Recap: Cavs push C’s to the brink of a sweep

Well, here we are, right where we thought we’d probably be. For some reason, though, it’s a little sadder than I expected.

Maybe that’s because for a significant portion of the first half, the Celtics played pretty well. But every time the Celtics put together even a long stretch of sustained good basketball, it was met with a quick barrage by the Cavs took all that erased all that hard work. It’s like the Celtics are the guy who spent 3 hours raking the whole yard in October, and the Cavs were the gust of wind that blew all those leaves all over the yard in 30 seconds.

I personally had hoped the Celtics would ride a wave of fan excitement at home to a strong start, but that wasn’t really the case. The Cavs scored 31 in the first to take a 6 point lead after 12 minutes. Marcus Smart was strong early in the first. Jared Sullinger had 6 points and 4 rebounds in the quarter. Interestingly, the Celtics went to a “hack-a-Tristan” strategy in the first, seemingly to slow Cleveland’s momentum a bit. He also, surprisingly, went to Gigi Datome in the first, trying to find a spark.

The Celtics came to life and got the crowd into things midway through the 2nd quarter, thanks mostly to some strong hustle from Jae Crowder that infected the team… no, the building… with an unmistakable energy. The Celtics rode that to an 13-2 run and a 2 point lead.  From there, the rest of the quarter was a really fun back-and-forth that involved a lot of bodies hitting the floor and a some amazing hustle plays. The lead got up as high as 4, but the Celtics left their energy on the bench after a time out and that lead was obliterated by a 12-0 Cavs run over the last 2 minutes.

The Celtics started the 2nd half with a new lineup, trotting out Jerebko and Crowder in place of Smart and Bass. It paid off with a quick spurt to tie the game. The teams traded runs after that… Cleveland took a 7 point lead.. Celtics cut it to 1… Cavs pushed it back to 12. Ultimately the 3rd quarter was played to a draw.

The 4th was actually kind of boring most of the way. The Celtics cut the lead down to 3 with just over a couple of minutes left, but Kevin Love, as he did all night long, obliterated that with a 3 pointer.

Once again the Celtics played hard, kept it close, and made Cleveland work. And once again they lost… this time 103-95

The Green

Jae Crowder was so good tonight. His energy changed the game in the second quarter, and he was the reason down the stretch that this game didn’t completely get away from the Celtics. He said he’s not intimidated, and he proves it on a nightly basis. I hope he stays in Boston for a while.

We wondered earlier today if the Celtics were playing Evan Turner too much, and he answered that by playing a pretty nice 19 point, 8 rebound, 8 assist game.

The Gross

Tristan Thompson got another 5 offensive rebounds. It wasn’t necessarily the sheer volume of their second chances, it was the timing.

Kevin Love shot 6 of 10 from 3. The Celtics finally figured out how to limit Kyrie Irving (3-11 fg, 13 points), and Love turns around and drops 23 on them on 6-10 3-pointers.

Brandon Bass and Tyler Zeller were mostly ineffective tonight.

All the good things I said about Turner apply… except for this play. Ummm… what exactly where you trying to do there?

The Greenlights

Smart and-1

A pair of big late 3’s for Crowder

The Grid

• LeBron: 31 points (13-26 fg), 11 rebounds, 4 assists
• Turnovers: Boston 15 (20 Cavs points), Cleveland 11 (13 Celtics points)
• Points in the paint: Boston 48-28
• Second chance points: Cleveland 13-20

I thought this was the game to win if there was one in the series. Who knows… Maybe the Cavs relax and the C’s steal game 4 and the Cavs decide they want to win at home. However, as we saw tonight, the Cavs can probably relax for 10 minutes a quarter and still go on enough of a run over those combined 8 minutes to win.

Love this Celtics team, but they are simply overmatched.

Box Score