BOSTON: When Celtics coach Brad Stevens looks at the Cavaliers’ 2017 playoff roster, he flashes back to LeBron James’ days in Miami, when he led the Heat to two championships in four seasons.
But as Stevens pondered how to defend the 2016 NBA champions as the Celtics hosted the Cavaliers Wednesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, he realized the supreme challenge.
“You saw this a little bit with LeBron’s years in Miami when they just filled that roster with shooters around him,” Stevens said during his pregame press conference at TD Garden. “This is a perfect roster with regard to how many predicaments they can put you in with all the shooting around him. You never want to double when you have that much shooting because eventually they’re going to find a good shot. If not they’re going to get the rebound. But how do you not pay extra close attention to the best player in the world?
“And then, with the way Kyrie [Irving] has scored the ball on the biggest stage over and over and over and his ability, there’s another one that you have to react to over and over. There’s all kinds of issues with defending them. They’re defending champs for a reason. And we’re going to have to play well.”
The Cavs didn’t have that perfect roster until March, when J.R. Smith returned after undergoing surgery for a fractured thumb and Kevin Love was cleared followed arthroscopic knee surgery. But Cavs coach Tyronn Lue knows how fortunate he is now.
“Griff did a great job and Dan gave us the opportunity to do that,” Lue said of Cavs General Manager David Griffin and owner Dan Gilbert. “We can do a lot of different things. We can go with a defensive unit, we can play big, we can play small, we can go with an offensive unit. We have a lot of versatility.
“When we got everyone healthy, when we got J.R. back, we got Kevin back and got everybody in the right rotations, I think things got a little easier. We figured out guys’ roles and what we were going to do and how we were going to play.”
Rebounding issues
Stevens is also aware of the rebounding problems the Cavs present. In the Cavs’ April 5 rout of the Celtics at TD Garden, the Cavs had a 51-38 edge. The Cavs outrebounded the Celtics in three of their four regular-season meetings. The Celtics won the only one of the four when they had the advantage.
“The bottom line against Cleveland in my opinion is that when they get in transition and you’re scrambling all over the place, or if you get scrambling all over the place in pick-and-rolls, you’re toast,” Stevens said. “Because they just find the right shooters, LeBron has the ball, he’s the center of it all. You can guard for the first 16 seconds really well, but the next extra pass is to a guy who shoots 75 percent of his shots from 3.
“Then you’re flying all over the place and you’re in terrible position to rebound. And then, if they get it, then you have to fly back out to find those guys again because they’re looking to kick out for another 3.
“It’s a really tough matchup, it’s a really tough thing to guard. They’re great at a lot of things. One of the reasons they’re great at rebounding is their effort, Love and [Tristan] Thompson specifically, their effort to the glass is great. But they’re also working against scrambling defense a lot.”
Loyalty to Doc
Lue began his coaching career with the Celtics starting in 2009-2010 as director of basketball development and served as an assistant to coach Doc Rivers in 2011-12 and 12-13. But when Rivers left Boston to take over the Los Angeles Clippers, Lue said he never considered staying with the Celtics.
“I didn’t even get to that point,” Lue said. “When Doc left, he gave me my first opportunity, so wherever Doc went … if he would have went to China, I was going to China with Doc.”
About those ATOs
Both Stevens and Lue have excelled at drawing up out-of-bounds plays and Lue is well aware of their importance in the postseason.
“When a team goes on a run and you call a timeout to stop the run and you come out of timeout and you score and you get a basket to stop the bleeding, it’s big for your team,” Lue said. “Those are plays you need in the playoffs. Brad is really good at drawing up ATOs, he’s very unpredictable. You can’t really go over two or three sets he does because he does a lot of different things. He’s very unpredictable and that’s why he’s a great coach.”
All about the 3
The Eastern Conference finals matched the league’s top two teams in 3-pointers made in the postseason.
The Cavs entered the day ranked No. 1 at 14.4, the Celtics were second at 13.1, followed by the Rockets (12.8) and Warriors (12.0).
The Cavs also stood No. 1 in 3-point percentage (.434), while the Celtics were sixth (.374). In a sweep of the Toronto Raptors in the semifinals, the Cavs made at least 13 3s in every game.
James was watching Monday night when the Celtics ousted the Washington Wizards in Game 7 of the conference semifinals and thought the Wizards covered the 3-point line pretty well. But the Celtics still got up 26 attempts and made 11 (.423).
That was also the difference when the Cavs rolled over the Celtics 114-91 April 5 in TD Garden. The Cavs held the Celtics to 7-of-33 (.212) shooting from beyond the arc and point guard Isaiah Thomas went 1-for-8 in a 26-point performance.
In the playoffs, Thomas is averaging 7.6 3-point attempts per game. But in 16 career games against the Cavs, Thomas has averaged 19.3 points (down from his 25.4 in this postseason) and shot .273 on 3s (down from .343 in the Celtics’ 13 playoff games).
“We have to understand that that’s one of their main focuses and we have to cover the 3-point line,” James said Wednesday at shootaround at TD Garden. “IT is getting up nine, 10 a game. It’s not just him, Avery [Bradley], Jae Crowder, [Kelly] Olynyk, the rest of those guys, [Al] Horford is shooting at a high clip now. So we’ve got to protect the 3-point line.”
Lue agreed that 3s would be key in the series.
“It’s all about making shots. If we’re making shots, we’re a tough team to beat. If they’re making shots, they’re a tough team to beat,” he said.
Respect for Horford
Horford, a forward/center for the Celtics, is shooting .583 from 3-point range in the postseason, a relatively new part of his game.
In his first seven trips to the playoffs with the Atlanta Hawks, Horford shot a combined 3-for-13 from beyond the arc. Last season with the Hawks he went 11-for-28 (.393). This season Horford has connected on 21-of-36.
“He’s always been a great mid-range shooter, even when I played with him back in the day. He can always pick-and-pop and shoot that 17-foot midrange shot,” Lue said. “But over the last couple years, he’s really extended his range.
“Teams are not getting out there, they’re not respecting him when he’s shooting 57 percent in the playoffs from 3. He’s just put the work in to expand his game, he’s done a great job of doing that. Now you have to respect him midrange, on the post and 3-point shot. We have to do a good job to make sure we get back to him.”
James knows how important Horford is in facilitating the Celtics offense.
“That’s what’s going on in our game,” James said in reference to the 6-foot-10 Horford. “Draymond [Green], at one point Joakim Noah was that guy who could facilitate the offense from busting out on the break.
“You’ve got guys like that that makes their team even more dynamic, when you’ve got a guy that can grab a rebound and bust out on the break and handle the ball and also pass and also score. It definitely helps their team out a lot.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla.
