The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Celtics making Cavs look like a bad team
Things were grim for the Cavaliers on May 13 after they lost Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Boston Celtics, 108-83, but LeBron James said he wasn’t worried.
“I have zero level of concern at this stage,” James said in his postgame news conference.
That meter moved in the wrong direction on May 15 in Game 2 at TD Garden when the Celtics played flawlessly in the second half to win, 107-94, and take a 2-0 series lead.
James looked like a different player in Game 2. But it didn’t matter, and that’s why the Cavs should be concerned even with the series shifting to Quicken Loans Arena on May 19.
It is fortunate for the Cavs there are three days before the next game, because they are going to need that much time to figure out what went wrong.
After scoring only 15 points in Game 1, James scored 21 in just the first quarter of Game 2. That’s three more points than the Cavaliers scored as a team in the first quarter of Game 1. He finished the game with 42. He had a triple double, adding 10 rebounds and 12 assists, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the Celtics solid team effort.
James had 25 points in the first half in 18 minutes, but the Cavaliers led by only 55-50.
Instead of discouraging the Celtics, they were energized. They clawed to a 79-74 lead late in the third quarter, but Kevin Love responded with a 26-footer off a pass by James – LeBron’s 10th assist of the game and Love’s 11th point of the quarter.
The Celtics answered Love’s basket and carried an 84-77 lead into the fourth quarter.
It hasn’t taken long for the Cavaliers to realize Boston isn’t going to fold under James’ glare. They outscored the Cavaliers, 36-22, in the third quarter by playing more the way they did in Game 1 – finding the open man on the perimeter or under the hoop.
James started the fourth quarter on the bench and with 11 minutes to play, he and Love were both out of the game. James was back in with 10:41 remaining and Love followed quickly, but they could not save the day.
The Celtics smothered the Cavaliers defensively.
A driving layup and a free throw by James cut Boston’s lead to 95-87. Thirty-two seconds later, after Love rebounded a missed shot by Al Horford, James hit a 17-foot jumper to make it a six-point game with 4:41 to play and still the Celtics did not falter.
The Cavaliers started to crack under the pressure. Cavs guard J.R. Smith, who did nothing positive in either of the first two games, shoved Al Horford in the back to draw a Flagrant One.
Smith’s silly foul is just one example of how the Cavaliers came unglued.
Reach Schudel at JSchudel@NewsHerald.com. On Twitter: @jsproinsider