BOSTON -- It was a first-round sweep that didn't feel very satisfying. The Celtics pushed the Cavaliers in each game of the series and the Cavaliers responded in the way that one would expect from the more talented team. None of the games were blowouts, yet none of them were really in doubt either. It felt inevitable because it was.
The Cavaliers’ sweep comes with a brutal cost
After finishing off the Celtics in an ugly Game 4, the Cavaliers head to the second round with questions about the availability of Kevin Love and J.R. Smith, as well as their own style of play.
The Cavaliers never reached that exalted level that we saw at times during the regular season against teams like Golden State and San Antonio. Then again, that wasn’t really necessary. The key question, and the one we still don’t have an answer for yet, is whether they can get there collectively when the competition gets tougher.
That may prove difficult. Kevin Love dislocated his shoulder after Celtics forward Kelly Olynyk locked him in an armbar midway through the first quarter. With his shoulder hanging gingerly by his side, Love sprinted the length of the court to the Cavaliers' locker room and didn't return to the game. Afterward, Love called the play, "Bush league" and added that he had no doubt it was on purpose.
"I've seen the replay and it didn't look like a basketball play," LeBron James said. "I've seen a lot of tie-ups in my day and that tie-up was a little different. You want to play the game of basketball the right way. You want to be physical but you never want the game to get out of hand where you have injuries."
That led to a classic Evan Turner reponse: "Kelly literally, if you ask anyone in the locker room, can't box out to save his life. No joke. He boxes our teammates out like that all the time in practice. Kelly doesn't have a mean bone in his body. When you saw the play it looked bad, (but) Kelly's not that type of dude."
Be that as it may, the Cavaliers will be tested in ways they never could have imagined in the next round if Love is unable to play. Tristan Thompson has been an invaluable reserve, but he's best suited as a backup big man that can spell Love and Timofey Mozgov. The other options include Shawn Marion, who has been out of Cleveland's rotation the last few months, or shifting James over to power forward with another wing player filling in behind him.
That may also be a problem because J.R. Smith got himself ejected with a Flagrant-2 foul after he whacked Jae Crowder across the face early in the second half. Crowder's knee bent awkwardly behind him, leaving him unable to finish the game. It was an odd time for retaliation. Kendrick Perkins also took a run at Crowder, leveling him with a shoulder late in the first half. By the time Smith got into the act, the message had already been sent.
If Smith is suspended -- he said he was "nervous as hell" about a ruling -- the Cavs could turn to Iman Shumpert, which leaves another hole in their rotation. Mike Miller has also not been a big part of the lineup down the stretch and James Jones, a shooter and shooter only, made just 36 percent of his three-point shots this season.
“We only can control what we can control,” James said. “If Love is out and if J.R., whatever happens with him, then it’s the next man up. We have guys that have been able to step up. We know it’s going to be a tough void with two of our bigger guys in our lineup and in our season so far, but we got to have guys step up and we see what happens.”
It was all part of a grimy, often brutal Game 4, with calls of cheap shots and dirty play from both sides. Asked if he had lost respect for the Celtics, James said pointedly, "I highly respect their coaching staff and especially their head coach. They're a very well-coached team. He put those guys out there every night and put them in position to try and win a game. I think Brad Stevens is a very good young coach in our league." He did not mention Stevens' players.
Looking Ahead
All of this couldn't have come at a worse time because Cleveland is on a collision course with the Bulls, who will ratchet up the physical intensity. They're also far deeper and more talented than the Celtics. The ISO-heavy offensive sets that left things in the hands of LeBron and Kyrie Irving may work against less talented teams, but the Bulls will counter with Tom Thibodeau's defense and a frontline that makes the undersized Celtics look like the junior varsity.
And yet, even if Love is compromised and Smith is suspended for any length of time, the Cavaliers will still be the favorites simply because they have LeBron. This wasn’t a vintage LeBron series, but again, it didn’t have to be for the Cavaliers to win and advance. James averaged 27 points, seven rebounds and nine assists, and you never had the sense that he’d let things get too far out of control before taking the necessary steps to make sure they didn’t. He wasn’t deferring so much as managing, something James has done throughout the season.
“When you have the best player in the world, you’re always in contention,” Turner said. “Depending on how long Kevin Love is out and see who steps up and everything it might be tough. But at the same time, when you have the best player in the world ... They have tons of championship experience over there.”
Turner is both right and wrong. Before this series began, Irving and Love had never been in the postseason and Mozgov had all of one series under his belt. Outside of LeBron, the championship experience lies with the veteran reserves, many of whom barely played during the series. Winning this was a necessary step, but it was a small one in the grand scheme of things.
“It was a great first test for our team,” James said. “It’s a young team. We have some vets but we’re a young team together. The Celtics gave us the test that we needed and it will prepare us for the second round, which will be much tougher. We know that.”
Due to the nature of their season, the Cavaliers haven’t been afforded the room to grow organically. They didn’t even really begin to take shape until the January trades that brought Mozgov, Shumpert and Smith to town. Before those deals, they were a .500 team. After them, they were the best team in the conference and arguably one of the two or three best in the league. That’s a lot to digest in less than 50 games.
“The whole season, I think that we’ve come into other people’s gyms and we’ve faced teams, home and away, that really came and gave us their best shot,” coach David Blatt said. “I feel that has strengthened us. The Celtics really challenged us. It was a sweep, that’s not an easy thing, that’s not a small thing.
“On the other hand, it was not a walk in the park. We battled to win all these games and they made us do so to their credit. We’re coming out stronger and that’s good.”
It says a lot about the Eastern Conference -- and LeBron -- that the Cavaliers entered the postseason as the favorites, despite lacking experience or homecourt advantage. It says even more that they may still be the favorites without Love for an extended period of time. We will know an awful lot more about them after the next round.
For now, they did what they had to do in getting past the Celtics, but the conclusion to the series may have come at a heavy cost.
SB Nation presents: Simple rules for playing against LeBron
See More:
