LeBron and the Cavaliers were too much for Boston in Game 2.
LeBron James scored 30 points and Kyrie Irving added 26 as the Cleveland Cavaliers topped the Boston Celtics, 99-91, in Game 2 on Tuesday night. A close game throughout, it showed Boston will be competitive in this series even if the more talented Cavaliers ultimately manage to survive.
Both the Cavaliers and Celtics ended the season playing well after early struggles, making this one of the most intriguing matchups of the first round. Cleveland won the opening game, 113-100, and now is positioned to put things away in Boston after getting the job done at home.
The Celtics are doing their best to put up a fight, however. Boston led multiple times in Game 2 and rallied from a 14-point third-quarter deficit to get as close as two in the fourth. The Cavaliers eventually pulled away with James and Irving leading the way, but this was another competitive effort from a young Celtics team on the road.
LeBron was the star for Cleveland, following up a quiet Game 1 with 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists over 42 minutes. The Celtics may have a variety of hard-working, talented young players, but they don't have anyone close to James or Irving.
That was apparent in the final 12 minutes, as the Cavaliers' star duo scored all 24 points for the team and took all but two shots. The team's five starters -- LeBron, Irving, Kevin Love, Timofey Mozgov and J.R. Smith -- took 71 of 76 shots in the game.
The Cavaliers may be top heavy, but they're also quite good. Now they head to Boston leading the series, 2-0.
1. The Cavs are more than LeBron
Cleveland may ultimately go as far as LeBron will carry them, but the first couple games of this postseason have shown how talented some of his teammates are. Irving went off in his playoff debut and followed it up Tuesday with another strong performance. Mozgov delivered on both ends in Game 2, finishing near the rim on offense and protecting it on defense, and looks to be a steady interior presence for the team. Even Love has been productive so far even if the numbers aren't up to our All-Star expectations. While the Cavaliers are defined by LeBron, there are a lot of other guys who help stir the pot.
2. And yet sometimes they're not
As we noted before, the Cavaliers focused most of their fourth-quarter offense on James and Irving, and that's something we'll likely see again in this postseason. Those are Cleveland's two best scorers, and while the team depends on its role players to do a lot of things, crunch-time scoring is not one of them. On the vast majority of possessions, the best play involves a shot from either James or Irving, and that's what the team went with Tuesday night. As long as it keeps working, expect that duo to be the focal point.
3. The Celtics could use more shooting
Boston had the fourth-lowest three-point shooting percentage in the league during the regular season, and that's continued to be an issue in the playoffs. The Celtics haven't stopped firing threes -- they're smart enough to know the value of threatening defense with the shots even if you miss them -- but the lack of shooting ability continues to be an issue. The team shot just 6-of-22 from beyond the arc (and 38.8 percent overall from the field) in Game 2, and just doesn't seem to have the offensive firepower to keep up in crunch time with LeBron and company.
from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1bhnJ8E
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