The Boston Celtics have a 2-0 series lead after another big win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday. Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford were more than enough to beat LeBron James and ... well, the rest of the Cavs’ roster.
James was fantastic from the opening buzzer, though and put up 21 points in the first quarter alone, including four three-pointers. The rest of the team had six points in that same frame. James took a shoulder to the side of his head in the second quarter, and left the court for testing. It was reported as a neck strain, and he returned to the game in the final minutes of the first half, but didn’t get much done in the second quarter.
He looked good in the second half, but the Celtics slowly mounted their comeback, assisted by a slew of Cleveland turnovers, many coming, rather uncharacteristically, from James. Boston took the lead in the third and the Cavs were forced to burn some timeouts to try and get things figured out by the fourth quarter.
They didn’t figure anything out, despite James finishing with 42 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He got little help from his supporting players, with the team going 10-of-31 from beyond the arc. J.R Smith attempted four threes, and made none of them. Kevin Love put up 22 points, but still shot just 50 percent and only managed one assist.
Smart played 30 minutes, putting up 11 points with five rebounds and nine assists. He was particularly effective in the second half. Horford had 15 points, while Brown and Terry Rozier had 23 and 18 points, respectively. It was a pretty balanced attack and once again, Cleveland’s shoddy defense and lack of offense beyond James was on display.
The Boston Celtics looked more prepared for LeBron James than any team has in a very long time when they met the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals. They played a complete game, while the Cavaliers’ shaky overall lineup was exposed time and time again in the 108-83 Boston victory.
They will meet Tuesday for Game 2, which is set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (live streaming online via WatchESPN and the ESPN App).
James was minus-32 for the first game. He had 15 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists, but shot 0-for-5 from range and just 5-of-16 from the floor. The Celtics constantly pressured James with just about every defender they had, and it worked beautifully.
Outside of James, all of George Hill, J.R. Smith, and Kyle Korver combined for just 14 total points. The Cavs made just 4-of-26 threes.
Meanwhile, the Celtics got 23 points and eight boards from Jaylen Brown, 21 points and 10 rebounds from Marcus Smith and 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists from Al Horford. Yeah, they were cooking.
The Cavs have survived thus far on the strength of James and the occasional contribution from those around him. It’s hard to imagine them making serious adjustments to prevent what happened in Game 1, but it’s still early.