Recap: Cavs 103, Celtics 95 (Or, Four Physical Quarters )

The Cavs earned a tough win. Each quarter had a completely different feeling to it, which had to have been mentally grueling for the Good Guys. The first twelve minutes were all about post touches, while the second quarter was about lots of physical fouls. The third quarter was the 3 and “D” period, and the fourth quarter was all about the King. The Cavs held Boston to 44% shooting from the field and 26% from deep for the night. Kevin Love and LeBron James combined for 54 points and made 7-15 shots from the 3-point land to lead the Cavs. James also had four steals and two blocks. Let’s get to the action.

First Quarter

LeBron was aggressive from the start of the game. He  drove to the basket on two consecutive buckets. The Celtics offense struggled. On defense, the Wine & Gold were rotating as if they shared linked cyborg brains. Each pick and roll was quickly clogged with a switch or Kyrie Irving willing himself around the screen man. The first five Celtic points of the game came from transition baskets, which was the one weak part of the Cavs defense.

Irving found Timofey Mozgov early. Kyrie dribbled to the middle two times in a row to toss the ball to Mozgov who got a dunk and finished a three point layup. Love followed the And-1 with a King assisted 3-pointer. The Celtics scored, but they were working for points. Brandon Bass glassed a lucky jumper in, and Marcus Smart dribbled for an eternity before getting fouled and making his floater.

Here’s Avery Bradley’s first quarter shot chart. The Cavs made his  life difficult. His drives were cut short several times, and he settled for poor shots.

The Cavs made a consistent effort to get the ball to the post. Love had three touches there for three points. He seemed at home poking his defender with little shoulder fakes.

Tristan Thompson subbed in for the Mozerati with four minutes left. It was a good thing, because Mozz seemed strangely disengaged. Love found TT in the post; TnT scored on a hook shot. The next play he got down low and was fouled. He missed both free throws, which must have given Brad Stevens the idea to “Touch-a-Thompson.” TnT was fouled off the ball two times, but sank three of four free ones and said, “Sorry Brad.”

After a late quarter possession where Luigi Datome had a completely clear path for a layup (all five Cavs were on the right side of floor), the Cavs played lock down full-court defense. Matthew Dellavedova hounded Isaiah Thomas down the floor and used up the final Cavs foul with six seconds left. J.R. Smith interrupted the following play with a steal to help prevent a shot before the buzzer sounded. Cavs up, 31-25.

Second Quarter

While the first quarter went by without much stoppage, the second quarter dragged on. It was a tale of fouls and takeaways, rather than shots. In the first three minutes, there were four non-shooting fouls called randomly, as there was extra contact almost every play.

Jae Crowder was a ball seeking robot. At one point, he forced a jump ball against the Mozerati and then, on the same possession, ripped a rebound from Love to get the Celtics an extra shot. Tyler Zeller got an And-1 because of the extra chance.

Crowder brought more ruckus when he blocked Love’s layup a few seconds later. Love had used a step through move to get space in the paint after catching a pass, but it didn’t lead to success. After Love rebounded his own miss, he missed his second layup attempt. Zeller then nailed a mid-range jumper to tie the game at 38 with six minutes left in the quarter.

Out of a panic timeout, the Cavs had the ball stolen by Evan Turner, who took it to the rack for two of his six points in the quarter. To make matters worse, the King was being roughed up by Crowder, who was elbowing him and grabbing his arms any chance he got.

With 5:20 to go in the quarter, Irving got tossed to the ground on a layup, and Jonas Jerebko felt up his face with his fist. The two teams ran down the floor and fake shoved one another. LeBron revenge pushed Crowder, who pretty much had nothing to do with the play. Tempers flared. J.R. Smith ended up with a technical, even though he was trying to separate guys. It made no sense, much like many of the calls/ no calls in the quarter. Irving hit one of two free throws.

Kyrie Irving is fouled hard by Jonas Jerebko. Playoff basketball. pic.twitter.com/vWrvt9VwwK

— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) April 24, 2015

The Cavs didn’t let the physical play bother them and finished the quarter on a 12-0 run. After stealing a pass and getting out on the break, LeBron stayed cool when Turner smashed him to the ground with an RKO esque wrestling maneuver. The refs ruled it a flagrant 1. The Cavs went into the locker room ahead, 56-48.

Third Quarter

This quarter opened up with the Celtics getting a lucky tip-in bucket. The Cavs missed their first three 3-pointers, and Mozgov traveled on their other possession. The Celts used the long rebounds to score four quick transition points. An Evan Turner jumper tied the game at 56. The King ended the run when he drained a jumper and was fouled. Love then took a charge in the paint from Crowder, who wanted to capitalize on an Avery Bradley steal. Love scored a 3-pointer the next play. Smith followed up with another triple and the Cavs went up 65-60.

