Recap: Celtics poop their pants in biggest game of the season

Sigh.

Tonight was a subtle reminder that the Cavaliers – when focused – are significantly better than the Celtics. This was supposed to be a big boy game and the Celtics showed up wearing diapers. The Cavs rolled, 114-91.

You can debate Westbrook vs Harden vs Kawhii for MVP all you want, but LeBron is still the most dominant player in the game.

Game Flow

The crowd started strong (reigning boos down on LeBron every time he touched the ball), but the Cs looked out-of-sorts early. Cleveland led by 3-5 points for most of the quarter thanks to their offensive rebounding (8). Isaiah (12 points) was the only Celtic to settle into a groove early and he propelled the Cs to a 20-19 lead at the end of the first.

The 2nd quarter was a real shit-show. Defensive lapses early in the quarter resulted in 3 quick dunks for the Cavs. Then James started playing bully ball (12 points in 6 minutes) and the Cavs were up 41-24 in a blink. That’s a 22-4 run. Same old problem for the Celtics, no Isaiah = no scoring. A 3-point play by Horford and a dunk by Crowder fueled a mini 7-0 run. But the Celtics remained a step-slow on their rotations and in transition. Cleveland led 57-42 at the half.

In first half, Celtics outscored Cavs, 38-35, with Isaiah Thomas in game, but Cavs outscored Celtics, 22-4, when Thomas was on bench.

— Bill Doyle (@BillDoyle15) April 6, 2017

If the 2nd quarter was shit-show, I guess we’d have to label the 3rd quarter a puke-fest? The Cavs continued to out-shoot and out-hustle the Celtics. How bad did it get? The lead ballooned to 89-60 late in the 3rd quarter. At this point, I stopped caring.

The bench (still) sucks. At one point late in the 3rd quarter, the group had 3 points on 1-15 FGs.

CSNNE shared these “hustle” stats after 3 quarters:

The crowd. They game out roaring (and booing). Too bad the team couldn’t match the crowd’s intensity.

Isaiah slices through Cleveland's defense, draws the foul and finishes the tough shot! https://t.co/oO08cYCBVb

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) April 6, 2017

Isaiah finished with 26 points on 9-19 FGs.

The Grid:

• Avery Bradley was a -22 on 1-8 shooting
• The Celtics are now 4-9 in games after 2 days rest
• LeBron: 36 points, 14-22 FG, 10 reb, 6 assists

Box score

PS: Al Horford won the Red Auerbach award, given to the player or coach who best exemplifies what it means to be a Celtic