Recap: Lebron, Cavs deliver swift kick to the Celtics

No one kicked LeBron James in the balls tonight, but he inflicted some serious pain on the Celtics, as Cleveland dominated Boston, 110-79.

The Cavs came in losers of 2 straight, the most recent an overtime defeat at Houston in which Lebron absorbed a foot to the ’nads from James Harden, then missed 2 free throws that could have won the game in the final seconds. So Lebron took out his frustrations on the Celtics, scoring 27 points on 12-23 shooting with 5 assists and 3 steals in just 25 minutes.

Cleveland scored the first 5 points of the game, but the Celtics replied with 9 straight. In a sign of things to come, Avery Bradley then blew a dunk and the Cavs set off on a 16-2 run to go up 10. The Celts went small with Brandon Bass at center and it hurt, as the Cavs pounded the offensive glass. Boston trailed 29-16 at end of one; Lebron had 12, Kyrie Irving 10.

Adding to the Celtics’ usual size match-up problems, Tyler Zeller picked up his 3rd foul early in the 2nd quarter. Bass was helpless to stop the 7’1” Timofey Mozgov from posting him up, so Shavlik Randolph made an appearance and was promptly dunked on by the big man – although Shav made up for it soon after by gumming Mozgov’s shot.

The half was summed up when Lebron stole a pass, drove full court and, with a Cooz-like behind-the-back move, avoided Bradley’s steal attempt and completed the easy layup. At the break, Cleveland led 61-36.

How bad was the 1st half? Cleveland shot 52% to Boston’s 36% and held a 27-18 rebound advantage. Lebron had 21 points on 9-16 shooting, while Irving added 14. Meanwhile, Boston was just 1-11 from deep and only 1-2 from the line. Bass was the only Celtic in double figures, with 10. On the final play of the half, Brad Stevens called a 20-second timeout to set up a play … and Evan Turner threw the inbounds pass directly to Lebron, who hit the rim from halfcourt.

Incredibly, it got worse. The 3rd quarter ended with Cleveland leading by 42, at 95-53, and the lead peaked at 44 in the final frame.

The Green:

• In opening minutes, Smart rejected a layup by Lebron but – no surprise – James got bailed out by a marginal goaltending call.
• Bass led Boston with 15 points on 7-15 shooting.
• Gigi Datome scored 7 in 15 minutes on 3-7 shooting, including a 3.

The Gross:

• Per Sean Grande, the last time the Celts trailed in a game by 40 was 10 years ago in a loss at Milwaukee.
• Two terrible plays by Crowder at the end of the 1st quarter: Instead of holding for a last shot, missed a runner with 8 seconds left, then foolishly fouled Lebron at midcourt for 2 free throws.
• Isaiah Thomas hit from halfcourt at the 1st quarter buzzer but too late, didn’t count.
• For reasons known only to the NBA marketing team, Celts wore green unis and Cavs wore blue.

The Greenlights:

Bass on the offensive glass:

Good defense by Shav:

Gigi:

Cheer up, coach: pic.twitter.com/8VyAj4uuGV

— Jay O (@MrTrpleDouble10) March 4, 2015

The Grid:

• The bench won the 4th quarter, 26-15.
• Boston shot just .352 from the field, including .250 (7-28) from deep.
• 31-point loss tied the worst of Brad Stevens’ tenure (1/7/2014 at Denver)
• LeBron James has averaged 30.4 PPG in 37 career games against the Celtics, the only team he’s averaging more than 30 PPG against. (Jordan was tops at 30.7.)

Box Score