The Boston Celtics traveled to the home of the defending NBA champions Cleveland Cavaliers without two of their star players. Pundits expected the Cavs to secure the win with little difficulty given their strong start to the campaign and the form of Kyrie Irving and LeBron James.
However, Brad Stevens’ men battled well over the course of the contest, and although they were troubled by the potent Cavaliers’ offense a late surge in the fourth quarter gave them a chance of an unlikely victory. The challenge became too great for the Celtics in the last three minutes as the difference in quality told, allowing the Cavaliers to move to 5-0 in their season.
.
Despite the 128-122 defeat, the Celtics will have been buoyed by their performance, especially given the absences of Al Horford and Jae Crowder. They could well meet the Cavaliers in the post-season should both teams continue their expected trajectories through the regular campaign.
In the early NBA playoffs betting odds Stevens’ men are backed at 7/1 to win the Eastern Conference, and after their performance at the Quicken Loans Arena they will have no fear facing Cleveland down the road, with their star man Horford restored to the line-up. Boston was able to keep the game close against Tyronn Lue’s men due to the outstanding display of Isaiah Thomas, who continues to shine for the Celtics. After becoming an integral part of the team last season he has seemingly elevated the level of his performances with each passing week.
The 27-year-old averaged 22.4 points per game last term, which was a career-high. Thomas surpassed his performances in the regular season, raising his stat line to 24.4 ppg and also increasing his accuracy from three-pointers. When the pressure is on, the point guard always seems to rise to the occasion and without Horford and Crowder, he took center stage scoring
30 points along with six assists. That display will only improve with further talent around him, highlighting how dangerous the Celtics could be in the post-season. Crowder’s absence at small forward thrust rookie Jaylen Brown into a starting role for the first time in his NBA career. Against James and Kevin Love he did not shy away from the challenge, putting in a solid defensive display, including three steals, gathering two defensive rebounds and a block in his 35 minutes on the court.
This was an
absolutely ridiculous rebound by Jaylen Brown against Kevin Love https://t.co/6YfKcPrKko— Brian Robb
(@CelticsHub) November 4,
2016
The 20-year-old also contributed on offense, ranking third on the team behind Thomas and Avery Bradley with 19 points, which included a special move to fake out James on a three-pointer before dunking over the four-time NBA MVP. Brown has raised expectations of him, even though hopes were high after the club selected him third overall in the 2016 Draft. Should he become a solid contributor off the bench for Stevens’ men this season then that will add another string to the Celtics’ bow in attack and defensively where they have struggled at times this season, not just against the Cavaliers. Boston is very much a team in progress, having failed to go beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2012. However, should they maintain their level of performance from their narrow defeat to the Cavaliers then they could well be challenging Lue’s side for a place in the Finals come June.
