The Cleveland Cavaliers have their backs to the wall! Despite a gala performance of LeBron James, the Boston Celtics have also won the second game of the Conference Finals. At 107:94 (BOXSCORE) the game slips away from the guests in the second half.
Tyronn Lue changed his lineup for the game as indicated by rooting Tristan Thompson for Kyle Korver. Boston, on the other hand, remained small and thus in the line-up that had dominated Game 1 so much. However, the Cavs didn’t make it as easy as they did in the early stages of the opening game – which was mainly due to LeBron James.
The superstar scored two trios in the opening phase and brought his team an early 12-7 lead, scoring more points (16) after less than eight minutes than in the entire Game 1 (15). At the end of the first quarter James was already at 21 points – but the Cavs were only leading 27-23, because on the other side Jaylen Brown was also very well in the match right from the start and scored 14 points (3/5 trio) in the first set.
Both top scorers went to the bench at the beginning of the second quarter, which caused some confusion in basketball – but Jayson Tatum on the one side and Kyle Korver on the other now caught fire. In the middle of the quarter Cleveland could settle down to 11 points. James had to go to the Locker Room briefly after his face collided with Tatum’s shoulder, but returned after a short interruption despite neck problems. Meanwhile, the Celtics had cooled off noticeably – they were without a field goal for over four minutes before Brown ended the misery and Marcus Morris scored some quick points in the end. It went into the break with 55:48 for the Cavs.
Led by Terry Rozier and Morris, Boston equalled two in halftime after six minutes, Cleveland relied too much on the longball. Marcus Smart then gave the Celtics their first lead since the first minutes of the game with one of these, a steal later Rozier brought the TD Garden to the boil with a Fastbreak Dunk. Boston then took a slight lead and took an 84:77 lead into the final round.
Cleveland opened it without LeBron and without Kevin Love – Lue took a break after 46 seconds because Boston had taken the lead with 11 points. But even after that the Cavs searched in vain for their rhythm. The Celtics, however, initially did them the favour of leaving a series of good looks on the ring – it almost reminded them of the Raptors in Game 1 of the Conference Semifinals. 4:41 minutes before the end James brought the Cavs by jumper back to 89:95.
After that, however, the Cavs collapsed, not a single litter wanted to fall, while Boston calmed down again. J.R. Smith attracted the rage of the audience when he pushed Horford in the air and (generously) got a Flagrant-1, but Horford increased unflinchingly to 12 points ahead, then Lue emptied his bank by jumper to 14th almost two minutes before the end – and it was allowed to be celebrated again in Boston.
James finished the game with 42 points (16/29 FG), 10 rebounds and 12 assists, but again it should not be enough. Apart from James, only Love (22, plus 15 rebounds) and Korver (11) scored double-digit with the Cavs. In the Celtics, however, six players ended up in double figures, with Brown being the top scorer with 23 points. Horford came on a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Game 3 of the series takes place the night of Sunday in Cleveland.
Boston Celtics – Cleveland Cavaliers 107:94, Series 2:0 (BOXSCORE)
Horford could have been in the final phase, but this victory carried Smart’s signature – as usual the Celtics Sixth Man had some lousy throws (3/9 FG) and still had his fingers in almost all important games. Defensively once again absolutely outstanding, Smart also played 9 assists at not a single turnover, took 3 offensive rebounds and 4 steals. It was no coincidence that Smart had the best plus/minus value of all players with +21.
Bad defense, absolutely no positive impact in the offense (0 points, 0/7 FG) and then also the unsporting and not exactly harmless foul against Horford shortly before the end of the game, for which an ejection would have been justified – this flop was an easy decision. Although Jeff Green made every effort to do so, too.
The inclusion of Thompson in the Cavs’ starting lineup initially caused the Celtics the expected difficulties because Stevens decided to remain “small”. Thompson raged on the board and regularly blocked James, forcing the Celtics to react relatively quickly. In the first half alone, Aron Baynes, Guerschon Yabusele and Greg Monroe were all on duty. In the second half, however, Thompson’s influence was actually not so great because Boston kept him away from the basket skilfully as part of a team.