Recap: Celtics 111, Cavs 108 (Or, You Can’t Always Win)
2017-05-22The Cavs finally lost in the post season after winning 13 straight. It was inevitable, but the game felt like it was going Cleveland’s way early on. After draining nine 3s in the first quarter, they led by 11. After hitting five more 3s in the second they led by 16 at halftime.
Kevin Love was on fire in the first half. He had 22 points and was 7-10 from deep. He scored just six points and missed all of his threes in the 2nd part of the game. The third quarter proved to be the Cavs’ downfall, as Boston managed to break free and hit six 3s in the final 6:29 of it. They ripped off a 26-10 run to cut the Cavs’ 21 point lead down to just five points.
https://twitter.com/CelticsJunkies/status/866500761890541569
By the time the fourth quarter started chugging along the Cavs just weren’t feeling it all and LeBron James wasn’t up to carrying the team. He ended the game with 11 points going 4-13 from the field. He had six boards, six assists, and six turnovers. It wasn’t his finest night. He had zero points in the fourth.
As the fourth wound down, the Celtics just kept matching Cleveland’s shots and their comeback gave them the confidence to pull out the win. With 3:56 to go, the Celtics led by two. LeBron dribbled up and bricked his fourth 3 of the night. Tristan grabbed one of his seven offensive boards at that point. He then got fouled on the floor, and made the first of his two free throws. The second one bounced off the rim and was grabbed by Smith. Smith missed the 3, but Love was able to tip it in and put the Cavs up by two.
That didn’t faze Boston at all though. After calling a timeout, they bricked a shot and made a 3 off of their offensive board.
With 30.6 seconds left to go and the Cavs down three, the King grabbed the ball, and dribbled deep into the paint. Boston sent Jae Crowder down to double him, which left J.R. Smith wide open for an easy straight on 3 to tie the game. Again, Boston just responded out of a timeout.
Brad Stevens had Avery Bradley receive the inbounds pass from Marcus Smart, before Smart ran over to push Bradley’s man, Kyrie Irving, away like he was tackling him, so Bradley could get into the paint. Bradley found Jonas Jerebko in the corner for a long two after penetrating to put Boston up two.
Jonas Jerebko gives the @celtics the lead!
108-106 with 30.3 to go! #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MuDq1WJPXj
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 22, 2017
Kyrie Responded, but he tied it up with ten seconds to go. And, Boston still had a time out. Stevens drew up another great play for Bradley to get open. Stevens placed Jae Crowder in the left corner and Bradley slightly above him where the 3-point arc starts. Bradley then came over like he was setting a pin down screen for Crowder, but at the last minute he popped out to the 3-line. Since the Cavs had been switching screens all night, there was a little confusion as to if J.R. Smith (Bradley’s defender), and Iman Shumpert should switch. Shump thought it wasn’t a screen, and J.R. thought it was, so both guys followed Crowder. Bradley was then left completely open to win the game.
Bradley came up big for the Celtics with that shot and 20 points, but it was Marcus Smart who really put the them in a position to win. He went 7-10 from deep and had 27 points along with seven assists.
The Cavs also received an unexpected performance. Tristan Thompson finished the night with 13 boards, and 18 points. He went 12-15 from the free throw line. Kyrie Irving scored 29 points on 10-15 shooting. He also had seven assists.
First Quarter
Both teams played even for the first minute or so. With the Cavs switching so much, Al Horford got the first Celtic points after getting J.R. Smith on him in the post. J.R. exacted revenge when he responded with a 3-pointer. The Cavs would hit three of their next four 3s to go up 14-7 just four minutes in. The Celtics were moving the ball well, but couldn’t make shots and had to call a time out when Love hit a contested give and take one step to the side to get the ball back 3. Needless to say, the Cavs didn’t pay attention to the rage timeout.
4/4 from three 🔥🔥🔥 https://t.co/R00JL0P866
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 22, 2017
Love went on to go 5-7 from deep in the quarter. He hit a ridiculous heat check one where he caught a wild cross court pass from Kyrie, which essentially trapped him in the corner and forced him to rise up over Al Horford. Kyrie Also chipped in going 3-3 from deep and drawing a foul on a three. He was able to just dribble it up and fire. Al Horford needed to score and couldn’t. Both LeBron and Love blocked him. His lone points came from a 3-pointer. After one the Cavs led, 35-24.
Second Quarter
The Cavs played LBJ and the super scrubs, minus Channing Frye. Shumpert did work initially dribbling into two consecutive mid-range jumpers. With the King playing center, it was only a matter of time before Kelly Olynyk ended up on him. The King stutter stepped him before whipping a cross court pass to Kyle Korver along the baseline for a 3. LeBron then slammed the ball down a minute later off an inbound alley hoop from Deron Williams.
.@KingJames catches the defense sleeping & cuts backdoor for the SLAM! 🔨 #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/F1N2mhhxAc
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) May 22, 2017
At that point, Stevens couldn’t handle that LeBron was playing center and manhandling every body, so Al Horford checked back in with 7:42 left. Boston played pretty solid defense and shot 50% from the floor, but the Cavs kept hitting tough shots and went 5-9 from 3-land. At the end of the quarter, the Cavs wanted to play football. J.R. got a board with 59 seconds left and screamed “Hike” before giving it to Love who found LeBron streaking down court.
Kevin Love throws a touchdown pass to LeBron! #DefendTheLand #NBA #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/SGuDEu3a4D
— Chat Sports (@ChatSports) May 22, 2017
After two, the Cavs went into the locker room up, 66-50.
Third Quarter
After hitting so many 3s in the first half, Cleveland looked to use that threat to their benefit. Boston was hugging shooters. TT started the action cutting to the hoop and got fouled. Kyrie then faked like he was going to pull up and drove to the hoop. Every thing looked great for the Cavs. Love got fouled cutting to the hoop even and had a filthy block on Crowder to negate a fast break.
🚫 #DefendTheLand https://t.co/zmg0M0cnhi
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 22, 2017
The good times wouldn’t last though. The Cavs just got into a funk. They went 0-6 from deep the first 5:22. And then the final 6:38 of the quarter they took just one three and were outscored 26-10. They were trying to get to the rack, but nothing would fall once they got there. Meanwhile, Marcus Smart dropped three 3s. The Cavs still led heading into the fourth, 82-87.
Fourth Quarter
Jonas Jerebko hit a 3 to start the quarter. Both teams then had trouble scoring. The Cavs only points for the first four minutes came from TT getting misses and getting fouled on the put backs. Then Cleveland started to turn the ball over and forgot to boxout, which resulted in Boston getting some easy buckets that kept them close enough to make the game one of whichever team could hit more timely shots. Boston happened to hit 5 threes, and the Cavs hit just 2-12.
Gripes
- LeBron didn’t show up to play. He had just 11 points and looked very passive towards the end of the game. He’s human, and I wouldn’t read too much into it. He was probably excited to be home and relaxed just a little too much. It was nice to see him defer to Kyrie a bit.
- The Cavs weren’t penetrating as much as they did the previous two games. I’d venture to say half of Cleveland’s 21 assists were from a guy on the perimeter making one pass to another guy who drained a 3-pointer. All the 3s resulted in Boston really hugging up on guys later in the game, and it worked really well because the Cavs weren’t getting open 3s because of their ability to penetrate tonight. Once the 3s stopped, the offense stopped.
- Marcus Smart should have been covered by LeBron once he started feeling it. He finished with 27 points and seven 3s. This was the Smart game, and Boston still won on a last second shot. I’m not too worried about him moving forward.
- Love was phenomenal in the first 24 with 22 points. The Cavs have to look to keep him active and getting shots throughout games. They should force feed him if need be. He had just six points in the final two quarters. Listen to The Delfonics, Tyronn.
-
What if I told you I am the one for you?
Stop, and look, and you have found Love
Stop, and look, and you have found Love
Stop, and look, and you have found Love
Stop, and look, and you have found Love
Now that you found your other half
We’ve got a Love that’s gonna last
Nature has opened up the door
Now we don’t have to look no more - Jonas Jerebko is a punk. He jawed with Love, Deron Williams, and TT. That guy is not in the same league as them, and I hope that the NBA says something about it. This series is getting a little chippy. Kyrie got into it with Avery Bradley. Neither team needs the drama.
- Boston dropped 18 3s and was 46.2% from the floor. The Cavs have to step out on shooters. This team shouldn’t be blowing by them at any point. It’s a matter of communicating on switches to stop 3s and switching back to prevent post ups when guards end up on Horford.
Hypes
- Both Love and Irving showed flashes tonight. Love looked tremendous shooting his 3s no matter who was guarding him. Irving also had a great game, going to the rack at will and hitting long long bombs.
- Kelly O looked like a little boy during the stretches LeBron was on him. He finished with 15 points on 5-8 shooting, but he didn’t seem scary at all. Same with Al Horford. He put up 16, but it took him 18 shots to do so.
- Crowder also had a mediocre night. He took eight 3s and made two, which the Cavs will live with. He defended hard and set some illustrious screens. Ultimately though, they can let him be.
- The Cavs controlled the glass nicely, 46-38, and TT made Boston have to fight for every single defensive board.
- Cleveland had 15 turnovers and they still almost won this game.
- This game was bound to happen at some point. Marcus Smart/the Celtics got hot from 3 for just long enough and at the right time to have the chance to win. The Cavs just couldn’t stay hot from beyond the arc and by starting so hot, they didn’t have the feel for the paint they should have.
- The next game is Tuesday night.
UNDERSTAND COLS — NOT SAYING I AGREE WITH THIS—JUST THROWING IT OUT THERE —NOT GETTING THE “PANIC BUTTON ” OUT ……AM GETTING OUT MY BREW KETTLE SPECIAL BREW– ” ALL FOR ONE ” ICED DOWN FOR TONIGHTS GAME
CLOSE TO THE SAME AS YOU JMAY —- LAST YEAR MY SON GOT MARRIED THE WEEKEND OF GAMES 5 AND SIX …GOOD LUCK ……..IS THERE ANY CONCERN THAT THE CAVS WITH 9 DAYS OFF HAD THE ADVANTAGE OF REST / PRERPARATION OVER THE CELTS AND NOW ENTERING GAME 4 HAS THAT ADAVANTAGE SWITCHED TO THE CELTICS
Geez Nomad. They lost one game when Smart (who is the worst 3 point shooter in the NBA) hit 7/10 threes and James was hungover and sucked. And they still had a 21 point lead and it came down to a weird bounced in three. No, nothing has shifted to the Celtics.
They are allowed to lose a game without it meaning anything going forward except it will take 5 instead of 4 games. There’s a reason why it’s hard to be undefeated in the playoffs.
If the Cavs make the Finals, then sweep the Warriors, I will be able to watch all four games of the Finals before going on my honeymoon. Fingers crossed.
Ha. You may have to watch some basketball on your honeymoon.
Irving is awesome at the pick and roll according to Zach Lowe.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/19439829/zach-lowe-lebron-james-kyrie-irving-1-3-pick-roll-nba
ALSO THINK CAVS NEED TO ( NOT NECESSARILY DESTROY THE CELTS ) BUT WIN IN CONVINCING FASHION THESE NEXT 2 GAMES TO GET SOME OF THE “MOJO—CONFIDENCE ‘ BACK GOING INTO THE DUBS SERIES ——LOOKS AS IF CHANNING AND R.J. HAVE SWITCHED MINUTES THIS SERIES VS THE CELTS——THINK TY WANTS A RESTED CHANNING GOING AGAINST THE WARRIORS
Nah. They don’t need to win in convincing fashion. This Cavs squad is not afraid of the fraudsquad.
AGREE WITH JOSHUA—-THINK LEBRON SENSED THE ATTITUDE ( COMPLACENCY —OVER CONFIDENT ) IN PRACTICE / GAME AND MORE OR LESS ” PLAYED DAD ” —GOING TO SHOW YOU GUYS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BEHAVE LIKE THIS ——EXPECT ” DAD LEBRON ” TO LEAD AND BACK TO FORM TONIGHT —-GO CAVS !!
I’m not sure that Lebron didn’t have the flu or something. And not just because he played poorly…but if you watch his dribbling and his feel on shots…you can tell he couldn’t feel the ball in his fingertips. When you have a sickness it affects your circulation. Has anyone here ever taken like a year off from dribbling a ball and then tried doin it again? It’s a similar sensation…no feel for the ball. Lebron looked like this at the beginning of the season in 2015…like he’d just taken a few months off playing. If he’s healthy, I fully expect… Read more »
I really think he was banged up…maybe an ankle, maybe something else…he took a couple of bad looking falls in game two, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. I think sick or hiding an injury are the only reasonable explanations…he didn’t just play ‘badly’, he really didn’t even try to do anything…
Lebron fell completely out of rhythm and then lacked any confidence to attack the paint or shoot from outside. It was so weird, eerie. Just when the team needed him, he was completely out of it. Cavs definitely became too comfortable as a team and underestimated the celtics, further disrupting their own rhythm and ability to execute in crunch time.
It was all very strange. Now we need the ability of selective memory. Forget this game ever happened. Move forward with exponentially greater tenacity.
I actually had the same thought Kevin. I felt like Lebron thought they had the game in the bag and stopped trying and once the Cavs started to blow it, it was some sort of dad routine where, “well, you guys can clean this mess up or not, but I’ll just be over here observing”. I think it was almost some “leadership” thing where he wanted Kyrie and Love to step up and take over. I honestly believe Lebron wanted them to lose after blowing the lead. Maybe they got too loose in practice or full of themselves the last… Read more »
I 100% agree with this outlook — LeBron allowing them to lose Game 3 is also about psychologically making sure Cavs are firmly the underdog in the upcoming series, even if it means another trip to Boston.
