ECF: P2 | (2) Boston Celtics vs (4) Cleveland Cavaliers | Tied 2-2

Post #41 » by **Duke4life831** » Wed May 16, 2018 8:50 am

nurseryc wrote:What the hell happened to Tatum today? Barely making an impact with 11 points. Tatum only averaging 13.5 ppg in the playoff series yet Celtics still winning?

I get what youre trying to do, youre still stuck on the Tatum vs Simmons thing. CLE is choosing to put their worst defenders on Brown, Stevens isnt dumb and therefore you see Boston running a ton of plays for Brown. I dont get how anyone can watch either game 1 or game 2 of Tatum and not come away impressed. Everyone already knew he didnt need to carry Boston offensively every single night, this isnt new.

jonjames · Post #42 » by **jonjames** » Wed May 16, 2018 8:57 am

At this point I would not be surprised to see the Cavs get swept. I think the Cavs are happy that they beat the 59 win number 1 seed Toronto in the semis and made yet another ECF appearance. I can see a sense of contentment creeping in to the Cavs' collective mindset that "oh it's okay if we lose in the ECF cuz at least we swept the 59 win Raps which is an accomplishment by itself". If the Cavs lose game 3 after 3 days off to prepare then bring out the brooms. It's a sweep. That's what happened to the Lakers in 2011. After losing two close games to the Mavs in games 1 and 3 when they had small leads late in the 4th that broke them. They gave up and didn't even bother to come out to play in game 4 hence the blowout loss.

Post #43 » by **Duke4life831** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:00 am

Said it before this series started, CLE just matches up horribly against Boston. They have the same exact roster issues that Philly has. They lack long defensive players on the wing. Korver went from averaging 30+ minutes last series to just 21 minutes tonight. Boston did this against Irsan and Marco in Philly, they abuse them defensively so Brown couldnt play them as much and they could never get into rhythm.

CLE is throwing out Hill, JR, Korver, Hood, and Green to stop the likes of Brown, Tatum and Morris. None of those guys are good defenders, then add in Love, Nance and TT trying to guard Horford. There are so many mismatches defensively for CLE that they always end up over rotating on the first rotation which then destroys their defense and Boston just feasts on it.

Boston had 84 points after 3 quarters today, they had 101 with 5 minutes to go in game 1 when they empty out the bench. No doubt their defense has been great these first 2 games, but for 2 straight games now they have been able to consistently get wide open shots all game long. I just dont see any adjustments Lue can make to stop this. I thought this was going to be the achilles heel for CLE going into this series and this was why I personally was favoring BOS in 6.

Drax · Post #44 » by **Drax** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:13 am

nurseryc wrote:What the hell happened to Tatum today? Barely making an impact with 11 points. Tatum only averaging 13.5 ppg in the playoff series yet Celtics still winning?

Unfortunatly that's Tatums season in a nutshell, it's a bit of a rollercoaster ride with him. With Brown playing hurt the second round someone needed to step up Tatum gladly did so, but once Brown had his footing again Tatum scales his play down again. I don't know if it is designed that way or Tatum interenally feels like he shouldn't do more, but as long as the team is winning nobody really cares even him. Personally i hope he gets more aggresive the rest of the post season because i feel the more Tatum is involved offensivly the better he plays and the team.

Post #45 » by **Duke4life831** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:22 am

Drax wrote:
nurseryc wrote:What the hell happened to Tatum today? Barely making an impact with 11 points. Tatum only averaging 13.5 ppg in the playoff series yet Celtics still winning?

Unfortunatly that's Tatums season in a nutshell, it's a bit of a rollercoaster ride with him. With Brown playing hurt the second round someone needed to step up Tatum gladly did so, but once Brown had his footing again Tatum scales his play down again. I don't know if it is designed that way or Tatum interenally feels like he shouldn't do more, but as long as the team is winning nobody really cares even him. Personally i hope he gets more aggresive the rest of the post season because i feel the more Tatum is involved offensivly the better he plays and the team.

