-2 poorly timed off nights could end their season in a close series

The Celtics have a history of struggling in weird ways. This would be a more understandable upset than last years Heat series. 2 years ago the Celtics almost threw it vs the Heat. Last year the Celtics almost threw the series vs a shorthanded 76ers.

We need to jump on them at home. Game 3 is critical. Going up 2-1 with pressure of putting em down 3-1 is key.

[jbk1234]

I think Celtics will win in 6 but the Cavs have a path to victory

Mitchell can absolutely outperform Tatum in a 7 game series
Cavs should outscore the Celtics in the paint and outrebound them
Cavs are more likely to get help if Wade or Allen comes back, doesn't seem Zingus will be back
The Celtics need to be splashing 3s. 1-2 poorly timed off nights could end their season in a close series

The Celtics have a history of struggling in weird ways. This would be a more understandable upset than last years Heat series. 2 years ago the Celtics almost threw it vs the Heat. Last year the Celtics almost threw the series vs a shorthanded 76ers.

We need to jump on them at home. Game 3 is critical. Going up 2-1 with pressure of putting em down 3-1 is key.

The biggest benefit of Allen and/or Wade coming back is that it will severely limit JB's ability to handicap the team by playing Niang and Morris meaningful minutes.

Morris managed to be -14 in a game we won by 24. Niang was -5. You have to put in the work to achieve that level of suckage.

[cgf]

Yeah, that's not what you wanna hear if you're a Boston fan.

[cgf]

This series could be more interesting than I thought

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.

You'll still probably win...maybe even in 5 games again...but it's not that simple. These Cavs aren't the Heat w/o Jimmy. They're better defensively & on the boards; they're more focused; unlike your round 1 matchup, they have the best player in this series...and Mazulla might be one of the few coaches that JBB can out-adjust.

I saw more of game 2, but from what I saw of game 1 everything went wrong for the Cavs. They still generated a lot of good looks, but they just couldn't buy a bucket. So why should we assume that game was more representative than game 2?

[bmurph128]

....who called the Celtics a super team? I feel like Tatum just doomed their entire season. They are a rich mans version of the Hawks team that won 60 games years ago....which could win a title, don't get me wrong.

But not a single superstar here, so definitely not a super team

[Hans1984]

What an awful game by Boston. Can't play like that in the playoffs especially at home.

[bmurph128]

I think Celtics will win in 6 but the Cavs have a path to victory

Mitchell can absolutely outperform Tatum in a 7 game series
Cavs should outscore the Celtics in the paint and outrebound them
Cavs are more likely to get help if Wade or Allen comes back, doesn't seem Zingus will be back
The Celtics need to be splashing 3s. 1-2 poorly timed off nights could end their season in a close series

The Celtics have a history of struggling in weird ways. This would be a more understandable upset than last years Heat series. 2 years ago the Celtics almost threw it vs the Heat. Last year the Celtics almost threw the series vs a shorthanded 76ers.

We need to jump on them at home. Game 3 is critical. Going up 2-1 with pressure of putting em down 3-1 is key.

I think game 3 will be tough after the beatdown last night.

This is an obvious statement because if we don't, the series will be over - but if we can just win one of the next three, that will put some pressure on them in game 6 in Cleveland to avoid a game 7 where Mitchell can go nuclear and win the game.

[cgf]

I think Celtics will win in 6 but the Cavs have a path to victory

Mitchell can absolutely outperform Tatum in a 7 game series
Cavs should outscore the Celtics in the paint and outrebound them
Cavs are more likely to get help if Wade or Allen comes back, doesn't seem Zingus will be back
The Celtics need to be splashing 3s. 1-2 poorly timed off nights could end their season in a close series

The Celtics have a history of struggling in weird ways. This would be a more understandable upset than last years Heat series. 2 years ago the Celtics almost threw it vs the Heat. Last year the Celtics almost threw the series vs a shorthanded 76ers.

We need to jump on them at home. Game 3 is critical. Going up 2-1 with pressure of putting em down 3-1 is key.

I think game 3 will be tough after the beatdown last night.

This is an obvious statement because if we don't, the series will be over - but if we can just win one of the next three, that will put some pressure on them in game 6 in Cleveland to avoid a game 7 where Mitchell can go nuclear and win the game.

Just my gut, but I feel like they'll come out and take game 3 before taking their foot of the gas again and getting worked in game 4 to send this back to Boston tied. From there my brain says they'll close it out, but I just don't trust this Celtics team to deal with pressure well, so can totally see it going 7.

[JonFromVA]

I was very surprised when I checked the boxscore for tonight's game and saw that Tristan Thompson was still playing regular rotation minutes in 2024.

Worse yet, I was even more surprised when I clicked on his name and saw that the guy is still 33 years old. I kid you not, I was quite sure he was at least 38.

He came in to the league the same year as Kyrie Irving.

I blame the Kardashians for prematurely aging him a decade in basketball ability. He was looking cooked shortly after the Cavs championship run when he was still in his mid-20's. I don't know if he needed the steroids to resurrect his career, but he used to spend a lot of time working out and probably got lazy with it and saw some diminishing returns.

Did you notice Al Horford starting for the Celtics?

[perempe20]

I have a question after seeing the highlights of the 1st quarter: is Kornet playable? I highly doubt it.

[JonFromVA]

The Cavs have been in an offensive funk since the All-Star break struggling with various injuries. Caris LeVert is inconsistent, we don't expect him to have big game more than maybe once a week ... but Garland and Mitchell while disadvantaged due to their size on the defensive end are supposed to have offensive advantages. They should be able to break down their main, finish at the rim, and knock down shots from all over the floor. If one of them gets a tough defender on him or doubled, the other is supposed to pick up the slack.

I don't know if we'll see them both on at the same time again to the extent they were both on in this game, but they're both looking better on the floor. Garland didn't appear to be sucking wind after playing 10 minutes and Mitchell's knee didn't seem to be bothering him. Mitchell even played a long stretch in the 2nd half without breaking down.

If the Cavs are actually going to make shots, the Celtics will need to do something about their drop coverage and that will likely cause some ripple effects depending whether they switch, zone, go small, show & recover, etc.

But if Mitchell and Garland are actually improving health-wise, there's another Cavs team hiding in there the league has seen very little of this season.

[Blaze4G]

This series could be more interesting than I thought

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.

[10DayContract]

How come Boston doesn’t dominate at home in the playoffs? (We’re talking mediocre teams that they have trouble with in the Garden too).

[JujitsuFlip]

I think Celtics will win in 6 but the Cavs have a path to victory

Mitchell can absolutely outperform Tatum in a 7 game series
Cavs should outscore the Celtics in the paint and outrebound them
Cavs are more likely to get help if Wade or Allen comes back, doesn't seem Zingus will be back
The Celtics need to be splashing 3s. 1-2 poorly timed off nights could end their season in a close series

The Celtics have a history of struggling in weird ways. This would be a more understandable upset than last years Heat series. 2 years ago the Celtics almost threw it vs the Heat. Last year the Celtics almost threw the series vs a shorthanded 76ers.

We need to jump on them at home. Game 3 is critical. Going up 2-1 with pressure of putting em down 3-1 is key.

I think KP probably tries to suit up for the Celtics by game 5. If the Celtics are up 3-1 that could obviously be pushed back.