No Love for Cleveland
Star to miss Game 7
Preparing for a Cavaliers team in Game 7 without
Kevin Love might sound like a benefit, though based on what happened in Game 6, the Celtics have a right to be worried tonight.
The concussed forward’s absence led to increased minutes for Larry Nance Jr., who became an athletic pest down the stretch of the Celtics’ loss, scoring six of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of tip dunks. George Hill and Jordan Clarkson also had added impact. Hill’s expanded role in the offense resulted in a 20-point Game 6 performance.
“That changes some of the things they run offensively,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said in a conference call yesterday.
Love was placed in concussion protocol after bumping heads with Jayson Tatum Friday night, and was officially ruled out of action yesterday.
“Obviously they have a package of Love plays that they go to on offense, so if they end up doing more stuff with LeBron (James), I thought Hill and Clarkson were good off pick-androlls (Friday) night,” Stevens said. “I thought that
Jeff Green (14 points) was really good, and I thought that they continued to have all of the different little wrinkles for (Kyle) Korver and (J.R.) Smith coming off the screens.
“Obviously they run a little bit less of the Love stuff and more of the other stuff, and then on the other end of the court, they continued to switch, trap, scram out of the post, kind of use that versatility all around the court, and did a good job. I thought they played really well, and obviously LeBron had a huge game, but I thought that offensive rebounds and specifically Larry Nance’s impact (Friday) were big parts of the game, too.”
Tatum all clear
Though Tatum said he initially felt an impact from his collision with Love, the Celtics forward passed a follow-up examination with the team’s medical and training staff.
“We had our primary physician and our team doc both in here (yesterday) checking on him, and he’s great,” said Stevens. “He felt great (yesterday) morning, felt great (Friday) night when he landed, felt great after the game. So nothing there as far as to be concerned about, but we will continue to check in especially over the next probably day and then when he wakes up (this) morning.”
Agitated Al
Al Horford was mildly irritated when asked following Friday’s loss about what happened to his offense. The Celtics center, repeatedly double-teamed, had his worst game of the series with six points, nine rebounds and four assists.
“If you were watching the game, I was getting doubled as soon as I caught the ball,” said Horford. “Every time, I didn’t really have one-on-one position. So they did a good job of really doubling me and making it hard.”
And with their best playmaker bottled up, the Celtics suffered on offense, including a 5:54 stretch without a basket during a 20-4 Cleveland run in the second quarter. Homecourt advantage or not, the C’s can’t afford another night without Horford at his usual efficient self.
But Stevens stuck by his center.
“He was really productive
in the first quarter. He was outstanding. Every time he touched the ball in the post, it felt like we scored,” said the Celtics coach. “Al does not care if he’s the one that’s scoring. He cares that our team scores. We can go to him more, but when they double, we just have to make the right play out of it, and Al is one of our best at doing that. You know, I think it’s easy to look at a stat sheet, but I think the way that they were playing, he made all the right plays, especially early in the game.”
Same old Stevens
Stevens can get as excited as anyone else about playing a Game 7 in front of the home crowd, but he’ll never allow the ramped-up atmosphere to become a distraction.
“I remember obviously as a kid, you always paid closer attention to Game 7,” said Stevens. “I’ve had a chance now to be in a couple here in Boston, and I think it’s really important, again, that we focus on the task at hand and try to play our best, try to play with great togetherness, great competitiveness, and enjoy that.
“That’s one of the things that I don’t think has been lost on this group throughout its entire journey, before the playoffs and now, is we have fun. Like we’re going to go out and compete, but we’re going to enjoy playing the game that we love. You know, that makes it even more fun to be around these guys.”