That sucked.
I understand the Cavaliers are significantly better than the Celtics, but are they really 30 points better? I’m disappointed (and disgusted) that the Celtics played to one-third of their potential in an elimination game. They looked heavy-footed on defense and frantic on offense. Even with Isaiah Thomas watching from the locker room, they’re better than this.
It’s hard to point fingers at the offense when the team gives up 43 points in the 1st quarter and 75 in the 1st half, but the optics were bad. There was no ball movement and many, many, many missed lay-ups.
There are times when LeBron (35 points, 13-18 FG), Kyrie (24 points, 9-15 FG) and Love (15 points) are literally unstoppable, but is there ever an excuse for letting Deron Williams go for 14 points on 5-6 shooting in the first half? The answer is no.
Avery Bradley (23 points, 10-20 FG) was the only consistent offensive threat. Terry Rozier and Jae Crowder played with some energy. Al Horford looked mediocre (he really had trouble holding on to the ball and finishing around the rim) and Kelly Olynyk was awful.
The only worthy highlight was this play by Jaylen Brown
JB coast-to-coast, butter that toast🔥 pic.twitter.com/vdOubyyLX9
— KWAPT (@KWAPT) May 26, 2017
The only thing uglier than this game was the debut of Shaq’s foot on TNT:
https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/867921946121392128
How’s this for a stat: In the 3 games at the Garden in this series, the Celtics never led.
There will be plenty of time to step back and applaud this team for a successful season: 53 wins, #1 seed and a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. We will also get excited about the #1 draft pick and salary cap space for the off-season. The future is bright. But for right now, I’m a bit salty with the effort and execution I witnessed tonight.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
