Film analysis: Searching for answers in Celtics' struggles vs. Cavs

Paul Pierce’s retirement ceremony took some attention off of it, but the Celtics continued to give their fans cause for concern on Sunday after they dropped their second straight game at the TD Garden to the Cavs.

It was the third time in the last four contests in which the Celtics fell behind by 26(!) or more points, a disturbing trend as they continued to experience an ugly malaise heading into the All-Star break.

While it’s important not to take too much out of any regular season game (particular with key players like Marcus Smart and Kevin Love sidelined), Sunday’s contest was the final regular-season matchup of the year between the Cavs and Celtics. Was the performance as bad for Boston as it looked live? And did it reveal any noteworthy nuggets that should be cause for concern moving forward? Let’s take a closer look at the tape to find some answers, and see how much fans should be worrying about this group.

CIRCUMSTANTIAL MATCHUP ISSUES

With Love out, the Cavs personnel was light on size on Sunday. Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. were the team’s only bigs, which was not good news for a Celtic team that is missing two strong defensive guards in Smart and Shane Larkin. The Cavs were able to take advantage of this by running Rodney Hood around a lot of screens when a bigger player (Jayson Tatum) was guarding him, which led to some open 3s. However, this advantage was more a matter of circumstance than anything else. When Smart and Larkin are healthy after the All-Star break, Brad Stevens has more lineup options available, and that issue will be eliminated.

A BAD OPPONENT FOR MONROE

It’s hard to give this guy too much of the blame here. He hasn't even practiced with the Celtics yet, so a bad game is excusable, to a degree. With that said, Stevens will be playing with fire on the defensive end whenever Monroe sees minutes against the Cavs in a potential postseason matchup. The 6-foot-11 forward is a minus defender and is probably the least mobile of all of Boston’s bigs. Those limitations were painfully on display in six ugly minutes against the Cavs in the second quarter as LeBron James and company feasted on him.

6:00: Monroe fails to step out after Terry Rozier is picked off to contest a corner 3 from a 43 percent 3-point shooter (George Hill)



5:38: Semi Ojeleye guesses wrong on a pick and leaves Monroe on an island against LeBron, who has a head of steam. His foot positioning gives him no chance to cut off the driving lane, so he resorts to giving the foul. He gives a weak one though, allowing James an easy 3-point play.



4:58: James gets Monroe in a switch and Monroe knows he is at risk for another blow by if he gets too close. He leaves James plenty of space and he hits an easy pullup.



You can bet that kind of targeting will go on all game long in the postseason when Monroe is on the floor against Cleveland. Bigs usually get into trouble with LeBron, but Monroe is in all sorts of trouble when he has to contest on the perimeter. Stevens will need to proceed cautiously and do his best to find a way to protect him from trouble if he’s going to roll him out there over a more mobile big like Daniel Theis. Monroe only played five minutes in the second quarter, but the damage was done quickly (minus 8).

MIDDLE SCHOOL MISTAKES

It is hard to win games when you are shooting yourself in the foot constantly. Don’t get me wrong -- the Cavs played well and shot the lights out. Still, several of the miscues the hosts committed were reminiscent of rec league play at your local YMCA. Check out this stretch of five turnovers in the final six minutes of the second quarter.











You can chalk nearly all of those as unforced, lazy mistakes. A few were merely passes without a plan. You’ll normally see a couple of those a game that look that bad. The Celtics had five of them in one five-minute stretch. When you gift a team points like that, you’re going to lose.

However, the Celtics’ miscues didn’t just come when they had the ball. Their mental mistakes were evident on the other end of the floor as well. Whether it was physical (three games in four nights) or mental (one game away from All-Star break) fatigue, there were miscommunications and missed assignments that led to easy buckets all day long.

Jaylen Brown was responsible for a couple. Here, he fails to find his man in transition, which produces a Hood open 3 on the wing. Then, he falls asleep ball watching while guarding J.R. Smith, and the shooting guard cuts backdoor on him for an easy layup. These kinds of mistakes kept him on the bench often during his rookie year, so it’s troubling to see some of them resurface like this.





Al Horford got into the act with some ball watching as well. Notice how Cedi Osman (Horford’s man) sneaks by him for an offensive rebound.



The Celtics have enough young players making mental mistakes. They can’t afford to have one of their All-Stars getting into the act with regular blunders as well. This was not a good game for Horford (or anyone really), which brings us to another All-Star.

KYRIE GETS ATTACKED

It’s one thing for a guy like Monroe to be attacked on the defensive end. He's merely a bench player, and Stevens has alternatives for that spot. Irving is another matter altogether. He is the engine of this team’s offense and they need him on the floor for 30-plus minutes per game. While Irving has done a respectable job defensively on the whole this year, some of his warts were on full display on Sunday as the Cavs turned the game into a laugher.

Hill is by no means an offensive juggernaut, but he is also a 45 percent 3-point shooter. That appeared to be news to Irving, though, given how casually he closed on Hill in the corner on this possession.



Irving tried to make up for it on the next possession by overplaying Hill in the same spot, and was beat back door.


From there, the Cavs put a target on Irving’s back, running him through repeated pick-and-rolls with James as the screener. Irving’s inability to get off or around the screens produced consistent easy opportunities for James while Marcus Morris was left in tough spots against the NBA’s best player.





Ultimately, Stevens pulled Irving off of Hill (and hid him on Osman and Smith) to stop the bleeding. It’s evident that the defensive effort and technique from Irving was not up to par on Sunday afternoon, which helped turn the game into a rout rather quickly.

FINAL VERDICT

On second watch, this game wasn’t as bad for Boston as it looked live. The Cavs new additions played and shot well, while the Celtics missed countless open 3s. The Monroe and Irving issues will surface again when these teams meet, but the turnovers and mismatches we saw Sunday are not cause for significant concern down the road.

Stevens needs to figure some things out over the All-Star break, especially how to get this team in places to succeed on the offensive end consistently. This Cavs team is certainly better after their trade deadline moves, but they largely have the Celtics to thank for their dominance on Sunday.