Stevens is just playing the best match ups. Against Philly they constantly put Redick or Marco on him and that was the best mismatch so Stevens exploited it. Even by the time Brown put Covington on him, Covington seemed to have checked out completely and it still was the best mismatch.

Now in this series CLE is putting their best wing defender on Tatum while giving Brown the mismatch. Brown has seen a lot of Korver this series and he has almost made Korver unplayable in 2 games.

I think Stevens is just going to constantly take advantage of his biggest mismatch, last series it was Tatum, so far its Brown this series.

jirrit · Post #46 » by **jirrit** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:27 am

ratul wrote:Not sure it matters who wins here - GS will beat either even though there will be hope and it would be hilarious if Boston wins without Kyrie. Boston just matches up well vs. Cleveland - they are a terror defensively.

Nothing basketball related matters anyhow cause GSW is gonna win? lol

jonjames · Post #47 » by **jonjames** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:54 am

Neat tidbit: the Cavs' final playoff series they had before Lebron left Cleveland was against Boston. The Cavs' first playoff series they had since Lebron returned to Cleveland was against Boston. And now with the Cavs down 0-2 in the Conference Finals, the Cavs' FINAL PLAYOFF SERIES since Lebron returned to Cleveland was against Boston?

Is this all a coincidence? Everyone knows Lebron is leaving during the off season so this is the last time you will see him in a Cavs jersey FOREVER!

ratul · Post #48 » by **ratul** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:55 am

jirrit wrote:
ratul wrote:Not sure it matters who wins here - GS will beat either even though there will be hope and it would be hilarious if Boston wins without Kyrie. Boston just matches up well vs. Cleveland - they are a terror defensively.

Nothing basketball related matters anyhow cause GSW is gonna win? lol

Um, what?

ratul · Post #49 » by **ratul** » Wed May 16, 2018 9:56 am

jc23 wrote:
ratul wrote:Not sure it matters who wins here - GS will beat either even though there will be hope and it would be hilarious if Boston wins without Kyrie. Boston just matches up well vs. Cleveland - they are a terror defensively.

matters for boston, good experience for that young core. makes no difference for cleveland since lebron was leaving no matter what happened.

Fair point

pac213up · Post #50 » by **pac213up** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:09 am

nurseryc wrote:What the hell happened to Tatum today? Barely making an impact with 11 points. Tatum only averaging 13.5 ppg in the playoff series yet Celtics still winning?

Used him as a decoy to open up space for the other guys. Able to get some buckets when the team needed it. That is the great thing about a guy like him vs say....Ben Simmons....who you do not have to guard off the ball and really do not have worry about getting buckets outside of 10ft.

ArtMorte · Post #51 » by **ArtMorte** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:14 am

Boston got double figures from six players, Cleveland from three. The Cavs have the best player, but they're not a great team.

Edug27 · Post #52 » by **Edug27** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:16 am

CodeBreaker wrote:I'd rather keep Rozier than Kyrie after this post season run

Keep both for next year. Rozier can play the Ginobli role.

FlatearthZorro · Post #53 » by **FlatearthZorro** » Wed May 16, 2018 10:25 am

nurseryc wrote:What the hell happened to Tatum today? Barely making an impact with 11 points. Tatum only averaging 13.5 ppg in the playoff series yet Celtics still winning?

He was in a little bit of foul trouble early, Brad played Morris. Smart stepped up on both ends. I'll take any win at this point.

Braindesign · Post #54 » by **Braindesign** » Wed May 16, 2018 11:10 am

Kalela wrote:Jaylen Brown is the 2nd best player in this series after Lebron. People are still doubting this kid and don't realize how good and fearless he is.

He's completely fearless. He's got really three things to work on this summer and if he improves in those areas look out. First is obviously free throws. Second and third is his mid range game in two areas. Right now he is elite at spot up 3 point shooting and driving to the basket. When teams game plan against that he goes quiet. So, his next step is to develop some dribble moves to create space for mid range shots and work on catch and shoot curling off screens.

Brown adds those components to his game and I think he becomes the team's first option on offense and a 25ppg scorer.

