[Playoff Matchup Thread] Cleveland vs. Boston

[Gus Zing]

If I'm LeBron/Blatt this is the series to get Kevin Love going.

Sweep the Celtics with Love putting up 23/11 gets his confidence up for the rest of the playoffs.

 

[Redzone]

It's only fitting that our run to the championship start with nemesis such as Boston and (a mere formality) Chicago.

 

[natedagg]

Zeller is a nice sub plot. I wish we would have played our cards differently, but oh well.

There was also some rumor that he was a locker room gossip or malcontent (I think).

I hope Mozgov crushes his hopes and aspirations.

CABS in 5.

 

[Benedict_Boozer]

Bring out the brooms.

No disrespect to BOS, they play hard and are well coached, they just don't have the horses.

 

[spydy13]

I wish we would have played our cards differently, but oh well.

Was watching the Celts game on League Pass tonight and their color guy was telling Danny Ainge (who happened to have joined the broadcast) about what a great job he did in getting Zeller, a "starting caliber center," for nothing.

Ainge said that he liked Zeller since the draft and knew the Cavs would need to move pieces to get LeBron, but ultimately thinks the Cavs did a pretty good job essentially getting LeBron out of the deal because of the cleared cap space and also said Griff has done a nice job putting this team together.

You could tell that Ainge had a lot of respect for Griff, which I guess makes sense since they have known each other since the mid-90s when Ainge was a player/coach in Phoenix.

Anyways, I thought I would just throw that tidbit in there for anyone that wasn't watching. Hopefully whatever extra assets we lost will be worth it in the end.

 

[natedagg]

Was watching the Celts game on League Pass tonight and their color guy was telling Danny Ainge (who happened to have joined the broadcast) about what a great job he did in getting Zeller, a "starting caliber center," for nothing.

Ainge said that he liked Zeller since the draft and knew the Cavs would need to move pieces to get LeBron, but ultimately thinks the Cavs did a pretty good job essentially getting LeBron out of the deal because of the cleared cap space and also said Griff has done a nice job putting this team together.

You could tell that Ainge had a lot of respect for Griff, which I guess makes sense since they have known each other since the mid-90s when Ainge was a player/coach in Phoenix.

Anyways, I thought I would just throw that tidbit in there for anyone that wasn't watching. Hopefully whatever extra assets we lost will be worth it in the end.

Illiquid security (zeller) + hurry = trade rape. Griff took it up the Danny Aine

 

[gourimoko]

I can't help but feel that the Zeller trade is more on LeBron than on the Cavs and Griffin...

LeBron didn't need to take an absolute full max contract, especially considering he's going to exercise his player option every fucking year of the contract and sign a new deal.. He could've made that money back any number of ways.

He could've given the Cavs just a bit more wiggle room.

 

[Andrew]

Who are we kidding, the Boston Celtics are not winning a game in the postseason. It's by no means underplaying their ability or blindly overrating the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's just fact. Boston's owner wanted Cleveland, he got them. Enjoy the average margin of victory in all 4 games being over 10.

 

[Ohdang]

5 games at most.

Celtics don't have one player that would start on the Cavs.

Perhaps, but I'd like to take Avery Bradley off their hands.

 

[Mr. Orange]

Please stop with the 5 games crap. This will be a sweep.

As far as Chicago goes, good. If we can't beat Chi we wouldn't beat a team from the West anyways. We have the best team in the East. We just need to play well now.

 

[MirORich]

Yeah I don't see them getting a game on us.

although interestingly enough the celtics have won more games than us since Feb

Did some research....of those 23 wins since Feb. 2 only 7 came against teams with winning records, including the two games against us which were meaningless.

Part of me thinks the Celts are capable of winning one game, but I do think the most likely scenario is a sweep.

 

[TheBigAristotle]

Should be sweep but I'll give them a game as well and guess on 4-1... Kyrie and Love have no playoff experience so I can imagine us having a bad shooting night in Boston, combined with some crazy lucky shots from the guys in green.

 

[SVC]

If they win a game it's a total failure. They are a very bad team with an excellent coach. They basically were trying to tank, got gifted Isiah Thomas, and decided that the East was so fucking bad that they might as well make the playoffs since they have about 50 1st round draft picks over the next decade anyway.

A five game series would bode poorly for our championship chances. A championship team would never lose a game to this Celtics team. This may be the least talented team I've ever seen make the playoffs.

 

[TheBigAristotle]

SVC: the Larry O'Brien trophy is awarded in the Finals. I couldn't care less if we lost a first round game to a well coached, bad Boston team. Nobody will remember that if we get to the ECF even.

 

[SVC]

I don't care either, but losing to a team that bad says something is still dysfunctional on some level.

It speaks to health problems, or coaching issues, or some issue that's going to haunt you later.

Great teams simply don't lose to a team that bad in the playoffs. I mean, if Lebron gets has a mild ankle sprain and misses a game, so be it, it would be understandable. But I'm not intentionally being hyperbolic, I can't think of a worse team that's ever made the playoffs. Brad Stevens is a genius and the east is bad, and they were super fortunate to catch three games to end season against teams that don't care one bit. They're small and bad.

I don't care if every other series goes 7. I wouldn't read much into that. But if we lose a single game to Boston, its a bad sign. I'll hope for the best, but won't be making any parade plans.