At 7:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 16, the NBA playoff matchup is in full swing, with the Boston Celtics sitting at home to face the Cleveland Cavaliers. Ahead of this game, the Celtics had already secured match points with a 3-1 score, and they are expected to be the first team to advance to the division finals. This season's Green Army is indeed very dominant, first in the league in the regular season, offensive and defensive efficiency are in the top five in the league, their squad depth is very thick, the five starters have All-Star strength, and there are many players with scoring explosiveness sitting on the bench, like Pritchard, Horford and Hauser, who have scored 20+ points in a single game many times this season. For the Green Army, in fact, it is just one breath away from being able to hit the championship and see if Shuangtanhua can break the doubt.
On the other side, the Cavaliers are now a bit out of ammunition, not only were they the match points first by the opponent, but many people in the lineup were affected by injuries, Reece LeVert, Jarrett Allen and Craig Porter all missed the match point game, and more importantly, the star Mitchell was also absent because of a calf injury. Mitchell scored 50 points in a series against the Magic in this year's playoffs. Regarding the team's fate hanging by a thread, Garland said in the pre-game interview: "I think the Celtics will definitely fight hard this time, and they will try to finish this series. We have to be the first to punch. Head coach Bickerstaff also said: "When I was an assistant coach to McHale with the Rockets, we were 3-1 down to the Clippers, but we came back from a comeback. McHale was chasing one by one, don't put pressure on yourself. ”
In this game, the two sides are in the starting lineup, the Cavaliers sent Garland, Mobley, Strus, Okoro and Wade, and the Celtics sent Tatum, Brown, White, Holiday and Horford. At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, Horford jumped to win, the Celtics took the lead in getting the ball, Brown ambushed in the bottom corner to catch the ball and hit a shot, scoring the first goal of the game, Strus made a three-point foul, all three free throws, and also opened for the Cavaliers, White and Strus shot each other's three-pointers, Morris turned around at the free throw line and hit a shot, White Dragonfly leaned forward and threw a hollow shot, Horford shot through the basket with the help of the cover of the outside line, White shot with the help of cover, Steady success.
In the first quarter of the game, the two teams started a tug-of-war, the score you chase me and catch up with the lead alternately, Tatum started at the top of the arc, and the long drive was a one-handed split dunk, Morris was not to be outdone, squeezed into the basket and played a 2+1, the first quarter of the game ended, and the two teams were tied 28-28. At the beginning of the second quarter of the game, Pritchard's extreme ultra-long three-pointer pierced the heart with one arrow, helping the Celtics to take the next city, Hauser continued to shoot the ball outside the three-point line, Okoro was not to be outdone, chased back a three-pointer from the front, Strus 45-degree angle three-point shot directly blossomed, Cornet took off on the spot, the air relay two-handed dunk was shocking, Mobley also had a basket and turned and hooked, although the Cavaliers lacked the core and many people were absent, they were still able to bite the score tightly for most of the first half.
In the second half of the second quarter, the Green Army finally broke the deadlock, and a small surge took a lead of about 5 points. At halftime, the Celtics led the Cavaliers by six points at 58-52. At the beginning of the second half of the game, Yibian fought again, Strus ignored the defense, pulled out a three-point shot on the spot and scored a hollow goal, opening the third quarter of the game, Mobley leaned on the defense to break through the basket and wiped the board, Horford ate the cake under the basket and slammed the dunk, the knife is not old, Tatum pounced on the wolf, stealed the fast break and flew to the basket, and scored steadily. Horford's big open three-man shot decisively went into the center of the net, Mobley stepped into the clouds, rushed into the interior and dunked vigorously, Tatum accelerated to break through, hit the basket to make a kill, and stood on the free throw line to make two free throws. The Greens preemptively extended the margin to double digits.
The Cavaliers were also quite tenacious, chasing the disadvantage back to within 10 points at the end of the quarter, and after the third quarter of the game, the Celtics led the Cavaliers by 7 points at 85-78. In the final quarter, the Green Army no longer gave any chance, a wave of three-point rain directly took away the game, expanding the difference to more than 15 points, the veteran Horford dreamed of returning to the top, the outside shot dart must be hit, Tatum also stabilized the output, and in the end, the Green Army defeated the Cavaliers 113-98, and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals with a score of 4-1, and the Cavaliers, one of the dark horses in the East, were also out.
In terms of statistics, on the Cavaliers' side, Mobley scored 33 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, Garland had 11 points and 9 assists, Strus had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists, and Morris had 25 points and 3 rebounds. On the Celtics' side, Tatum had 25 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists for a quasi-triple-double, Brown had 11 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists, White had 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists, Holiday had 13 points and 4 assists, and Horford had 22 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, becoming the first player in NBA history to cut at least 15 rebounds, make 6 three-pointers and deliver 3 blocks in a single game in the playoffs.