Cavs vs. Celtics - 2018 Eastern Conference Finals

[inliner311]

It was odd that Boobie Gibson was at the game. It amazes me that he left the NBA right as 3 point shooting was taking off and basically entering his prime. One good shooting season and he might have been gotten a real fat contract from someone.

 

[Cement]

View: https://twitter.com/mcten/status/998046777986179072

 

[LeShaq]

The only "downside" from the game tonight (or possible overreaction, I guess, is a better way to say it):

We had 3 days of rest coming into this game. That won't happen again for the rest of this series. There will only be 1 day of rest between games now, and that includes when we have to travel.

So I'm pumped, for sure, but we need to be able to show the energy we did tonight in the rest of the games of the series, even though we won't be getting the same amount of rest as we did coming into Game 3.

 

[Jscc]

To anyone that watched with an Xs and Os eye tonight: the defensive game-plan for the first two games was to zone in on Tatum and take him out of the game. The Cavs learned the other guys are just as aggressive.

Is that what happened tonight? We dropped the Tatum scheme? The eye test felt like the majority of Boston's shots were contested. Looked nothing like the first two games.

 

[glockcoma]

The only "downside" from the game tonight (or possible overreaction, I guess, is a better way to say it):

We had 3 days of rest coming into this game. That won't happen again for the rest of this series. There will only be 1 day of rest between games now, and that includes when we have to travel.

So I'm pumped, for sure, but we need to be able to show the energy we did tonight in the rest of the games of the series, even though we won't be getting the same amount of rest as we did coming into Game 3.

We had plenty of rest before game 1 and we know how that turned out.

 

[Adam]

To anyone that watched with an Xs and Os eye tonight: the defensive game-plan for the first two games was to zone in on Tatum and take him out of the game. The Cavs learned the other guys are just as aggressive.

Is that what happened tonight? We dropped the Tatum scheme? The eye test felt like the majority of Boston's shots were contested. Looked nothing like the first two games.

I think they tried to shut down brown by having LeBron cover him so he could attack the close out. They let Tatum battle Smith one on one a lot . We also rotated along the baseline with hands up to contest the easy paint shots. Next game they might find their shooters a bit more but I think this Celtic team if you contest there shots they are prone to making bad decisions once the offesne breaks down

 

[Tornicade]

Cavs Crashed the boards. 11 rebounds from the guards
not just love the whole team kept pressure on the Celtics. Cavs took 20 FTA sans LeBron. Cavs had 7 ft attempt as a team (not including LeBron) in game 2

 

[Tornicade]

To anyone that watched with an Xs and Os eye tonight: the defensive game-plan for the first two games was to zone in on Tatum and take him out of the game. The Cavs learned the other guys are just as aggressive.

Is that what happened tonight? We dropped the Tatum scheme? The eye test felt like the majority of Boston's shots were contested. Looked nothing like the first two games.

Tatum wasn't really a factor in game 2. it was Brown and rozier outscoring our guard 41-3

Cavs used both Thompson and Hill for screens with Love setting some screens himself.

this took pressure off the ball handler

They also took Hood out of the rotation giving Clarkson minutes with Korver

Ill check the matchup stats tomorrow as they haven't been updated on NBA.com yet and see if there is anything significant.

What they did do was keep Boston out of any sort of rhythm.

Boston felt pressure for the first time this series

Hill did a great job.

I also liked Nance getting some burn with the starters

I expect Boston to play better in game 4, Its real important for the Cavs to keep up the intensity in the second half if they get off to another great starts

 

[LeGOAT]

Things are a little bit different for Boston now, they were the plucky underdog then after 2 games the narrative shifted to the Cavs are trash, Boston going to the finals, a different pressure. I still don't really know how it's going to go, we are much more talented, they are far better coach and have home advantage. So I dont know. 7 games is for sure imo then we have to hope LeBron goes off for 130 or something!

 

[FrontPageNews]

Lues best move was playing TT and nance at C most of the game. Those guys can handle al. Love can’t.

 

[LeShaq]

To anyone that watched with an Xs and Os eye tonight: the defensive game-plan for the first two games was to zone in on Tatum and take him out of the game. The Cavs learned the other guys are just as aggressive.

