Five Reasons the Celtics Won Game #2 Against the Cavs and LeBron
Wednesday, May 16, 2018
GoLocalWorcester Sports Team
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Marcus Smart |
The Celtics outscored the Cleveland Cavaliers by 20 points in the second half to take a two to zero lead in the Eastern Conference Championship series. The Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-94.
See the 5 Reasons the Celtics Won Below
The game was an old school game with the Celtics playing tough and physical and two incidents almost led to fights between the two teams.
After Cleveland guard, J.R. Smith pushed Al Horford from behind while he was in the air, Boston guard Marcus Smart played enforcer.
"That's a dirty shot," Smart said after the game. "You just can't allow that to keep happening. This is not the first time JR's done some dirty stuff, especially playing against us. He's known for it, especially playing against us. We know that. It's like a bully. You keep letting a bully keep picking on you, he's going to keep picking on you until you finally stand up, and that's what I tried to do."
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#1
Backcourt Scoring
Jaylen Brown lead the Celtics with 23 points. And, Terry Rozier finished with 18 points —the Cavs starting backcourt finished with just 3 points.
Game, set, match.
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#2
Brad Stevens Factor
Once again, Boston's Coach Brad Stevens seemed to dial up all the right substitutions and rotations. Steven's gang defense on LeBron James seems to be the right solution for a very difficult problem.
Too Much Brad Stevens Love?
"I think he's getting a little too much praise," Robert Parish said on Sirius XM NBA Radio, "but I like what he's doing. They giving him all the love like he won three or four championships. Come on, now. Win something first, all the love he's getting."
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#3
CAVS Threes
Kyle Korver and Kevin Love both hit their first-half threes. Cavs were 7 of 14 for three-pointers in the first half.
But the second half was a different story.
The Cavs finished just 10 of 30 for the game.
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#4
LeBron Factor
LeBron James went 5 for 16 in game 1 and scored just 15 points.
But game #2 was a different story.
LeBron scored 25 points in the first half, but finished the game with 42 points.
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#5
Tough
There were two altercations in the games and both seemed to fuel the Celtics. Marcus Morris got into it with Tristian Thompson and then the Celts went on a big spurt.
And, after J.R. Smith pushed Al Horford while he was in the air for a lay-up, Marcus Smart went after Smith. Both incidents showed Celtics resolve and toughness.