The Boston Celtics took Game 1 from the Cleveland Cavaliers in dominating fashion. We look at three takeaways from their 108-83 victory.
The Boston Celtics have been underdogs at almost every step of their playoff run so far. Missing their two prized possessions in Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, not much was expected to come easy.
The Celtics arguably had already eliminating the second, third, and fourth-best players in the Eastern Conference as Sunday’s Game 1 began in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Defeating Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Giannis Antetokounmpo was one thing. Attempting to beat the best player in the playoffs/NBA in LeBron James was expected to be much more difficult of a task.
The Celtics, however, used Game 1 to paint a much different picture.
Jaylen Brown (23 PTS), Al Horford (20), & Marcus Morris (21) fuel the @celtics strong ECF Game 1 victory at home! #CUsRise #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/DA4E8s5Exs
— NBA (@NBA) May 13, 2018
As mentioned above, the Celtics got solid performances all around Sunday on their way to victory. Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and Marcus Morris all topped 20 points while Jayson Tatum finished with 16. Sunday was easily the best performance the Celtics have put together throughout the playoffs.
On the other side, the Cavaliers arguably put together their worst performance of the postseason. LeBron James failed to score 20 for the first time all postseason. Kevin Love chipped in 17 to lead the team, but up until garbage time there wasn’t much scoring to go around for the rest of the Cavs.
The Celtics used tough, consistent defense combined with Cleveland’s sloppy play to make a statement Sunday. Let’s look at three takeaways from a surprising Game 1.