The Clover Report: Week Thirty-One
What an absolute whirlwind the Boston Celtics have gone through the past week and really the past month. They are still winning games without their two best players and they continue to prove jackasses like me wrong. While I picked them to beat the Bucks, I picked the 76ers to beat them. Going into this year’s Eastern Conference Finals, my official pick was that the Cavs would beat the Celtics in 6 games. But the Celtics continue to shock the world and prove everyone wrong. Let’s recap Games 1 and 2 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals.
From the opening tip of Game 1, the TD Garden was rocking and the Celtics were dominating. They led 36—18 after the 1st quarter and they didn’t look back. The Celtics blew the doors off the Cavaliers and won 108—83. Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Morris combined for 64 points in the blowout win. Morris also gave LeBron James a lot of fits as well as LeBron only scored 15 points and turned the ball over a ridiculous 7 times. Everything that could have gone right for the Celtics went right and everything that could have gone wrong for the Cavs went wrong for the Cavs. But going into Game 2, Celtic fans knew LeBron was going to wake up and boy did he ever.
From the opening tip, LeBron was engaged and he was on fire. He scored 21 of the Cavaliers’ 27 first quarter points to take an early lead. The Cavs lead for a majority of the 1st half but they were never able to put the Celtics away. That was a mistake because if you want to beat the Celtics, you better kill them. They outscored the Cavs 36—22 in the 3rd quarter and they didn’t look back. The Celtics won 107—94 to take a 2-0 lead in the East Finals. Jaylen Brown led the way in scoring with 23 points and added 7 rebounds. Marcus Smart also had a hell of a game as he finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 9 assists off the bench. He also was a maniac on defense when he was diving all over the floor for loose balls. This game was even more impressive considering LeBron went off. He finished with 42 points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists and the Celtics still won by double digits. What a run this goddamn team is on. I just hope they’re ready to go into Cleveland and beat the Cavs. Because if the Cavs maintain home court and tie the series at 2, Game 5 will be an absolute dogfight.
Steve Santoro (SVS_1993)
