Boston Celtics Try To Take A Commanding 2-0 Series Lead

By Jordan Long

The Boston Celtics lead the best of 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals 1-0. Game 2 is tonight with tip-off at 8:30 Eastern Time. Boston looks for 2 straight wins on home court.  If they can, that will leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in a large hole heading home.

Boston won game 1 going away 108-83. They outscored Cleveland in every quarter except the 3^rd. Cleveland in that quarter scored 29 to Boston’s 17. Boston played decent defense the entire game. Cleveland made 36% of their shots compared to the Celtics 51.2%. Boston didn’t allow Cleveland many open looks.

The story of the game was how poorly LeBron James performed. The Celtics mostly guarded him one on one with Marcus Morris. James didn’t have any easy looks over Morris and wasn’t able to hit a single 3-pointer. He was 0-5 from beyond the arc. James finished the game with 15 points and was a -32 in point differential.

According to ESPN, Morris said, “It’s a team effort, man. It’s not just me. Everybody played their part in guarding him. He’s obviously the best player in the game, and you need multiple guys and a team to guard him an entire game. I just think we did a great job of that.”

Looking at tonight’s game, Cleveland is going to make adjustments. The Cavaliers are not going to shoot 36% from the field. James might have to be more involved in the offense by teammates setting picks. Those will allow him to be wide open for shots. Boston needs to be ready. They have to rotate and not allow James to have a decent look. If James is able to make easy shots, it sets the tone for the game.

Boston must do what they did in game 1, play defense on James with Morris. If Morris plays tight on James, it forces him to pass the ball. Boston has to make someone other than James beat them.

Boston knows they are facing a desperate Cleveland team. Cleveland doesn’t want to go home down 0-2. It will be a game of scoring runs. If Boston can weather the storm early, they have a chance to win the game. If not, they head to Cleveland tied at 1 which isn’t the worst place to be.