One striking aspect of the Cavaliers’ overwhelming 130-86 victory over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals Friday night in Boston is that the defending NBA champions showed no signs of a let-up.
That’s a huge difference for the team in this postseason. During the regular season, when the Cavs held a huge lead and role players went in for mop-up duty, those leads occasionally grew tenuous.
Not Friday night.
When the starting five took their bow with about two minutes left in the third quarter, their replacements didn’t miss a beat.
With a 101-57 lead, the team’s starters certainly gave them plenty with which to work, but they were able to play to a stalemate in the fourth, only losing the quarter 29-27. Celtics coach Brad Stevens certainly noticed what those veteran players accomplished.
“One of the things that I really leave with tonight was at the start of the fourth quarter, they had a bunch of guys that have been in the league for a long time that were playing their butts off,’’ Stevens said. ‘‘Kyle Korver, Channing Frye, Richard Jefferson — those guys were playing the right way up 45 freaking points. Tremendous examples for us to learn from.”
LeBron James, who had another stellar playoff performance with 30 points, four rebounds and seven assists, said the Cavs are challenging one another to do whatever is necessary to win. An expectation of excellence exists for the team.
“We’re one of the oldest teams in the league, so we all push each other. We’re here for one reason,” said James, who tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with eight consecutive games of 30 points or more in a single postseason. “When you sign up to be here, we’re here to compete. We’re here to sacrifice for one another. And if you’re in garbage time or if you’re in crunch time, you need to be a professional.”
Seeking advice
Stevens received some input on strategy for Game 3 from one of the sport’s greats — University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma, who has 11 national titles and six perfect seasons since taking over the program in 1985.
“I literally just walked out of my office, and Geno Auriemma was in there,” Stevens said. “He wasn’t very good at understanding what I was going through. But nonetheless, I picked his brain for as long as I could before I came down here.”
It may not help. The Celtics don’t have anyone powerful enough to cover James. Kevin Love had another strong night — 21 points, a team-high 12 rebounds — and Kyrie Irving (8-of-11 from the field) and J.R. Smith (4-of-5) started to get hot.
Level headed
Despite the numerous records they set Friday night — the largest halftime lead (41 points) in NBA postseason history, dealing the Celtics their worst home playoff loss, delivering the biggest loss to a No. 1 seed ever and claiming the largest win ever in the Eastern Conference finals — the Cavs still understand what’s at stake.
“They had a rough night scoring the basketball, and we put together a full game, defensively and offensively,” Cavs coach Tyronn Lue said. “It was just one of those games. You can’t bank on that every single night.”
Still, going home up 2-0 with the next two games at Quicken Loans Arena offers the Cavs a huge advantage.
“It will be what we expect,” Smith said. “Our crowd always brings it every night. We’ve just got to make sure we bring it.”
Cherry on top
For all of the excitement to be found in the Cavs’ play in Game 2, Smith’s shot at the halftime buzzer may have been the most exciting moment.
The Cavs led 70-31 with about seven seconds left in the half. Love attempted a 3-pointer from the left corner and missed. Running toward the right corner, Smith grabbed the offensive rebound, jumped, spun around in mid-air and put up an off-balance shot that hit nothing but net.
Smith said it was one of the most difficult shots in his career, which is impressive in itself.
“It’s definitely up there. I actually thought Kev was going to make it and I was going to get the rebound and pass it to the ref,” he said. “The way it bounced out, I was just trying to get it up. I heard Ky [Irving] out of nowhere, ‘Shoot it, Swish, shoot it.’ So I tried to get it up as fast as I could.”
Mission accomplished.
Under the radar
Basketball has been Irving’s life nonstop for the better part of the last two years. After the Cavs point guard helped his team win the NBA championship, he went promptly to Team USA for the Olympics.
No one could blame him if his gas tank was a bit low. Irving struggled in Game 1, scoring 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting but Friday night provided a different result.
Irving “quietly” dropped in 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, connected on 3-of-6 from deep. However, he was able to maneuver his way into the paint to score as well, especially early on in the game. When Irving can do that, the Cavs’ offense really opens.
“It was good seeing him aggressive early and playing with that pace,” Lue said. “I thought he played with a good pace to start the game.”
George M. Thomas can be reached at gmthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GeorgeThomasABJ.