Also, consumers of sports news and analysis get so inundated with irrelevant data: I get so tired of “lowest…blah blah blah in 49 playoff games” or “LeBron is 11-2 in closeout games” or whatever stats, as if that makes victory inevitable. Stats tend to be totally useless for the task at hand, which tends to be winning the next game.
Not that the whole thing was some kind of mind game, although the Boston win was arguably good for the league as a whole, given all the criticism…Celtics still needed to play inspired basketball to pull out the victory, etc. Fortunately people’s memories are short enough where LeBron’s performance was not compared with Harden’s last Game 6, good lord.
It’s possible the Warriors play the ugliest brand of basketball I’ve ever seen. So smarmy and smug. They need to be beatdown.
Totally robbed of a 6-7 game series because of the Kawhi injury…it’s too bad.
So many made shots and big point differentials….horrendous basketball…
I’m with Mike, definitely not ugly. To me is more like not fair but it is what it is.
You guys know what’s great about the Cavs losing yesterday? That now we are all desperate to know what will happen tomorrow and for me that feeling it’s great.
Let’s Go Cavs!
Just because:
Last year, Warriors had 73 regular season wins. Cavs won their 73rd game of the season game seven of the Finals.
This year Warriors won 67 regular season games. Cavs can win their 67th of the season with 4 wins in the Finals.
Cue X-files music.
Honestly, that’s too specific to not be a prophecy. I just ate another huge helping of irrational confidence
Well… Griff won’t be going to Orlando at least…
Jeff is the son of Harry Weltman, who drafted Hot Rod for the Cavs and had the impossible job of being GM for Stepien’s final few years of ownership.
It happens every year – I get caught up with wanting the Cavs and Lebron to set records and prove definitively that they are the “best ever.” And life happens, and I’m reminded of what they are actually trying to do. Win another Title. Full stop. Nothing else matters. There were a million things that went wrong in one way or another last year, including during the postseason. In the end, though, none of them matter because they were focused on the right things. I think this loss will have little to no bearing on what happens in the Finals.… Read more »
Yep. Preach!
But to quote Ben from his Point Four-ward series preview:
“It’s important to get in and out of this series as quickly as possible. In the name of health, the Cavaliers can’t afford to mess around…. Considering Leonard’s injury out West and the Cavs/Celtics history, the fewer games the better. “
Yes, that is correct. I guess my point is that, while of course winning is better than losing, perspective is probably in order. They did the exact same thing last year – won 10 straight and then laid 2 eggs in Toronto. Yesterday sucked, but in the grand scheme of things, probably won’t matter. Probably.
As long as Lebron is not injured, I am kind of OK with that terrible loss.
We did not respect the opponent or the game for stretches & lost. Awful.
Being 12-1 in the playoffs is not awful.
On the brightside, this means more Cavs games!
Exactly, I like that and another thing is that now we (fans) are all desperate to now what will happen tomorrow which as a sports fan is always a great feeling IMO.
Nate has to live with this tweet. Nate Smith @oldseaminer
“Total screw up by the Cavs tonight. Might have cost them the championship. The margin is that thin.”
HAVE A FEELING “THREEZUS ” WILL BREAK OUT OF THE SLUMP ON TUES AND DO SOMETHING SPECIAL —-TUES ‘S GAME ALL OF SUDDEN BECOMES THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN THE SERIES —-3-1 AND STILL HAVE HOME CT ADAVANTAGE OR 2-2 AND LOSE IT
Korver has sure lost his stroke now. In the Celts series, he is just 4/16 from deep. Korver’s 1/5 last night As mentioned, the entire bench was bad last night too although LeBron’s disappearing act was incredulous. Love and Irving both missing wide open threes with under two minutes sure didn’t help either. An almost unbelievable turn of events from one game to the next. I know Frye is supposedly a bad match up this series, but I wonder if Lue debated putting Channing on the court when everyone else started clanking the deep ball in the second half? As… Read more »
I feel like a lot of Korver’s shots aren’t very good ones, they tend to get him the ball late in the shot clock and he has to put it up even when he’s not that open.
Totally agree with you Charlie, KK has been rushing some of his shots and I don’t know why. Maybe he is desperate to contribute or something but he got to play smarter.
