A mix of thoughts and observations in the wake of the Celtics taking a 2-0 lead over the Cavs in the best-of-seven series on Tuesday night.
1. The Celtics have turned LeBron James into a turnover machine: One of the few flaws the 33-year-old has within his offensive game, beyond his streaky shooting, is his turnover tendencies. James is prone to make more mistakes when he handles the ball more, but the number of miscues he has committed in this series (13 over first two games) has helped weigh down the Cavs offense. That’s more than half of the 25 turnovers that Cleveland has committed as a team in the series. James has committed a turnover on 20 percent of his possessions against Boston, which is double his postseason rate heading into this series.
Some of the mistakes have been self-inflicted as James has dribbled into trouble and left himself vulnerable to pickpockets from the likes of Marcus Smart. Still, the Celtics have used LeBron’s playmaking tendencies against him by anticipating some home run passes by James before they arrive. Smart was front and center for a couple of these plays in Game 2, lurking in the shadows as James tried to push the ball before half.
A Smart steal leads to a Morris slam ????? #NBA #Celtics pic.twitter.com/u9iFQqR2C9
— Off the Glass (@otgbasketball) May 16, 2018
Jaylen Brown paces the @celtics Game 2 home victory with 23 PTS, 7 REB! #CUsRise #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/B9P4W1lChY
— NBA (@NBA) May 16, 2018