Is that what happened tonight? We dropped the Tatum scheme? The eye test felt like the majority of Boston's shots were contested. Looked nothing like the first two games.

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/05/20/cleveland-cavaliers-allow-best-lebron-james-shine-game-3
One noticeable adjustment was shifting James’ focus onto Celtics wing Jaylen Brown while putting a little less emphasis on forward Jayson Tatum.


https://sports.yahoo.com/lebron-james-cavs-pick-right-time-remind-celtics-can-063732530.html
Noting that Brown is an excellent first-quarter scorer, the Cavs keyed on him with James closing out hard, forcing Brown to put the ball on the floor, cutting off his drives to the basket and making him play in a crowd. It worked. Brown had two points in the first half, the only time the outcome was ever in doubt.


https://sports.yahoo.com/brown-looks-adjustments-cavs-limit-052521225.html
Brown acknowledged after the game how the Cavaliers defended him very differently than they had in the previous two games.

"I just don't think they let me catch the ball," Brown said. "They were denying me. They didn't want me to get the ball and when I did get it, it wasn't in the position I was comfortable in."

 

[Adam]

http://www.nba.com/article/2018/05/20/cleveland-cavaliers-allow-best-lebron-james-shine-game-3
One noticeable adjustment was shifting James’ focus onto Celtics wing Jaylen Brown while putting a little less emphasis on forward Jayson Tatum.


https://sports.yahoo.com/lebron-james-cavs-pick-right-time-remind-celtics-can-063732530.html
Noting that Brown is an excellent first-quarter scorer, the Cavs keyed on him with James closing out hard, forcing Brown to put the ball on the floor, cutting off his drives to the basket and making him play in a crowd. It worked. Brown had two points in the first half, the only time the outcome was ever in doubt.


https://sports.yahoo.com/brown-looks-adjustments-cavs-limit-052521225.html
Brown acknowledged after the game how the Cavaliers defended him very differently than they had in the previous two games.

"I just don't think they let me catch the ball," Brown said. "They were denying me. They didn't want me to get the ball and when I did get it, it wasn't in the position I was comfortable in."

I didn't see game 2 so I wasn't sure if Lue had already made the adjustment but it was good to see brown not have free reign driving round korver or Smith. JR did a decent job on Tatum like he does on derozen

 

[bigmanbt]

One thing I noticed is we switched far less screens than we normally do, limiting matchup disadvantages and forcing the ball handler to make a play. Made a huge difference in the first quarter, Boston looked completely shook by it.

 

[Gus Zing]

Lebron attacked the paint tonight with ease and didn't shoot those ridiculous tough shots that like in game 1-2. He was energetic and animated tonight...he showed that he wanted to win. I didn't get the same feeling in game 1-2. He looked awfully content.

Other players obviously stepped up, but they were in better position to contribute as well. More transition opportunities and easier buckets because we defended better and let them shoot 3's that bounced all over the place. We didn't gift them any post mismatches at all.

This all or nothing approach with fans and LeBron has to stop.

Was he content when he dropped 21 in the 1st Qrt? Was he content when he cut the lead to 6?

Game 1 everyone was crap. Game 2 he ran out of gas.

Game 3....he had THREE days of rest and guys made shots.

Today's approach was the same as game 1 except everyone hit shots

 

[Zeus69]

The only "downside" from the game tonight (or possible overreaction, I guess, is a better way to say it):

We had 3 days of rest coming into this game. That won't happen again for the rest of this series. There will only be 1 day of rest between games now, and that includes when we have to travel.

So I'm pumped, for sure, but we need to be able to show the energy we did tonight in the rest of the games of the series, even though we won't be getting the same amount of rest as we did coming into Game 3.

Given how lethargic and lazy we looked after having a week off following the Raptors series, I’m leaning toward the issue being effort instead of fatigue.

As long as it isn’t a back to back, LeBron and Co. should be >90% re-charged with one day off between games.

Not saying the schedule is optimal, but we showed the ability to win a battle of attrition with Indiana.