Celtics starting lineup: Horford, Johnson, Bradley, Crowder, Thomas Jr.
After the opening, Irving took the lead to score. After Claude was blocked, he grabbed a rebound and scored a second attack. James assisted twice and made a layup, but Bradley hit a 3-pointer and Horford killed the inside, narrowing the point difference to 1
point.
The Cavaliers focused on the inside. After a 6-0 spurt, the Cavaliers led by 7 points. James relied on his personal ability to score 4 points in a row. He contributed 15 of the team's 30 points in a single quarter, helping the Cavaliers lead by 13 points.
point.
Thompson scored a dunk, Thomas missed three shots and then scored a jumper, and Olynyk fouled twice.
At the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers led 30-19.
Love scored 4 points in a row in the second quarter, leading the bench to a 6-1 spurt, widening the point difference to 16 points.
After the timeout, the Cavaliers made two turnovers. Claude made a layup, Smart hit a three-pointer, Horford fouled twice, and Shumpert hit the Cavaliers' first three-pointer. The two teams did not score in sports games in two minutes.
.
Love hit a 3-pointer, Thompson made an alley-oop dunk, and the Cavaliers led by 23 points.
Brown ended the Celtics' scoreless streak for nearly four minutes, but four Greens players committed two fouls.
James scored two jump shots, Thomas Jr. made 1 of 3 free throws after fouling on a three-pointer, and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the last minute.
At halftime, the Cavaliers led the Celtics 61-39.
In the third quarter, Love caused Horford's fourth foul. After making all 3 free throws, "Eros" hit another 3 points. Thomas and Bradley found the shooting feeling, plus Claude's two three-pointers
, the Celtics narrowed the point difference.
Love scored another 3-pointer and Irving hit a layup. After the timeout, the Celtics responded with two three-pointers to force the Cavaliers to timeout.
Love hit two three-pointers. He scored 18 points in this quarter and became the Cavaliers' leading killer. Brown and Horford scored jumpers, narrowing the point difference to 19 points.
With Smart dunking, the Celtics chased the score to 75-92.
In the fourth quarter, Korver hit a 3-pointer, Thomas Jr. broke through and scored, and James made two inside kills to help the Cavaliers keep the point difference at around 20 points.
Smart was sent off for 6 fouls, and the "Emperor" completed 2+1, scoring 30+ points in 7 consecutive games.
Although Claude and Green hit consecutive 3-pointers, the point difference remained above 15 points, and time was getting shorter and shorter.
In the end, the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 117-104 on the road, leading the game with a total score of 1-0.
Cavaliers: James had 38 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists, Irving had 11 points and 6 assists, Love had 32 points and 12 rebounds, and Thompson had 20 points and 9 rebounds.
Celtics: Claude had 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, Horford had 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, Bradley had 21 points and 4 rebounds, and Thomas had 17 points and 10 assists.
…
On May 29, the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals began.
The Celtics made a lineup change and promoted Green to the starting lineup.
In the end, the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 130-86 in an away game, taking a 2-0 lead with a total score.
Cavaliers: James had 30 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks, Love had 21 points and 12 rebounds, Irving had 23 points, Thompson had 7 points and 2 rebounds, and Korver had 8 points.
Celtics: Horford had 11 points and 5 rebounds, Bradley had 13 points and 3 rebounds, and Brown had 19 points.
What makes the Celtics even more annoyed than losing the game by a big score is that the team's core player Thomas Jr. was injured for the season.
Thomas' hip injury first appeared in a regular season game against the Timberwolves on March 15. Since then, Thomas has actually been fighting with the injury.
In the Eastern Conference semifinals, in the G6 game between the Green Army and the Wizards, Thomas clearly felt that his hip injury had worsened again, but he still led the team to win the tiebreaker despite the injury.
After the victory in the tiebreaker, the young coach of the Green Army once mentioned intentionally or unintentionally that Thomas Jr. has been fighting with injuries.
In fact, in the G2 game of the Eastern Conference Finals, during some rounds of offensive and defensive transitions, fans could clearly see that Thomas's movements were somewhat awkward.
In the series against the Wizards, Thomas continued to play even though his front teeth were knocked out. Thinking about it now, he was fighting through double injuries at that time.
Since entering the Eastern Conference Finals, Thomas' performance on the court has been greatly reduced, and the Celtics have also suffered successive defeats. This may be the risk that a single-core team like the Green Army has to bear. Once the star is injured, it will be difficult to find a second one.
Be stronger.
This season, Thomas averaged 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game in the regular season, ranking third in the league in scoring. In the playoffs, he averaged 23.3 points, 6.7 assists and 34.7 minutes per game. He is the most indispensable player in the Green Army.
One member.
Brian McCain, chief physician of the Celtics, said: "Isiah has been working diligently and actively since he first suffered such an injury, but in the previous two games against the Cavaliers,
, his injury has worsened again, and in order to avoid long-term damage to his hip injury, we can no longer let him continue to play with the injury."
…
May 21, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Thomas was out for the season due to a hip injury, and Smart entered the starting lineup.
Although the core player Thomas was missing, the Green Army was very tenacious. After three quarters, the Cavaliers only led by 5 points, 87-82.
In the last quarter, Jerry Booker hit a 3-pointer and Thompson made four free throws after two fouls. After that, the Celtics went on an 8-2 spurt to tie the score at 95.
After the Cavaliers timeout, Smith hit a 3-pointer, but Olynyk scored 4 points in a row to help the Celtics take the lead.
After 99 tied and 101 tied, Smart made 2 of 3 free throws to lead 104-103.
Irving missed a three-pointer and Smith hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 106.
Jerry Booker scored on a mid-range shot, and Irving scored on a breakthrough.
With 10.7 seconds left, Bradley hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, giving the Cavaliers no chance.
In the end, the Celtics defeated the Cavaliers 111-108, bringing the total score to 1-2.
Celtics: Claude had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Horford had 16 points and 6 assists, Bradley had 20 points, and Smart had 27 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists.
Cavaliers: James had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Love had 28 points and 10 rebounds, Thompson had 18 points and 13 rebounds, Smith had 13 points, and Irving had 29 points and 7 assists.
…
On May 23, in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers, playing at home, reversed a 16-point deficit and defeated the Celtics 112-99, extending the total score to 3-1.
Score in the fourth quarter (Cavaliers trailing): 29-19, 28-28, 23-40, 19-25.
Irving sprained his ankle in the third quarter, but he finished with 42 points and 4 assists, including 21 points in the quarter.
Celtics: Claude had 18 points and 8 rebounds, Horford had 16 points and 7 assists, Bradley had 19 points and 5 rebounds, Smart had 8 points and 6 assists, and Olynyk had 15 points and 5 rebounds.
Cavaliers: James had 34 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Love had 17 points and 17 rebounds, Thompson had 7 points and 7 rebounds, and Smith had 5 points.
…
On May 25, in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Cavaliers defeated the Celtics 135-102 away from home and eliminated their opponents with a total score of 4-1 to advance to the Finals.
Cavaliers: James had 35 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, Love had 15 points and 11 rebounds, Irving had 24 points and 7 assists, and Deron had 14 points.
Celtics: Claude had 11 points and 6 rebounds, Bradley had 23 points and 4 rebounds, Rozier had 10 points and 7 assists, and Green had 14 points.
In general, the strength gap between the two teams is huge, and there is no suspense in this series.
Thomas has an obvious role on the offensive end, but he is also a weakness on the defensive end.
Even if Thomas is not injured, it will be difficult for the Celtics to beat the Cavaliers. At most, they will only win one more game.
