The Cleveland Cavaliers have been dominant during the first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals. So dominant, in fact, that they have never trailed.
Similar to Game 1 Wednesday night, when Cleveland jumped out to a commanding 22-9 lead, they dominated from the jump during Friday’s Game 2. The Cavs scored the game’s first six points and pulled ahead 23-10 by the 3:38 mark of the quarter.
Cleveland opened up the game by making eight of its first 14 field-goal attempts, including three of its six 3-pointers. The team also shot 4-for-5 from the free-throw line as it built its early 13-point advantage.
A 13-point lead is certainly not insurmountable for a team like the Celtics. However, Boston showed no signs they believed they could stage a comeback.
The Cavs poured it on as the rest of the night unfolded. They pulled ahead by as many as 50 points en route to a 130-86 victory.
Now only one question remains: how much fight will the Celtics put forth Sunday night in Cleveland?
Let’s hope it’s infinitely more than they did during Games 1 and 2 here in Boston.
Key Player
Cleveland head coach Tyronn Lue warned Friday morning that Kyrie Irving was “primed to go off”.
He was right.
Irving bounced back from a rough Game 1, during which he was just 4-for-11 from the field en route to 11 points, with a fantastic effort Friday night. Cleveland’s All-Star point guard tallied 23 points while playing just 29 minutes for the Cavs.
He attempted the same amount of shots – 11 – during Game 2 as he did during Game 1, but he made twice as many shots – four to eight. Irving shot 3-for-6 from long distance on the night.
There wasn’t much else that Irving did, as he tallied only three assists and a rebound, a block and a steal, but he didn’t need to do much else. His shooting was a key spark to Cleveland’s second consecutive dominant performance.
Box Score Nuggets
– Boston shot only 37.2 percent from the field compared to Cleveland’s 56.5 percent.
– Three Cavs (LeBron James with 30, Kyrie Irving with 23, and Kevin Love with 21) scored at least 21 points.
– Meanwhile, Jaylen Brown’s 19 points led Boston.
– Cleveland led by as many as 50 points.
– The Cavs scored 40 points in the paint and also received 40 points from their bench.
– No player in the game dished out more than seven assists.
– Love’s 12 rebounds were a game high.
– Boston committed 20 turnovers, amassed by 11 players.
– James blocked a game-high three shots, while Al Horford blocked two for Boston.
– Cleveland’s 19 made 3-pointers were more than double the amount of Boston’s eight.
– The Cs made 14 of their 15 free-throws while Cleveland shot just 15-for-23.
– Thirteen Celtics appeared in the game, and Kelly Olynyk was the only member of the team who did not score a point.
– James and Marcus Smart tied for the game high in assists with seven apiece.
Quote of the Night
“He wasn’t very good at understanding what I was going through.”—Brad Stevens on his postgame meeting with Geno Auriemma.
By Marc D’Amico for Celtics.com
First appeared on NBA.com Global
