The Celtics are being humiliated by LeBron James’ historic dominance
COMMENTARY
Strange oversight, right? You’d think someone in the Celtics’ front office would have informed the players that they’d already secured the first pick in the upcoming NBA Draft and there’s no need to tank.
Then again, if Markelle Fultz watched that debacle of a first half Friday night at the Garden, he might have been tempted to petition the NCAA to let him return to Washington.
I know, I know, tanking in the playoffs isn’t viable, and Fultz — the consensus top prospect in this year’s draft — isn’t going back to school. Pardon the sarcasm and gallows semi-humor, but it’s about all there is to work with during the disheartening aftermath of the Cavaliers’ systematic and cruel dissection of the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
For record-keeping purposes, the final score was 130-86, Cavs. But the score that really stung, the score that emphasized the difference between the defending champions and everyone else in the Eastern Conference, was the one mocking the bewildered fans from the Garden scoreboard as the teams headed to the locker room in decidedly different mental states at halftime.
Cavaliers 72. Celtics 31.
The 41-point margin was the largest halftime lead in NBA playoff history. To put it into context — to realize just how utterly and completely over the game was even with 24 minutes left to play — consider this: The Celtics could have outscored the Cavs 71-31 in the second half, and they would have lost by a point.
And you thought the Celtics’ start in Game 1, when they trailed by a mere 61-39 at the break, was ugly. Little did we know that Game 2 would be worse. There was reasonable hope — or so it seemed around 8:29 p.m. Friday night — that the Celtics would bounce back from the opening loss. For whatever flaws and inconsistencies they have had in this mostly rewarding season, the Celtics are generally a resilient lot.
The optimistic thought was that perhaps LeBron James might not be so ruthlessly efficient, that Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson wouldn’t combine for 50-plus points again, that perhaps the Cavs would revert to the worst of themselves and remind us if only for a quarter or two that they have gone through some genuinely rough stretches during the regular season.
Nope. Forget hope. Humiliation shoved all pretenses of hope aside. Instead the only mystery remaining at halftime was who would score their first basket of the game first, Al Horford or Isaiah Thomas. Or would they wait until Sunday in Cleveland? They were a combined 0 for 10 from the field in the first half, with their only points coming on a pair of Thomas free throws.
(For the record, Horford was the first to make a field goal, hitting a 3 at the 9:56 mark of the third quarter. Thomas didn’t play in the second half due to what the team said was a hip injury. Coach Brad Stevens described him as “despondent.” In case you needed more good news.)
Stevens did try to make adjustments before Game 2. Garbage Time Hall of Famer Gerald Green started in place of rigid Amir Johnson, and he did bury both of his 3-point attempts in the first quarter. But even that was attached to a negative.
The Celtics had just one other made 3 in the first half, finishing 3 of 14 from long distance and 11 of 41 (28.6 percent) overall. Conversely, the Cavs were 10 of 22 from 3 (45.5 percent) and 26 of 44 overall (59.1 percent).
Weren’t the Celtics supposed to be the better defensive team entering the series? Weren’t they supposed to be able to knock down open shots?
The temptation is to search for scapegoats on the Celtics, and they’d be awfully easy to find: Horford, Thomas, Bradley and Jae Crowder shot a combined 13 for 41. But the harsh reality for the Celtics is that they’re getting clobbered in the series because of James’s skill and will. He scored his 30 points on just 18 attempts, hitting 12 — or one fewer than the Celtics’ aforementioned quartet of masons.
James statistics are breathtaking — did we mention he was a plus-46 for the game, the best plus/minus of his career, including, presumably his prep years at St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron? James had 22 points, 6 assists, and 3 blocks in the first half Friday, including pulling a full Iguodala on what appeared to be a breakaway for Bradley.
And yet numbers don’t necessarily do justice to the magnitude of his tour de force performance. If any contemporary player has ever played at an equal level to the one James is right now, it was presumably Michael Jordan, and not even His Airness was James’s physical equal. You’re watching history. The Celtics are suffering it.
The Cavaliers, especially James and Coach Tyronn Lue, were gracious after Game 2, emphasizing the old playoff cliché that it’s just one game. But their in-game actions belied their words. The Cavs seemed to take delight in devastating the Celtics.
When James buried a corner 3 midway through the second quarter for a 45-20 lead, the Cleveland bench erupted as if the shot had some sort of significant meaning. And when J.R. Smith’s twisting buzzer-beater fell right before halftime, giving the Cavs that 72-31 advantage, his giddy teammates swarmed him running off the court.
You know, I’m starting to think the Cavaliers don’t believe the Celtics deserved the top seed in the conference. Call it a hunch.
The Celtics have had a fulfilling season in a number of ways. They won 53 games and, in some part due to the Cavs’ indifference, the top seed in the East. They are one of the last four teams playing. They earned the top pick in the ’17 draft, while their top pick in the past draft, Jaylen Brown (19 points Friday), seems to improve with each Celtics possession.
They are in an enviable place as a franchise. They are in a lousy place at the moment.
The inevitable has arrived. James is 20-0 in playoff series when his team wins the first two games. The Cavs haven’t just won the first two games. They have seized them from the first moments, ending all suspense and snuffing out hope before halftime..
Now it’s on to Cleveland for the Celtics. Whether they actually show up is another matter.
