Boston Celtics handle the best the Cavaliers have to offer

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers responded with a great performance in game two, but it was still not enough to win

The Boston Celtics did the seemingly impossible when they shut down LeBron James and took game one against the Cleveland Cavaliers in commanding fashion. Everyone knew James would be a different monster in game two, and he delivered one of the most special performances of the playoffs.

James bounced back exactly as you would expect, with a 40 point triple double, and a 21 point first quarter to make sure the Celtics could not get the start they did last game.

Kyle Korver helped with that early spark, and Kevin Love even brought 22 and 15. The Cavaliers had one of the better games of the playoffs, with an entire half a shooting 50 percent overall and 50 percent from three.

Somehow, none of that mattered. With a leading scorer just hitting 23 points, the Celtics looked to every player on the roster, and made sure they got enough to overcome one of the most overwhelming James performances we have seen these playoffs.

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The Cavaliers were far from perfect. Korver disappeared in the second half and J.R Smith hurt his team in every way possible. That being said, this is about as good as we have been able to expect from the Cavaliers since the roster overhaul, and it was not enough to take down these young Celtics.

James said that game one was a feel out game, and he backed up that comment. He found more ways to get himself going, but one thing remains consistent, this is the hardest James has been challenged on defense since maybe Kawhi Leonard won Finals MVP.

James got that 40 point triple double the hardest way possible. He was taking all kinds of deep and contested shots. The Celtics were forcing away from his spots, and they did not let him break them down by hitting impassible shots to start.

Once again Marcus Morris did the best job on the team at defending James, but you saw pretty much any player on the court get a chance, and all over them made sure any bucket he got took a tole on his body, and it was only a matter of time before the crazy heaves stopped falling on a regular basis.

James hit a lot of shots and passes, and he is often too good to do anything about that. The key for the Celtics was the turnovers. No matter what numbers he put up, the Celtics reinforced the idea that they can disrupt James, and it is hard to imagine the Cavaliers getting better performances from their top three players.

This does not mean that it will be impossible for the Cavaliers to overcome the Celtics, because they have been a different team on the road. Just because the Celtics took the toughest shot the Cavaliers have to offer and won, does not mean they are going to play well enough to overcome him every time.

Consistency has been the biggest question mark all season long, but has been much less of a problem since getting into the second round. The Celtics need to show that they are going to compete with anything James has to offer, and even if it is not enough to win every time, they need to keep this same kind of pressure on James, because will look at these results and question what more he can do with a defense this good.

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Who knows what the Celtics will look like in Cleveland, because they need at least five or six guys to all play exceptionally for them to be this good. Nevertheless, people are changing how they look at the quality and caliber of players on this injury riddled team, and if those top five or six all play up to their abilities, James will need two of the best games of his career to even this series at home.

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