The Wine & Gold shot 3s and made defensive plays in the third quarter. They made 5-8 long balls and four of those were assisted. LeBron had three steals, which led to a dunk and a possession where Kyrie drained a 3-pointer. Irving had a steal that led to a James layup.

The Cavs realized that going into the paint wasn’t getting them calls, so they changed their play. Kyrie was decimated in his two attempts down low, and LeBron’s only attempts there were transition baskets. The Celtics, on the other hand, were working the ball down low using smart passes and cuts. Six of their ten shots were assisted on, and they had six freebies from attacking down low.

Shot chart for Cavs (left) and Celtics (right) during the third quarter

Tristan Thompson ended the quarter for the Cavs in the post with a little hook shot to put them up eight heading into the final quarter, 84-76.

Fourth Quarter

LeBron carried the Cavs through the fourth. He scored or assisted on 12 of the final 19 points. Irving scored or helped out on the other seven points. The King did a lot of holding the ball and dribbling at the top of the key. He waited until his man either dropped a few feet back to stop a drive or stepped up to stop a shot. The King would then take a long jumper or dish to the open shooter.

LeBron James’ fourth quarter shot chart

The Celtics fought back in the quarter behind strong play from Jae Crowder and Evan Turner. With five minutes left, Evan turner hit Crowder in the lane for a And-1 layup. Irving returned two of the points the next play, but Crowder came back and got a putback basket. The King then got a backcourt violation when Crowder forced him to throw it away with extreme pressure.

A play later Turner hit a three after Crowder dribbled into the paint. This quick 8-2 run brought the Celtics within three with 2:45 left. However, Love sealed the game as he made two huge 3-pointers in the final two minutes. On the first 3-pointer, Kyrie burned his man but missed a jumper. Thompson grabbed the board and then Irving hit Love for the shot. Love’s other 3-ball also came from Thompson pulling in a missed shot, and LeBron driving and kicking.

Cavs win, 103-95.

Gripes

1. Evan Turner got 19 points on 8-15 shooting. He also had eight rebounds and eight assists. He had a few blow-bys on LeBron, but mainly worked himself into the middle area between the big man and the rim for his makes. Sometimes, the Cavs bigs need to rush out a little more to get rid of mid range looks.

2. Jae Crowder made 5-6 shots for 16 points. He moves well off the ball and gets easy baskets within the Celtics offensive system. All of his shots were assisted on, aside from his lone putback shot. It was troubling how hard he played defense on LeBron. He didn’t stop LeBron, but in the second quarter he aggravated the heck out of him. He bodied up the King no matter where he was on the floor and whether or not he had the ball. The Cavs needed to lay him out with a pick or hard foul but never did. Game four ought to feature some Kendrick Perkins screens.

3. Timo didn’t have the greatest of evenings. He had four turnovers and missed an alley oop that he bounced off the rim. Mozgov also had to do two extra jump balls because Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley wrapped the ball up when he brought it down low.

Hypes

1.

2. The Cavs — well mainly Iman Shumpert — held Isaiah Thomas to just five points on nine shots. This was huge because Thomas helps the Celtics continually chip into a lead even with their bench on the floor. That didn’t happen tonight. Shumpert had a Cavs high +14 for the game, and both of his made buckets saved possessions where the shot clock was about to expire.

3. Love showed why he’s the real deal. He hung out in the post tonight and was successful. He also dropped 6-10 shots from behind the 3-line and had 23 points. This made him a pain to cover, and almost made Shaq and Charles Barkley stop criticizing him. Almost.

4. As mentioned above in the recap, Tristan Thompson grabbed five timely offense boards, and he scored in the post. He also weathered “Touch-a-Thompson.”

5. J.R. Smith had a great bounce back game after scoring just 16 combined points in the first two games. After missing his first shot of the night, he made 5-12 shots for 15 points, including 3-8 from three and a couple shot-clock buzzer beaters.

6. The Cavs kept their cool when fouls didn’t go their way. The refs let the Celtics get very physical with the Cavs near the rim, and nearly let the game get out of control. The Wine & Gold realized this and started shooting more 3-pointers. At the end of the night, the Celtics had 23 fouls and the Cavs had just 18.

7. The Cavs had just 11 turnovers this game, which is much better than the 18 they had in game 2. They also had nine steals tonight, which lead to 20 extra points when looked at in relation to Celtic turnovers.

The Cavs play again on Sunday. A win would end the series.