East Conf. Finals Game 5 - Cleveland Cavaliers 83-96 Boston Celtics: 5 Talking Points
Most fans following the Eastern Conference playoffs decided to write off the Boston Celtics after they were unable to pull off a victory in either of their 2 games at the Quicken Loans Arena. Many believed that this young squad would wilt under another legendary onslaught by LeBron James and wouldn't be able to deal with the pressure of what was thought as basically a must-win Game 5.
Must-win or not, the young Celtics came out with all guns blazing in the first quarter. After initially giving up a lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers during the first 6-7 minutes of gameplay, they cantered to a 13-point lead by the end of the quarter.
This lead they were able to preserve for the rest of the game. The closest Cleveland came to taking the lead back was in the second quarter, when Larry Nance Jr. got fouled and had the chance to shoot 2 free throws and cut the lead to 6. He missed both, however, and the Celtics held an 11-point lead at the break.
By the end of the third quarter, LeBron looked visibly shook and tired, and was unable to post up with the kind of consistency that he had in the first two quarters. The rest of the Cavaliers' squad was misfiring, and the Celtics sealed the game with 3:50 left in the game via an open 3-point look converted by Al Horford.
The following are 5 talking points from the game:
#5 Both teams shot poorly as units
The Celtics started off red hot in the first quarter, knocking down 6 out of their 13 attempts during this period. This number is actually inflated by 1 since Jaylen Brown heaved up a heavily contested three to end the first quarter - so they were basically shooting 50% from downtown.
They cooled down, however, after this period, and finished with figures of 13-of-39 for the game - which is below the league average of 35.2% conversion from downtown for this season.
The Cavs themselves started off well from downtown, scoring on 5 of their first 11 looks from beyond the arc. They finished with figures of 9-of-34 - which means they missed 19 of their last 23 shots from distance.
Overall, the Celtics shot really bad from the field, going for 31-of-85 on all field goal attempts for a measly 36.5% clip - one that the Cavs actually beat to go 31-of-74 for a below-average 41.9% themselves.