The Eastern Conference Finals are over. The Cavaliers sent the Celtics packing on their own court, putting up 135 on them while they only put up 102. Although this was the outcome most people expected, I doubt it happened quite as fast as most of those people thought. After stealing one from the Cavaliers at home, Cleveland reconvened and brought it back together, which was a complete thrashing. But was the dominance of this game because the Cavaliers were that good? Let's take a look.
What went wrong
Cleveland came out in full dominance with the score being 43-27 after the first quarter.
After that, they never looked back. They outscored Boston in every quarter besides the 4th, but by that time it was already over. The Cavaliers just appeared too dialed in tonight, and a lot of that came with LeBron coming back into his 'kingly' form.
LeBron finished with 35pts, 8 boards, and 8 assists with only 2 turnovers. Meanwhile, his partner in crime, Kyrie Irving, finished with 24pts on 9-15 shooting. The big word for Cleveland tonight: efficiency. LeBron came back tonight in LeBron-like fashion, with 13-18 shooting during the night. He clearly found his stride again, and that was a major contribution to this game's outcome.
Despite LeBron coming back into form, Cleveland's bench also hit their stride tonight.
Kyle Korver scored 7pts going 2-4 from deep, while Deron Williams exploded for 14pts going 5-6 for the night. This extra offensive boost is what led to such a big offensive showing. But that doesn't display the whole picture of the night.
Celtics lost at sea
The Celtics were not getting anything to go in, which can be partly attributed to the Cavaliers' defense and also to their "live or die by the three" mentality.
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you have that mentality, you need your 3pt shots to go in to win. Terry Rozier saw 34 minutes on the court and finished 4-13. The problem is that the Celtics don't have enough experienced players that can handle this stage. But what they do have is the first pick in the draft, and Brad Stevens is loving every second of it.
Brad Stevens says, "It’s pretty cool to think that in three weeks you’ve got the No. 1 pick in the Draft."
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 26, 2017
RT if you agree🍀
So at the end of the day - it's hard to call the Celtics losers.
Now what?
Unfortunately, the end of the Eastern Conference Finals only means less basketball. The Celtics are unfortunately out of the playoffs, and the Cavaliers are headed to the NBA Finals to take on the Golden State Warriors.
To take a look at how the match-up is going to look, check out the article on the possibilities of the NBA Finals here. The NBA Finals start on Thursday, June 1st at 9:00PM ET on ABC. It should be a great game at the Oracle Arena, as the Cavaliers and Warriors are the first teams to meet in the finals three consecutive times. So now, we wait.
We meet again, @Cavs. #NBAFinals #StrengthInNumbers pic.twitter.com/BqCIuO4CPl
— GoldenStateWarriors (@warriors) May 26, 2017