The Cleveland Cavaliers are one game away from the NBA Finals after coming back from 16 points down to beat the Boston Celtics 112-99 in game four of the Eastern Conference Finals. At home and led by Kyrie Irving at first and a masterful LeBron James in the final stretch, the Cavs surged back to leave the Celtics without options to respond.
Despite missing star point guard Isaiah Thomas, the Boston Celtics came ready to play and put up a fight.
The Celtics began with an intense defense that went a long way to stop the Cavaliers offense and limit their chances of finding open shots. While on the attack they used a lot of ball movement to keep the Cavs off their feet and free up spaces for shooters like Avery Bradley. As a result, Boston went on an 11-0 run to take an 11-5 lead with 7:22 left to play in the first quarter.
Without Thomas on the field, the Celtics moved the ball from hand to hand to find the open shooter and for a great portion of the first half that man was Jae Crowder. The Celtics’ shooting guard took advantage to score 11 of his 18 points in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Cleveland seemed taken aback by the Celtics fierceness. With James missing in action and the Cav’s defense trying to figure out Boston, the visitors could have finished the first quarter with a bigger lead.
Kevin Love’s stout defense and the Celtics failing to take advantage of their open shots were the main reason why the Celtics held only a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter (29-19).
In the second quarter, the Celtics continued to dominate, looking very solid both in defense and attack. To make it all worse LeBron picked up his fourth personal foul with 6:46 left to play in the second quarter and Avery Bradley was scoring from all over the floor to finish with 13 points in the first half.
With just over five minutes to play in the half all alarms went off for the Cleveland when the Celtics took a 16-point lead (49-33). However, that’s when Kyrie Irving appeared to become the savior for the Cavs.
Cleveland’s point guard responded with 10 points in five minutes to stop the bleeding and put the Cavaliers back in the game. Despite his effort, Boston managed to keep the Cavs at bay and led 57-47 at halftime.
The sleeping giant of the Cavs, however, had awakened. In the third quarter Irving destroyed the Celtics. The Cavaliers’ point guard went on a run: he scored 21 points in the third quarter to lead Cleveland’s comeback and revitalize the Cavs. The game momentum changed and the Cavs looked like a whole new team.
Irving scored in every possible way and in doing that he reenergized LeBron. “King James” started to wake up from his slumber and as a result the Celtics were overpowered on the floor as the Cavs took an 87-80 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Irving paved the way to victory, but LeBron finished the masterpiece. The forward scored 15 of his 34 points in the fourth quarter, while the Cavs’ defense closed lines to limit open shots and stop Boston’s attacks.
The Cavs defenders had effectively neutralized the Celtics’ shooters. Boston’s players looked stunned at times and were struggling to find open shots, which in turn resulted in a declining field goal percentage.
Without the on-court presence of a star like Thomas to carry the team on his back the Celtics had no answer.
Al Horford tried from the paint, but it was too little, too late to stop the Cavs’ comeback. A triple from Love ended up sealing it with five minutes left to play as the Cavs now led 101-92.
In the end Cleveland won 112-99 and is now a game away from meeting the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals for a third straight year.
