NBA Playoffs 2017: Preview, Prediction and Viewing Info for Sunday's Action
If the Eastern Conference Finals between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers didn't feel like a going-through-the-motions necessity before, the series should now.
Cleveland returns home to Quicken Loans Arena Sunday night up 2-0 and coming off a 130-86 victory in which the lead nearly hit 50 points. Boston limps in with Isaiah Thomas out for the series.
That makes both conference finals series ho-hum affairs in which the underdogs going into the series put up less of a fight than expected due to injuries to key players. For the Eastern Conference, it's especially damaging with the perception it's the weaker of the two still a major talking point.
It's up to the Thomas-less Celtics to make Sunday's encounter interesting. Here's a quick look at everything to know:
Matchup: Boston at Cleveland (-17)
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
National TV: TNT
Live Stream: TNT Overtime
As oddsmakers clearly show in the line above, there's about roughly zero chance the Celtics can win without Thomas.
Thomas isn't just an All-NBA second-team selection. He didn't just average 28.9 points and 5.9 assists per game. It goes deeper than that, with his awaited emergence the sole reason the Celtics look smart for the current rebuilding approach. He wasn't one of those players fans could roll their eyes at when a friendly crowd chanted "MVP."
So it's crushing to find out he'll miss the rest of the playoffs with a hip injury. The Celtics announced the news and team general manager Danny Ainge followed with a heartfelt note:
At the risk of sounding mean, Thomas wasn't going to make a big difference over the rest of the series either way. He only scored 17 points on 19 attempts in Game 1, a 117-104 loss, before two on 0-of-6 shooting from the floor in Friday's blowout.
Boston's struggles are a combination of roster construction and the sheer greatness of the Cavaliers. It's hard to beat a LeBron James-led team. It's impossible to beat a LeBron James-led team when 6'10" Al Horford grabs 13 total rebounds and shoots 8-of-20 from the floor over two games. Cleveland's Tristan Thompson has 11 with a 10-of-12 mark over the same span. Kevin Love has 24 with 16-of-30 shooting and 53 points.
"It's hard to take," Horford said, according to the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "We've worked really hard and put ourselves in this position to be here. It's been tough for our group. Tonight was real rough, there's no other way to put it. It's definitely a low point for our group."
Now let's add LeBron to the equation. His 38 points in Game 1 were cool. It was a near triple-double too, thanks to nine rebounds and seven assists. But it seemed like the peak, at least until he hit on a wildly efficient performance in Game 2:
It was easy to think going into this series that the Cavaliers viewed it as a bit of a warm-up for a potential Finals encounter with the Golden State Warriors. Arrogant or otherwise, Cleveland hadn't lost a game in the playoffs so far and had essentially gifted the Celtics the top seed in the first place.
Not it really is a warm-up ahead of the Finals.
"We can get better," James said, according to Stats LLC (via ESPN.com). "That's the positive for our ballclub. There's no complacency with us right now. There shouldn't be. It's the postseason. But we like where we're headed and the direction we're headed right now."
When it comes to prediction time, this one is more about whether the Cavaliers will cover the gigantic spread, not an outright win. A 17-point line is something fans would normally see when a program like Duke takes on a lesser college team, not a line between professional teams.
Alas, it certainly makes sense given the equation. Boston is on the road minus one of the best sheer scorers in the NBA. The bulk of the production now falls on Avery Bradley (15.9 points per game during the regular season) and the aforementioned Horford, who will only have a harder time than before with the Cavaliers not having to worry about Thomas.
The Celtics aren't unaware of the predicament. Rookie Jaylen Brown was the most animated after the Game 2 loss and helped set the tone for the rest of the series.
"We got our ass kicked. Point-blank, period," Brown said, according to Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com. "We didn't come out with enough energy to start the game off, two games in a row. Defending champs, they swept us off the floor."
Things seem bleak for the Celtics now, but this was a better than expected campaign and the franchise, led by Thomas and upstarts such as Brown, just won the lottery. The only direction to go is up.
But as they say, sometimes things have to get worse before they improve. Sunday night will be another ugly one for various reasons, but mostly because the overarching assumption rings true—James isn't ready to host a passing-of-the-torch moment in the Eastern Conference.
Prediction: Cavaliers 123, Celtics 90
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