Cavs v Celtics ECF Game 2 Breakdown

Well.....

We can basically consider this series over, right?

Leading by 50 points at one point, winning by 44? Sorry Boston fans, this was Cleveland's magnum opus of the season.

What a dominant performance, but what an embarrassing mark on the Celtics terrific 2016/2017 season.

It was essential that Boston won at least one of their games at home to start the series, they really didn't want to go to Cleveland down 2 - 0, but that is exactly what will happen after a devastating game and poor performances from the entirety of their team; none worse than the horribly underwhelming first half from All-Star Isaiah Thomas scoring only 2 points, shooting 0-6, but at least adding in 6 assists for the team in his brief 17 minutes on the court, hampered by a hip injury at the end of the half. This was the last thing the Celtics needed, with the severity of his injury still being unknown as well as his status for Game 3, this could be the finishing blow to the Celtics Finals hopes.

Unfortunately, all bias aside, there really was very little about this game that served positive for Boston with them being dominated by the Cavaliers in practically every field. The Cavaliers' fast break and transition offence was unstoppable scoring 24 - 11 against the Celtics. Much alike with the first game, the end game statistics were not accurate to the actual performance that was displayed through the first three quarters of the game; such as the Celtics scoring 42 points in the paint to the Cavaliers 40, as well as getting 13 second chance points to 12. These end game statistics do not match up with the performances we were given throughout the majority of the game; as the Cavaliers were able to utterly dominate the Celtics in the paint scoring heavily in there.

Very opposed to Game 1 of this series, Cleveland were able to get their three balls raining, dropping 19 of 39 attempts in comparison to the Celtics measly 8 from 27 effort. Even Lebron got in on the action, shooting 4/6 from deep. Mid range and total shooting efforts were heavily favouring the Cavaliers as well, who shot 56%, whereas the Celtics only connected on 37% of their shots. Early in the game, the Cavaliers were able to rebound aggressively as well, with Kevin Love pulling in 6 rebounds in the first quarter alone (finishing with 12). Kevin was dominant on the offensive end as well firing 4 three pointers and scoring 21 points to be a hot spark for the Cavs in the first half.

Once again, Brad Stevens struggled to find an approach to hinder Lebron's ability to score, as well as his incredible facilitating skills, playing a variety of players on him once again, with Jaylen Brown and Al Horford splitting the time as his primary defender, neither of which producing all that successful results, finding literally no option to prevent his performance. On the other hand, the Cavs were able to produce their best defensive performance of these playoffs, holding the Celtics to their woeful shooting percentage by forcing numerous inopportune shots and late in the shot clock desperation attempts, which rarely wound up as points on the scoreboard. Kyle Korver performed admirably on the defensive end, playing with more heart and hustle than we've ever seen from him in the wine and gold before and this left a terrific impact on the defensive efforts of the Cavs. Deron Williams also intercepted a number of passes in the 2nd quarter, helping guide to the shutout 40 - 13 2nd quarter result.

Contrary to their usual temperament, the Celtics seemed clearly rattled early into the game, with Thomas and Stevens giving away easy technicals half way through the 2nd quarter as well as the rest of their roster looking clearly shaken up and out of the game, already down 31 in the middle of the second, ending up as a 41 point deficit at the half, down 72 - 31, the worst ever deficit in NBA playoff history, thanks to a surreal clutch fade on the buzzer from JR Smith to seal the record.

The 2nd half was wholly uneventful, with IT having to sit the remainder of the game after the aforementioned injury to his hip. Tyronn Lue kept the starters on the court for the vast entirety of the first three quarters, setting up the lead to a unforgiving 50 points in the third, and then eventually resting the Big 3 in the 4th after their phenomenal performance scoring 74 points between the three of them. There was really nothing of value in the 4th, with the Cavaliers deep bench and role players coming into the fray and still holding the lead till the end of the game, winning 130 - 86.

This was the worst possible scenario for Boston; going down 2-0, an embarrassing defeat (franchise worst home loss) and their star player suffering an injury which may linger through to the rest of the possibly brief series. I'm a hardcore Cleveland fan, but this game was just upsetting to watch. Oh well, at least the Celtics have the #1 pick!

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