Every time I watch a play the dude is playing what for him is tremendous D — is it also a matter of him (in terms of making shots) still getting acclimated to timing of teammates and the wrinkles in the offense? He’s only been on the team for how many games? JR is getting in rhythm, Love is shooting super well, but yes it would be ideal to see Korver get white hot and win Game 5 single handedly etc.
Disappointing to blow that game, but you could kind of see it coming. LeBron checked out early when Kyrie and Kevin were scoring at will. We went up 20+ in the first half and I think LeBron expected Boston to roll over. LeBron is such a routine and preparation and mindset and focus guy, that once he checked out I think it was tough for him to get back into it. We played poor defense in the second half, but Smart also hit stupid threes. He just isn’t that good. TT brought it the entire game. If not for him… Read more »
12-1 so far in the playoffs. They weren’t going to go undefeated. No problems here. LeBron had a terrible game and Marcus Smarr scored 27 and the Celtics still needed a buzzer beating three to win it. Cavs in 5
Agreed. I only wish they would have done that on the road instead of in front of our fans who pay a lot of money for these games. I truly believe LeBron hates Boston fans and desires to rip their hearts out in front of them one more time.
You did say, Cols, they were going to sweep so no revisionist history now !
Yeah. I didn’t think they’d lose after that game 2 beatdown. Just a lot of weird stuff happened last night. I wouldn’t let it change your mind. Although Nate thinks they just lost the Finals, so what do I know.
All it means is 6 days of rest instead of 8. 6 days is plenty.
Celtics can do a much better job of packing the paint without having to hide Isaiah Thomas on D. Given LeBron’s shot wasn’t falling that was enough to keep the Cavs in the 110pt range, and win at the buzzer on the 3 falling in.
To me these were the keys for yesterday’s L as David. 1) Boston dropped 18 3s and was 46.2% from the floor. The Cavs have to step out on shooters. This team shouldn’t be blowing by them at any point. It’s a matter of communicating on switches to stop 3s and switching back to prevent post ups when guards end up on Horford. 2) This game was bound to happen at some point. Marcus Smart/the Celtics got hot from 3 for just long enough and at the right time to have the chance to win. The Cavs just couldn’t stay… Read more »
The Finals begin on June 1st so if the Cavs end the Celtics in 5 they would still get six days off which to me is enough days for rest and preparation for next series. But now they really have to end them in 5, going 6 or above could be really bad IMO.
They get 6 days rest if they win in 5, 4 days in the win in 6. It doesn’t matter.
I think I’m the only one who doesn’t feel that bad that the Cavs laid an egg yesterday and to me they needed it. First of all the defense is not where it needs to be, it’s just that the Celtics weren’t capitalizing on the open looks they were getting in games 1 and 2. That was why I posted yesterday in the live thread that I wanted the Celtics to finally hit the open shots they were getting so the game could be more challenging for the Cavs. I honestly didn’t think the Celtics would get the win but… Read more »
Either Lebron intentionally threw this game to extend series and clinch in Boston (he has weird mind, I wouldn’t be surprise) or he was under the weather and not energized and Lue did nothing to adjust. This was super disappointing but Cavs can easily finish this team off very quickly the next two games. Celtics brought ton of energy and for first time this series actually played with pride, Cavs brought energy for 1st half and then nothing. Game 2 was mirage…Game 1 was how I thought series would go, and this game was just weird. I do agree Smart… Read more »
Watch the post game interviews and see how LeBron’s reacts to Kenny Roda’s question about his performance. Dude definitely threw the game.
I actually had the same thought Kevin. I felt like Lebron thought they had the game in the bag and stopped trying and once the Cavs started to blow it, it was some sort of dad routine where, “well, you guys can clean this mess up or not, but I’ll just be over here observing”. I think it was almost some “leadership” thing where he wanted Kyrie and Love to step up and take over. I honestly believe Lebron wanted them to lose after blowing the lead. Maybe they got too loose in practice or full of themselves the last… Read more »
I dunno. Maybe LeBron wanted to lose that game. He’s been saying he feels worse when he doesn’t play in regards to the long layoffs between series. He just got off the longest one of his career. Maybe he didn’t want another 8-game break. It’s hard for me to believe, but I can summon no other explanation for last night’s performance.
Nice cap to an incredibly frustrating game, David. Just imagine how few points the Cavs score in the 2nd half if TT wasn’t unusually accurate from the line. Way too many casual threes for the Cavs in the third. Also, it’d be nice if Korver could hit a shot. If he hit two threes in the second half, the Cavs likely win despite everything else. I think Lebron may have been covering from some injury. He took a few hard falls in game two. He basically didn’t drive at all this game, after being relentless the first two. If that’s… Read more »
Looked like the team we saw all regular season.