A man who did not score a point, nor take a shot absolutely demolished the Celtics tonight. I’m talking about Tristan Thompson and his 5 offensive rebounds, all of which seemed to come at crucial moments when the Celtics needed to have a stop. Thompson’s clutch hustle, LeBron James 30 points and Timofey Mozgov’s 5 blocks were the signature performances in tonight’s 99-91 Cavaliers victory.
The Celtics played hard. This was a 4 point game with 3 minutes remaining. But Boston isn’t going to win many games shooting 38% from the floor (27% 3 FG), never mind a road playoff game against a talented team.
The C’s built a small lead in the 1st quarter, thanks to the hot shooting of Tyler Zeller (9 points in the quarter). But Cleveland stayed close enough and closed the half on a 15-5 run to take a 51-50 lead into the break. The Cavs opened the 3rd with a 17-4 run (9-9 FTs) and stretched the lead to 14 midway through. The C’s made a mini-run, but a couple of misses by Jonas Jerebko and Isaiah Thomas kept the lead at 7.
The Celts kept fighting in the 4th, a 9-2 run brought them within 2 points but … the Cavs have LeBron and Kyrie Irving. The duo scored all of the Cavs 24 points. And when the Celts were lucky enough to get stops, they gave up offensive rebounds to Thompson and Mozgov.
Green
Isaiah Thomas led Boston with 22 points and 7 assists. He remains the only consistent scoring option.
Gross
Brandon Bass was 0-6. Evan Turner 3-11. Avery Bradley 3-9.
Jared Sullinger had the most deceiving stat line of the night: 14 points, 6-12 FG, 5 rebounds. Offensive production was there, but the Celtics needed him to bang and rebound and he looked disinterested and slow. He had twice as many 3 point attempts as defensive rebounds.
Should I mention the officiating? Those two awful calls against Bradley? Nah… I won’t mention them or Bennett Salvatore.
Greenlights
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The Grid:
- LeBron James 1st foul came at the 11 minute mark of the 4th quarter.
- JR Smith shot 3-12
- Jonas Jerebko logged 4 minutes
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