Boston Celtics have to expect vintage James in game six

The Boston Celtics understand how much better LeBron James is going to be in game six

The Boston Celtics maintained their perfect home record, and once again put all the pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers. The home and away splits in this series have been staggering, because neither team has been able to look the same on the road.

LeBron James is in the midst of a truly special postseason, but it feels like he either checked out, or the Celtics got to him in this one. He was not as aggressive as a scorer, he was not finding open players and he looked utterly gassed the whole game.

25 points is never going to be enough for him, and when you combine that with more turnovers than assists, the Cavaliers do not have any way of playing the way they need to in order to win. Even on a night when the Celtics did not shoot phenomenally, and were far from an unbeatable team.

The Celtics got the great start they needed, and the Cavaliers did not get any boost. Their entire lineup looked lifeless, while the Celtics got back to the balanced team play that brought them three victories.

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Quite frankly, neither team was really impressive in this one. This was not a juggernaut slug fest with both teams battling their best. The Cavaliers were bad and the Celtics figured out how to take advantage of it.

In Cleveland, the Celtics already know how much better they have to be if they want to close this series, and the extra pressure from James alone will require a truly special performance.

It is also clear that the Cavaliers need James to get the secondary players going. In game five, he was not exploiting matchups, and was a turnover machine. He was not able to create space for the rest of his team, and they responded with absolutely nothing.

No one else on the Cavaliers is creating in a way that the Celtics should fear, but you better believe that James is going to turn this team around in game six and probably put together one of his most impressive performances of these playoffs.

The Celtics now they have the defense to shut down every individual on the Cavaliers except James. When he is not special, the Celtics know they will be good enough to beat the team. James has been doing a lot more than just forty point triple doubles, because he is the reason the rest of the team is able to get comfortable, and hit the shots they need.

The Celtics know they are capable of disrupting James, because the turnovers have been a problem all series long. The Celtics know that James is going to be better, and they know he will get more players involved at home.

The Celtics have to expect a herculean task to try and disrupt James in game six, but they have seen him put up two poor games in this series, and if they can prevent him from taking over the way we have seen time and time again, the Celtics just might be able to get a series clinching win on the road.

Right now, the Celtics can see they are capable of slowing him down at times, but if they expect anything less than a dominant performance from James, the Cavaliers could run away from them like they did earlier in Cleveland.

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The Celtics need to make sure they are able to disrupt a least part of his performance, because if it is as easy as the other games in Cleveland, James will absolutely crush them. This game made it feel like it is not impossible to slow down James, but that is the exact mentality James will be able to exploit back at home.

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