After leading 2-0, the Celtics dropped both road games to even the series at 2-2. They now face a three-game series with two home games to return back to the NBA Finals.
Four games into the Eastern Conference Finals both the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers have defended home court to even the series at 2-2. The Celtics looked like a completely different team in a wire-to-wire blowout in Game 3, but bounced back to show some fight in a tough Game 4 loss. They have struggled away from The Garden all postseason with a 1-6 road record and those growing pains continued the past two games.
Defensively, their willingness to switch everything caught up to them as LeBron James and company attacked mismatches all over the floor. The Cavaliers’ role players stepped up considerably, as their bench outscored Boston’s in Games 3 and 4.
James torched the Celtics for 44 points in Game 4 on an efficient 17-for-28 clip, taking advantage of any defender thrown at him with Marcus Morris in foul trouble.
Despite the whirlwind of switches failing Boston in the last two games, Head Coach Brad Stevens doesn’t plan to get away from the strategy stating, “it’s been more effective to switch than not, just by the numbers.”
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He followed that up by crediting James for being “the best in the game at evaluating the court, figuring out the matchups he wants and where he wants them.” The Celtics will have to rotate quicker and more effectively to prevent James from creating mismatches if they plan to advance to The Finals.
With a series tied at 2-2, James has nine series wins and five losses. He’s won seven of his last eight series that were tied at two games apiece, with the only loss coming against the Golden State Warriors in the 2015 NBA Finals. While those numbers do not favor Boston’s odds, James has never won a series tied at 2-2 in which he was forced to play two of the last three games on the road. He is 0-2 in that scenario.
Winning on the road has been tough for all teams in the 2018 playoffs, as the home team has a 52-19 record through the 71 games played thus far. The Cavaliers have three road wins, which is the second most of any team this postseason trailing only the Houston Rockets who have four. The Celtics have been a perfect 9-0 at home in these playoffs and their numbers change drastically in front of the TD Garden crowd.
They average 16 more points per game (110.1) and allow seven fewer points per game (98.8). They shoot seven percent better from the field (47.1%) and eight percent better from three (38.7%). In Game 4, they had several runs that brought them extremely close to making a comeback but never got the score within seven points down the stretch. A few of those runs, with the energy of a roaring Boston fan base behind them, just might have been enough to complete the comeback and earn a win.
King James spoke highly of the Celtics’ crowd in his post-game interview with Doris Burke saying, “It’s a hostile environment, we understand that and we know that. If you aren’t in green and you don’t bleed green they got no love for you. It’s going to be a tough atmosphere.” As for Stevens and Jaylen Brown in their post-game interviews, “it’s best-of-three to go to the NBA Finals. What more could you ask for?”
Next: Cavaliers exploiting the Boston Celtics switching
Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals will be Wednesday, May 23 at 8:30 on ESPN.