Eastern Conference Finals Preview: Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers

By Katelin Marshall, @KatelinKnowsCLE

After having over a week off, the Cleveland Cavaliers finally know who they will be facing off with in the Eastern Conference Finals...the number one seed in the Eastern Conference Boston Celtics. The Celtics are coming off of a seven game series against the Washington Wizards in which physical play and trash talk were the headlines for basically each game. The Cavs and Celtics split the regular season series

Overview:

The Cavs should come out on top...its just that simple. It doesn't matter if the Celtics have the home court advantage. Heck, if anything they might hurt them in game one and two. If the Cavs win just one of those games the advantage goes to Cleveland. So these first two games are basically must wins games for Boston. Could this series go more than five games? Sure but it seems unlikely. This Cavalier team is on a mission and as the defending champs with the best player in the world the Cavs are the overwhelming favorites.

LeBron James has been unbelievable in the first two rounds of the playoffs. James is averaging 34.4 PPG, 9 RPG, 7.1 APG, while shooting 55.7% from the field including 46.8% from behind the arch. This might be the best LeBron James we've ever seen. And we are talking about the same player who led each statistical category in the 2016 NBA Finals.

To Boston's credit the are a really good team. Lead by point guard Isaiah Thomas. Thomas had a career year averaging 28.9 PPG while shooting 46% from the field, and was also one of the leading scorers during the 4th quarter. Outside of Thomas the Celtics have solid players like Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and long time Atlanta Hawk, Al Horford.

Where the problems lie for the Celtics is the lack of shooting they have, compared to the Cavs and someone to match-up against Tristan Thompson. Thompson is an "X factor" in this series. Thompson's ablility to crash the glass and switch and defend opposing teams guards. So Thompson is key in the Cavs pick-and-roll defense.


Prediction:

Cavs Sweep the Celtics and have another 7+ days off. Each game should be relatively close, but having LeBron on your team trumps all. LeBron James will be in his 7th straight NBA Finals and the Cavs vs Warriors III seems like an inevitability.