Remember when #AveryBradleyWonTheGame? [extremely Chris Farley Show voice] That was awesome. But the Celtics had no such luck in this season’s second matchup with the Cavaliers. They got close after looking flatlined in the third quarter, but tonight, King James stayed the king and the Cs suffered another close loss against the champs.
THE GAME FLOW
Avery Bradley scored reasonably well in the opening minutes, but Kevin Love, as he’s wont to do of late, got hot both behind the arc and in the post. The most extraordinary early moment was a thrilling sequence of steals and chasedown blocks: Bradley stealing and almost dunking before LeBron James stuffed him, then Horford returning the favor on James’s transition run to the hole, culminating in a rebound and layup for Bradley.
Love and Kyrie Irving did most of Cleveland’s early offensive heavy lifting, and Tristan Thompson, as expected, locked down the offensive glass. Boston did their best defensively to disrupt, capitalizing on Cavs turnovers and miscues while minimizing their own. Cleveland never held an insurmountable lead, even with ageless Richard Jefferson (CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT’S FUELING THAT) embarrassing the Cs on several occasions, and Isaiah’s scoring kept Boston afloat at the half down only seven, 66-59 Cleveland.
In Q3, LeBron started getting into the post and to the line, Love stayed on fire from three and rebounded well, and Boston couldn’t get going offensively due to bad shots and sloppy passes–a change from their smooth ball movement of the first half. Cleveland, despite being 24th in the league in rebounding per Basketball Reference, used the size of Thompson, Love and James to dramatically out-rebound Boston (big surprise there, I know). As the Cavs lead ballooned to about 20 near Q3’s end, things got chippy with Marcus Smart and LeBron exchanging pleasantries after some elbow smacks from James to Smart during a post-up attempt, though it didn’t escalate. Only Thomas–stop me if you’ve heard this one before–kept the Cs from blowout territory.
Boston wouldn’t go quietly, enjoying a 21-7 run during the first seven minutes of Q4 and catching the Cavs unawares. Bradley came surging back after a cold Q3 with steals, lockdown D and excellent shooting and helped bring the game to a razor’s edge–within a point on several occasions. But an overly hasty three attempt by Jae Crowder on the final meaningful possession and general sloppiness against a team you can never sleep on sealed the Celtics’ 118-124 loss.
Rebounding. REBOUNDING. I greatly admire Al Horford’s versatility, but he and Amir Johnson should’ve been far better on the glass than they were tonight. Both were fairly ineffectual, and for the Cs to be a real threat come playoff time, they’ll need to improve notably on the boards.
A.B. GO HARD IN THE MOTHERFUCKIN’ PAINT:
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Since I’ve often showcased the Little Guy’s offense in this space, it seemed germane to note the other aspects of his game tonight, like this defensive job on LeBron eventually leading to a pass to Bradley for an open three:
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Avery Bradley: Despite not scoring the most, I want to give Bradley credit for his hustle in the final stretch of the game, ending up with 23 points, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and a shitload of tough defense.
Isaiah Thomas: The Little Guy did his level best–31 points with efficient 8-13 shooting plus 3 rebounds, 9 assists and 2 steals. Sometimes it ain’t enough.
Kyrie Irving: A line like this by the opposition can’t go unnoticed. 31-5-12, plus 4 steals, on 70 percent shooting.
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