East Conf. Finals - Game 6: Boston Celtics 99-109 Cleveland Cavaliers - 5 talking points
The Boston Celtics have been the team to watch in this season's Playoffs. Heading into Game 6 with a 3-2 series lead, the pressure was on LeBron James and Co. In this must-win game for the Cavs at the Quicken Loans Arena, LeBron delivered a match-winning performance (46 points, 11 rebounds, 9 assists) forcing a Game 7.
The first quarter was evenly contested with Celtics taking a 5-point lead, despite only scoring 25. Facing elimination, the Cavaliers hit back in the second quarter with a 34-18 run to carry an 11-point lead into the half.
The Celtics were chasing the Cavs throughout the second half with the lead closed down to 7 by Rozier in the fourth quarter. However, the turning point in this game was LeBron did not get fatigued. At 1:40, LeBron sealed the game with a dagger three-pointer from the left wing and being the difference maker on the court.
We look towards the five talking points of this game:
#5 The Celtics were gambling on defense
In the previous games, we noticed that Marcus Morris and Jaylen Brown actually cleaned up well and held on to the King at crucial moments in the game. During the game, it was visible that each of the frontcourt players except Baynes got a shot at guarding LeBron in the game.
The Cavs only benefited from all the switching as the other players created many chances and put the supporting numbers which was absent in Game 3 and 4 of the series.