Celtics stifle the Cavaliers in Game 5 rock-fight: 3 takeaways

The Celtics defense swallowed the Cavaliers in Game 5, pushing them one game away from the NBA Finals.

After Cleveland swept their two home games, returning equilibrium to the Eastern Conference Finals, it seemed like the Celtics may have missed their opportunity. The Cavaliers role players were finally showing up, LeBron had regained control and they held all the momentum. With the series returning to Boston, it wasn’t a stretch to envision a signature LeBron game putting Cleveland in position to finish the series at home in Game 6.

Instead, the Celtics defense was the star of the show and Cleveland will be the one facing elimination in Game 6.

The Cavaliers struggled on offense right from the get-go and found themselves in a 13-point hole by the end of the first quarter. LeBron was never able to explode and collectively, they never really found a rhythm for any extended stretch. The Celtics’ lead hovered around double-digits for most of the game and they were able to close it out without ever really being threatened.

Takeaways

Where was Kyle Korver? He’s been far from world-beating in this series, but Korver has been one of the few reliable bench contributors for Cleveland in this series. He made 6-of-9 3-pointers in Games 3 and 4 in Cleveland and the Cavs outscored Boston by eight points in the 45 minutes he played in those games. And yet, with George Hill and J.R. Smith struggling, Korver didn’t get off the bench for the entire first quarter.

Hill didn’t attempt a shot in the first, Smith missed both of his attempts. The Cavaliers went down by 13 and never really gave themselves a chance to get back into it. Korver started the second and didn’t exactly have a strong game. Still the decision to leave him sitting for so long, especially when things clearly weren’t working, was a curious one. Ty Lue’s explanation made it seem even weirder.

Where were the Cavaliers? LeBron turned in a relatively ho-hum game for him (considering the stakes) — 26 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six turnovers on 22 shots from the field. The rest of the team chipped in 57 points on 20-of-52 from the field. The Cavs were minus-16 in fastbreak points, minus-6 on the glass, and plus-7 in turnover margin. Cleveland played nine players for meaningful minutes and still managed to no-show.

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The Celtics defense deserves a standing ovation. Let’s this sink in — Boston just won a Conference Finals game where Marcus Smart was the only player on their roster to make more than half of his shots and where Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier shot a combined 7-of-30 from the field and 3-of-15 on 3-pointers. They’ve been leaning on their defense throughout these playoffs, but this game was something special.

Boston held the Cavaliers to just 83 points, shooting 41.9 percent from the field 9-of-34 on 3-pointers. They forced six LeBron turnovers and 15 total from the Cavaliers. They challenged every shot, made things tough for LeBron and shut down everyone else.

That defense has them one win away from the NBA Finals.