Boston Celtics: 5 keys to conference finals vs. Cavaliers

2. Keep Cleveland’s defense guessing

The key to Boston’s offensive success has been its unpredictability on that end. Brad Stevens’ playbook has proven to be one of the most valuable in the NBA, as his sets produce open looks repeatedly.

Elevating his playbook’s greatness has been the play of his players, as all have been consistent shot-makers during Boston’s playoff run, allowing Stevens to pick and choose who to turn to at any point during a game.

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Game 1 might feature Terry Rozier late. The next could see Al Horford and Jaylen Brown producing at a high level.

Tyronn Lue can watch all the film available, but he still wouldn’t be able to figure out who will be the main scoring threat for the C’s from game to game, because the Celtics don’t know themselves.

It’ll be important for Boston to keep up this unpredictability on the offensive end, forcing the Cavs to account for all five guys on the court at all times.

Cleveland isn’t great defensively. The players tend to give sporadic effort on that end of the floor, focusing more of their energy on the scoring aspect of the game.

For the Celtics to run any variation of iso-ball is to give the Cavs a pass on that end, as any offense becomes easier to stop when all eyes can be on the guy with the ball in his hands.

Boston has to keep up its motion offense, thereby forcing Cleveland to either give up 110+ or exert more energy trying to stop it, taking away energy they’ve become accustomed to using on the offensive end.