The Boston Celtics Look Inspired and United—Something Foreign to the Cleveland Cavaliers

The Celtics are clicking in all aspects of the game as a collaborative unit, and the Cavaliers cannot seem to emulate the Celtics’ camaraderie

Boasting a well-deserved 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Boston Celtics collectively prevailed in defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in back-to-back games to open the series. From scoring to leadership, this team has become a unified force on both ends of the floor. And they are doing it against the best player in the world in LeBron James.

Offensively, the Celtics could have a different leading scorer in every game and still dominate the game. Three starters had at least 20 points in Game 1, and the first seven rotational players all had at least 9 points in Game 2.

With an almost identical stat-line in both games, Jaylen Brown has led the Celtics with consecutive 23-point performances. Yet the second-half run in Game 2 was thanks to an emphatic scoring effort from Terry Rozier, who scored 16 of his 18 points in the final two quarters. And superb facilitating by Marcus Smart has allowed Al Horford, Jayson Tatum, and Marcus Morris to contribute on the offensive end down the stretch.

In other words, the offensive effort has been coming from all angles; and the fact that all five players on the court for the Celtics can score from anywhere on the floor creates difficult matchups for their opponent.

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People generally assumed that the Celtics’ offense would significantly decrease with the losses of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward. This is what makes the Celtics so dangerous—everyone wants to score; and when one player hits a shot, his teammate wants to match that. The Celtics bounce off each other’s success; so when Rozier hits a three, that gets Morris pumped up. Morris then wants to drive to the hoop and score, thus creating a cycle of scoring and a momentum-boosting.

This is the epitome of the inspired basketball that the Celtics are playing night-in and night-out. Playing at home then uplifts their spirits even more, and players like Morris feed off that energy.

Even Horford had to flaunt his muscles to the crowd after his reverse layup and the foul on Kevin Love. This was the first play following J.R. Smith‘s controversial flagrant-one foul on Horford, and then Horford’s response further ignited the crowd. The Celtics will not have the home crowd to motivate them in Games 3 and 4, but they fortunately will carry their momentum into Quicken Loans Arena on Saturday and Monday.

Celtics’ legend and color commentator Tommy Heinsohn has been extremely impressed with the Celtics thus far in the playoffs. He said on NBC Sports Boston that, “I’m sure every single player that I ever played with or coached would love to play with this group of players because they have tremendous determination, they have a tremendous will to win, and they have camaraderie like you can’t believe. That’s the old-time Celtics religion.”

The effectiveness of the Celtics’ next-man-up mentality of the playoffs has thoroughly shocked NBA fans. Most people would not have predicted that the Celtics would be in this position right now—up 2-0 on the best player in the world in the Eastern Conference Finals. But the difference is underneath the previous sentence; the Celtics are thriving as one team against incredible performances from one player in James. Sure, Kevin Love has produced as well and will continue to do so, but this series has always been labeled as the Celtics vs. LeBron.

The Celtics as a whole are defeating one star and, as a recent Saturday Night Live sketch put it, “the other Cavaliers.” Each Celtics player is efficiently playing his role to its fullest potential every time out on the floor, while the Cavaliers’ game is too centered around James. Essentially, the Celtics just showed that a 40-point triple-double from James and 22 points and 15 rebounds from Love cannot beat a complete-team victory.

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The Eastern Conference has been James’ for the past seven years. But he needs more from his supporting cast if he wants to keep the title in his hands. It will take a great deal for the Cavaliers to replicate the dramatic character and heart the Celtics possess. If the Celtics can ride their inspired and united passion to a spot in the NBA Finals, they will have proven that team basketball surpasses individual performance.