East Conf. Finals - Game 5: Cleveland Cavaliers 83-96 Boston Celtics - Cavaliers' Player Ratings
So much is said about the Boston Celtics' poor record on the road in the Playoffs, well, the Cleveland Cavaliers haven't been any better. In the Eastern Conference Finals alone, they've been disastrous, losing the three road games so far by a combined margin of 51 points [17 PPG]. All through this series, it's been all about home cooking.
Both teams have blown out their opponents by double digits on their home floor in 4 of the 5 games (Cavs beat the Celtics by 9 in Game 4), with not one of these games being competitive. Either way, going by the trends, the Cavaliers should win Game 6 and force Game 7.
Then, when it comes down to one game, you got to pick LeBron James unless of course, if his supporting cast just decides not to show up like it has in the road games this series. Before we look ahead to the next game [possibly two], let's take a look back at Game 5 and see how badly the Cavaliers have fared:
LeBron James - 8/10
Stat line: 26 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 6 turnovers, 1-6 on 3s, 39 minutes
By LeBron's standards (had to make sure that was in bold), this was a horrible game. He had 8 turnovers in the entire series against the Toronto Raptors and he had 6 just on Wednesday night. For someone who records near triple-double numbers in almost every Playoff game, his 5 assists also are quite a low. Now, some of that has got to do with his teammates not making shots (mostly his starting backcourt) but some of it was his energy level.
Tyronn Lue mentioned it and even James admitted it that he was gassed late in the game. Even if he hadn't admitted it, it was quite visible with his play - bobbled passes, weird leftie turn hook shots and shoulders dropped.
In the last 3 games, he was making 3s at the clip of 50% (9-of-18) but eventually that had to regress to the mean and it did in Game 5. He only shot 1-of-6 in Game 5.
It's a testament to his greatness that on a bad night, he can still put up 26 points, 10 rebounds on 50% shooting. That would be a career-night for a majority of the players in this league.