The Boston Celtics needed their most balanced game of the season to take down LeBron James in game two
When you look at the performances the Cleveland Cavaliers got out of their top players in game two, it feels crazy to think the Boston Celtics were able to win. You would also assume that they needed some next level career performance from someone to overcome them. Even then, it is hard to imagine anyone transcendent performance overcoming what LeBron James did.
The Celtics, however, did not have any individual do something that we have not seen before. Everyone played within their capabilities and, quite frankly, it feels like a lot of them can actually be much better than game two.
Jaylen Brown‘s scoring stands out, but 23 for a team high that withstood that barrage from James just seems off. The Celtics were able to overcome the super stardom of the Cavaliers because they had better balance than you can expect out of anyone.
Ant player who had more than 30 minutes played hit double digits scoring, and Aron Baynes put in another nine points in 17 minutes. Every single player that hit the court was contributing, and that ended up being the most difficult thing to overcome.
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On defense, everyone took their turn on James, and they made the necessary adjustments to take Kyle Korver out of the game as an entire unit. No individual is responsible for any one accomplishment in this game, and that is how they need it to be from here on out.
Turns out it is a lot easier for six players to overcome one individual, than it is for one individual to overcome six, even if that one is James. The most surprising part is how good Kevin Love and Korver were during their loss. That being said, the Celtics used every single player to exploit something, and the Cavaliers could not account for everything.
J.R Smith, Tristan Thompson, Jeff Green and George Hill all had underwhelming performances or even disastrous performances, and the Celtics were able to get an advantage over every single one of them.
The Celtics do not have any player that is going to match what James did in game two, or he is going to do in future games. The difference with this Celtics team is that they are using impeccable balance to exploit as much as possile around him.
The Celtics know that one individual can only do so much, and if they have three or four options that are getting an advantage any time they are on the court, there is nothing James will be able to do to beat them.
The danger is that the Celtics need a lot of different players to be good for them to be successful. They are not putting too much pressure on any individual, but even if one or two of their secondary players have a bad game, James will be able to do enough to overcome the rest of them.
Brad Stevens has made it clear that he is going to find a way to use every bit of talent at his disposal. There are a lot of holes on the Cavaliers team, and if he can trust all five players on the court at all times to exploit the weaknesses, then the Celtics will continue to be successful.
The Celtics need to prove they can play this way in Cleveland, because it will be even more important. You can expect those role players to be a but more successful in front of their home crowd, but the good news is that their balance can still be better.
The Celtics have three or four options they know can break 20 points, without doing anything beyond their capabilities. They now they can shoot better than 32 percent overall against one of the worst defenses in the league, and had a lot of easy misses in game two.
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The Celtics overwhelmed the Cavaliers with their balance in game two, and if a 40 point triple double form James and 22 and 15 from Love is not enough to beat this kind of balance across the board, the Celtics know what a real opportunity they have to make the NBA Finals.