LeBron, Cavaliers run roughshod over Celtics
After long rest, Cleveland comes out on fire in Boston to take Game 1 of Eastern finals
One team rides on the shoulders of a Basketball Zeus. The other hitches its wagon to a guy you might not look twice at over at the East Side Y.
And that’s far from the only difference between the world champion Cleveland Cavaliers and the upstart Boston Celtics.
As the Cavaliers showed in a dominating, and deflating 117-104 Game 1 thrashing of the Celtics, they appear primed to continue an impressive post-season run in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Cavs went 8-0 in sweeping their first two series and proceeded to rest for 10 days as they plotted their next move.
When it was finally time to lace their sneakers again, LeBron James & Co. were ready. James threw in 23 of his 38 points in an embarrassing first half for the Green Team that mercifully ended with the visitors in cruise control by a 61-39 margin.
The Celts put up a stiffer fight in the second half, but the Cavaliers flicked away every punch.
“It’s very clear that he was trying to get to the rim on us, no matter who was on him,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “He’s a pretty physical guy and has some physical advantages on people but we need to do a better job in a lot of ways. This is easier said than done.”
After cutting through the pre-series chatter, it’s clear that these Eastern Finals will eventually boil down to which star player leaves a larger imprint. Will it be James, the transcendent generational talent who is gunning for a fourth NBA title? Or will Isaiah Thomas, the Celtics’ 5-foot9 whippet, keep draining key 3-pointers and scoring in bushels?
It was no-contest in Game 1. TD Garden was popping with anticipation but LeBron and the James Gang jumped the Celtics right out of the gate, led by as many as 13 first quarter points and never lost the double figure lead. The Celts chose to guard James with few gimmicks and the move backfired as he overpowered Jae Crowder, Al Horford, Marcus Smart and everyone else who dared invade his hoop space.
Maybe more eye-opening was the desultory play of Thomas. The little man seemed a step slow and, well, small. Wherever he darted, the Cavaliers shadowed his every move. He finished with 17 points but was nowhere to be found in the first half. He managed just two points on 1-of-9 shooting heading into the final 90 seconds of the first half.
“We know Isaiah is dangerous,” said Cavs’ coach Tyronn Lue. “When he gets going the crowd gets going and they get going. It opens up a lot of things for them.”
Leading up to an NBA playoff series, coaching staffs always worry much more about defense, not offense. Consider the last 48 hours of Stevens’ life. He wins a stirring Game 7 on Monday night against the Wizards and immediately goes to work on the champion Cavs. Watching that video had to be as much fun as viewing a mix of The Shining and Dawn of the Dead.
LeBron seems to be operating at the height of his powers, averaging 34.4 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the playoffs. Kyrie Irving remains one of the top shot-making guards in the game and Kevin Love (32 points, 12 boards) is an elite big man. Throw in rebounding center Tristan Thompson and shooters like Iman Shumpert and Kyle Korver and the Cavs give a lot of coaches headaches.
“The bottom line against Cleveland is that when you get out in transition and you’re scrambling all over the place in pick-n-rolls, you’re toast,” Stevens said. “They just find the right shooters. LeBron has the ball and he’s the center of it all. You could guard for the first 16 seconds really well but the next extra pass is to a guy who shoots 75 percent of his shots from three. Then you’re flying all over the place and are in terrible position to rebound. They work against scrambling defense a lot.” Boston chose not to cheat off the Cavaliers shooters, but that left James to attack the lane with a vengeance. The alternative may not be pretty either.
“You never want to double with that much shooting,” Stevens said, “but how do you not pay extra close attention to the best player in the world? And with the way Kyrie has scored the ball on the biggest stage over and over and over there’s another one that you have to react to. So there are all kinds of issues defending them. They’re the defending champs for a reason.”
On the other bench, Lue had to like how his team flummoxed Thomas. Irving drew first blood on defense and Thomas got to the foul line just three times all night.
“We have to make it tough on him and try to keep him off the free throw line,” Lue said. “He’s going to score, he’s going to attack. He’s a great scorer but we have to do it by committee.”
The Cavaliers came into the Garden on April 5 and set the Celtics straight in a 114-91 whipping. That blowout sent a message that no matter which team held the home-court advantage come playoff time, the Cavs weren’t going anywhere. What unfolded in Game 1 of these Eastern finals only drove that point home harder.