The Celtics played a nearly flawless game right up to the end. The D on James and the rest of the team was energetic and relentless.
They’ll be helped more by the other James, Lebron James, “firing” himself at the end of the season so he can go to the Lakers/Warriors.
If the Celtics can kick the crap out of Cleveland, I’m wondering why Toronto couldn’t. If the team lacked energy and the right tactical focus, whose fault is that?
The Rockets put up as good a fight as anyone has so far and it still wasn’t enough.
When much of the team has to stand around and watch Harden dribble out the shot clock, a win is going to get much tougher against a passing team. When they move the ball more, better things happen. Kinda the definition of basketball.
That’s not really their game, though. Their whole offense is built around Harden and/or Paul isolating against a defender, looking to drive and kick to an open 3 point shooter, or take an uncontested jumper himself.
Ball movement offense doesn’t work when you have Capela, Ariza, and Tucker on the floor (just to name 3 of their other players). Those guys are not adept ballhandlers or passers. The Rockets’ style is perfect for their personnel, it just doesn’t work as well against a roster of good, versatile defenders like the Warriors have.
Lose, warriors, lose!
Hey, at least the Cavs are down 0-2. Could make for an epic series.
The Celtics add Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward to the roster next year. Be afraid.
As long as the self-proclaimed “King” goes down in flames, it will be a successful NBA post-season for me. 
Look at the Celtics roster, they should not be beating Cleveland right now. Postseason JR Smith has kindly returned for the Cavs, playing what, 27 minutes and scoring 0 points on 0-7 shooting.
LeBron’s “King James” nicknames was given to him by a local newspaper while he was a high school sophomore. The marketing department at Nike cemented it in the public consciousness.
I don’t know about that. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum are really, really good. Horford’s the best big in the series. Cleveland’s backcourt is a joke, while Boston can seemingly turn over a rock and find an above-average guard.
Critically, Boston can put out five-man lineups where all five can create off the dribble, shoot from 3, and defend. Cleveland can’t, and that’s been an issue with them for a long time: they have way too many guys who a) command a large salary, b) can either defend or score but not both, and c) generally possess very narrow skill sets and can only be effective in a single role.
Oh, and Boston’s roster is full of guys who hustle, who give a shit, who play for each other. Cleveland can’t say the same.
Don’t forget being a raging asshole. Rule number one of basketball, anywhere, is you don’t push someone in the back when they’re jumping.
After the officiating glory that was game 4 of the Celtics-Sixers series, am I the only one wishing the Celtics win game three against Cleveland, just so we can see who the League assigns to referee game 4 in that series? Will they assign LeBron’s mother to ref? Claim that no league referees are available, so by league rules (adopted from CYO-league) the home team’s coach acts as referee? Assign noted baseball umpire “Frank Drebin” in the mistaken belief he’s a real person?
Well, that’s kind of what I mean. Boston has a team of good to really good players who do put in the effort. Cleveland has good, really good and a couple of great players who, talent for talent, should be able to handle the Celtics. It ain’t always about what’s on paper.
Who do they have that’s “great” besides LeBron?
I don’t know about ‘great’, but looking at their roster in BBReference, they’ve two guys (Nance Jr., their young Croatian center who doesn’t play much) besides 'Bron with WS/48s above .200. And Kevin Love’s got a .185, which isn’t shabby. Keep in mind that Win Shares really values rebounds and doesn’t really look at defense. (not that any advanced stats available to the hoi polloi do.)
Comparing with the Rockets, or Golden State, both also have three guys over .200 like the Cavs. Not that I’m saying the Cavs are equal to either team—though we might get to test that theory in the Finals—but the Cavs aren’t hot garbage.
The Cavs do have some guys—Hill, Thompson, J.R. Smith—who aren’t producing in line with their salaries, but that isn’t unique to them.
I still think 'Bron’s running to LA at the end of the season (though I did hear this trade proposed on our local radio station: LeBron for Kyrie and Hayward. Who says “No?”) along with Chris Paul and the corpse of Dwayne Wade, but the Cavs can certainly build alongside Nance, Love, Korver, Clarkson, and Zizic. Especially in the East.
From a pure basketball ability perspective, probably makes both teams better in the short term.
From a personality perspective, given the way LeBron has generally opted for coaches that shut up and stay out of his way, maybe both LeBron and Brad Stevens say no (and I strongly suspect Danny Ainge would see things Steven’s way if it came to that). And a good chance Ainge says no just because he doesn’t want to screw up the team chemistry he has right now – he knows Kyrie fits, and that they’d almost certainly be in the finals with him, so why screw that up?
Nothing but blowouts for the rest of the season.
I’d say Kevin Love is still a great player.