Celtics shut down LeBron and the Cavaliers in Game 1: 3 takeaways
By Ian Levy
The Celtics flattened the Cavaliers in Game 1, holding LeBron James to woeful shooting numbers and running up the score.
The Cavaliers were riding high after sweeping the No. 1-seeded Raptors in the second round. It didn’t take long for that momentum to evaporate under and the enormous defensive and offensive pressure of the Celtics. The final margin was 25 points in Boston’s favor but you could tell by the end of the first quarter that this might not be Cleveland’s night.
The Celtics finished the first quarter with an 18-point lead, as LeBron started 2-of-6 and Cleveland missed all six of their 3-point attempts. At the other end, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford looked unstoppable, combining for 24 points on 9-of-12 from the field in the first. Boston eight more points to their lead in the second quarter, survived a Cavaliers run in the third and finished things off with a steam-rolling in the fourth.
It was a dominant performance by Boston from top to bottom. It’s not like this team really needed more confidence but they have to be feeling great about their chances of putting LeBron and the Cavs’ backs to the wall in Game 2.
Takeaways
Marcus Morris is a LeBron-stopper, who knew? After looking like an unstoppable force of nature in the first two rounds of the playoffs, LeBron was utterly human in Game 1. Morris drew the primary assignment on LeBron and, with plenty of help from his teammates rotating on a string, his aggressiveness and physicality actually made a dent. Morris defended LeBron for 39 possessions, holding him to just eight points and the Cavaliers to just 35 points on those possessions. That’s 23.9 fewer points per 100 possessions than the Cavs’ offense had been averaging. It’s probably unrealistic to expect this matchup to be this heavily tilted towards Boston moving forward but it was good enough to help them steal Game 1, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Boston’s offense is impeccably balanced. The deeper they’ve moved into the playoffs, the more synergy there has been in the offensive relationships between Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum and Al Horford. It’s helped each player become much more efficient and helped offset the loss of a primary playmaker like Kyrie Irving. In Game 1, no Celtics attempted more than Brown’s 16 shots, but six different players had double-digit shot attempts. Brown, Horford, Tatum and Morris all shot better than 50 percent from the field and 40 percent on 3-pointers. Three different players (Rozier, Horford and Marcus Smart) had at least six assists. Four different players finished with at least seven drives — totaling a combined 18 points and five assists. There is just some much interchangeability with the Celtics offense right now, it’s hard to stop.
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LeBron’s supporting cast disappeared again. As the Cleveland steamrolled through the Raptors, the reemergence of Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and George Hill seemed to imply that their depth was finally ready to deliver. Of course, the Cavaliers probably aren’t winning any playoff game where LeBron shoots 5-of-16 from the field with seven turnovers. But when the role players whiff as well, you end up with a 25-point blowout. Thompson was reasonably productive — eight points and 11 rebounds on 4-of-6 from the field — but Cleveland was still outscored by 12 when he was on the court. Hill only took four shots. Love was 5-of-14 from the field and 1-of-4 on 3-pointers. Cleveland, as a team, made just 4-of-26 3s. The bottom line is everyone needs to play better for the Cavaliers to have a shot here.