Braindesign · Post #55 » by **Braindesign** » Wed May 16, 2018 11:10 am

Kalela wrote:Jaylen Brown is the 2nd best player in this series after Lebron. People are still doubting this kid and don't realize how good and fearless he is.

He's completely fearless. He's got really three things to work on this summer and if he improves in those areas look out. First is obviously free throws. Second and third is his mid range game in two areas. Right now he is elite at spot up 3 point shooting and driving to the basket. When teams game plan against that he goes quiet. So, his next step is to develop some dribble moves to create space for mid range shots and work on catch and shoot curling off screens.

Brown adds those components to his game and I think he becomes the team's first option on offense and a 25ppg scorer.

Ill News · Post #56 » by **Ill News** » Wed May 16, 2018 11:39 am

CodeBreaker wrote:
Splashin wrote:
CodeBreaker wrote:Seeing that you're a Warrriors fan, of course you'd rather want Kyrie in Boston than Rozier

I like Boston, Rozier is a good kid. He's not kyrie though

Of course Kyrie would stomp him. Kyrie is way better.

I'm talking about how Rozier plays and fits with this team. It's proven with what we're seeing right now.
Kyrie on the other hand is a ball stopper. Iso plays wouldn't mesh with this team.

If you've been watching the Celtics closely, you'll know they've been running a lot of iso plays for players like Tatum, Morris, and Rozier to some extent (mostly to exploit mismatches, like Tatum in the Sixers series). Saying Kyrie is a bad fit with this team is illogical given how Stevens has shown he can tailor his system to maximize the talent of his players, most of whom happen to be excellent one-on-one guys. And it's not like Kyrie had a bad year, he led the team in scoring while leading them to the second seed...

whysoserious · Post #57 » by **whysoserious** » Wed May 16, 2018 12:16 pm

As a Raps fan watching this series is tough knowing our stars basically folded against a weaker Cavs team. At the same time, you can do nothing but congratulate Boston (it's hard to give the C's credit as a Raps fan) on the season they've had, what they continue to do in the playoffs and their future.

The toughness, resiliency, and outright togetherness that team has is what's missing on the Raptors.

Hello Brooklyn · Post #58 » by **Hello Brooklyn** » Wed May 16, 2018 12:16 pm

Media keeps underrating the Celtics. I learned my lesson last round.

They're not the most talented team (yet), they're just a very smart team.

If your team has a weakness, they will exploit it. Cleveland is a deeply flawed team.

Scarletfire81 · Post #59 » by **Scarletfire81** » Wed May 16, 2018 12:19 pm

CodeBreaker wrote:I'd rather keep Rozier than Kyrie after this post season run

We will hopefully find a way to keep both. Kyrie is one of the best players in NBA, no way do they trade him or let him walk.

Post #60 » by **jbk1234** » Wed May 16, 2018 12:22 pm

jonjames wrote:At this point I would not be surprised to see the Cavs get swept. I think the Cavs are happy that they beat the 59 win number 1 seed Toronto in the semis and made yet another ECF appearance. I can see a sense of contentment creeping in to the Cavs' collective mindset that "oh it's okay if we lose in the ECF cuz at least we swept the 59 win Raps which is an accomplishment by itself". If the Cavs lose game 3 after 3 days off to prepare then bring out the brooms. It's a sweep. That's what happened to the Lakers in 2011. After losing two close games to the Mavs in games 1 and 3 when they had small leads late in the 4th that broke them. They gave up and didn't even bother to come out to play in game 4 hence the blowout loss.

LBJ's not going to want to get swept. The Cavs players aren't going to want to get swept in front of their home court. No one is viewing beating the Raptors in the playoffs as some type of accomplishment.

How the series will go will ultimately come down to two factors: (1) Whether Lue rotates his players more frequently so his starters aren't exhausted on the court in the second half; and (2) whether one of JR, Hood, Clarkson, and/or J. Green can have a good game four games out of this series. Boston is younger, deeper, and more athletic. Lue cannot play his starters 10 minutes uninterrupted per quarter, every quarter, against that team.

Who wins the series?