The Cavs became a more cohesive and happy bunch when Tyronn Lue took over as coach, but they didn’t forget how to handle adversity, becoming the first team in league history to rally from a 3-1 deficit and win the NBA Finals. The Celtics played much better on the Cleveland swing of the series and need to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd after getting embarrassed in Games 1 and 2.
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They clinched the Eastern Conference, and went reached the conference finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers’ answer to that: 9-0 in their last nine road games going back to Game 5 of the Finals in Oakland a year ago.
The Celtics try to stay alive in these playoffs when they host Game 5 at the TD Garden in Boston on Thursday night (Friday AM in Manila).
“I’ve twisted my ankle so many times that plays like that, you have two choices, either you can sit there and kind of wallow in the sorrow of you twisting your ankle or capture the moment”, Irving said. We’ve seen that for the last four or five, six years. We made a run at it. “He was able to get by us and make tough shots in the paint”. Then we come out, we get some tremendous looks, and Kyrie just goes nuts and ends us.
By this point it was clear there would be no comeback a la Game 3.
While the Celtics captured the top seed in the East, they never led in any of their home games in the series. A massive jump between the measly 7 and 9 points from the bench in Game 3 and Game 4, respectively. So I thought he was pretty darned good.
“It’s exciting. When I came here, I expected to be here, but we started rough and finished the regular season rough”, Williams said. “The team to get past is Cleveland, and right now we’re not there”.
They found themselves up 43-27 after the first quarter, and went into the half with a 75-57 lead.
“I think collectively you take away what elite looks like, because I think we saw it first hand, especially in these home games”, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said.
LeBron will enter The Finals with 5,995 playoff points, eight more than Jordan and almost 2,000 ahead of the closest active player (Tony Parker). Only Jae Crowder (4-of-7) connected on more than one three-pointer in Game 4.
On the next trip down the floor, Irving pulled up for and buried his second triple of the quarter, and that gave the Cavaliers an 83-63 lead over the Celtics with 10:15 to play in the period.
That win also ended the Cavaliers’13-game postseason winning streak.
“They’ve been there before”, said Marcus Smart. The road might intimidate a young team, but not a “been there-done that” team like the Cavaliers. It’s our first time. “They cause a lot of stress, and I’ll get to that point when we start to prepare for them”. “Everybody has to use this as motivation”.
The Significance: The Cavaliers and Warriors had combined for 12 consecutive misses before Irving’s shot, with neither team scoring since the 4:39 mark.
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“I mentioned the inspired basketball we play and they definitely played inspired basketball, not only here but in our arena”. However, Kyrie Irving took over in the second half to lead Cleveland to the victory.
