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games from last night. Took the off last night. I just hung out with my wife, got to relax for a little bit before we get back into the grind. Gonna hit just Celtics Calves in this video, just for times sake. As soon as I'm done recording this, I'm gonna turn around and record or start watching MAVs Thunder and do the analysis for it. But this one had taken me a little while. I wanted to get it
out before I started covering the next game. So just hitting Calves Celtics in this game is the or in this video, as the Calves tie the series, dominating the Celtics after falling down to an early nine point deficit, pretty much blowing them out the rest of the way, and now we're headed back to Cleveland with the series tied at one. You guys are the job before we get started. Subscribe to the brand new YouTube channels. You don't miss any more of our videos. Follow me on
Twitter at underscore JSNLTS. You guys, don't miss you announcements. Don't forget about a podcast feed where we get your podcasts under Hoops tonight and then keep dropping mail bag questions and those YouTube comments. We can keep hitting them throughout the rest of the postseason. So let's talk some basketball.
Tell me if you've heard this before. Boston had a cold jump shooting night and then their offense completely fell apart because they don't really have another way to consistently consistently score unless they're making jump shots, so they lost. Boston got zero points seven to three points per jump shot. In the game obviously really bad. They did shoot well when they were open. They were five for twelve and
wide open threes, it's forty two percent. Cleveland just did a good job of chasing them off the line and contesting jumpers and playing them into their worst tendencies. They took twenty one pull up jump shots in the game, only made five of them. That was zero point five to seven points per shot. A lot of the same stuff that you're accustomed to seeing from Boston. As we talked about all season, their success pretty much is determined by jump shot variants on a night in, night out basis.
They were twenty seventh in points in the paint per game in the regular season. That is dead last among the remaining playoff teams in this field. I was kind of doing some digging through the data and just go into NBA dot com, go to the little miscellaneous tab and click and sort all the playoff teams by points by points in the paint, and you will see there's a pretty solid connection between the teams that are remaining in this field and the teams have been eliminated. The teams.
Most of the teams that are remaining are high in the in the upper echelon in points in the paint among playoff teams. It's been just a consistent theme, especially in this super physical playoff environment. It's just harder to make jump shots when teams are allowed to foul more and the games are just more physical, more intense, and Boston has tied a lot of their success to those results, and they just don't have a counter when shots are aren't falling other than to just take more of them
and hope they go in. Now, the upside is real. I want to be clear. They're one point one to three points per jump shot. Was their efficiency with those in the regular season that was number one in the NBA, right, So they are the best jump shooting team in the NBA. They just lean into it so heavily that the variance can be a problem. They can get hot too, and they can blow you out in a matter of minutes.
And like, no matter who they play, if they win this series and they continue to move on, even if they end up in a series where they lose at some point in the future. Again, let's say they lose to Minnesota. Wouldn't be surprised if there's two or three games in that series. Where Boston just gets super in insanely hot from three in wins. That's always a big part of their upside. It just also has a downside
that comes with it. And again, these are teams that they're way better than, Like, they're way more talented than Cleveland, and they are like just there's a chasm in talent difference between them and that Miami Heat team. And even in those matchups, the variants can be an issue. We're gonna get more into Boston and just kind of their brand of basketball later on, but again that was the primary,
you know, kind of variance in this game. Boston couldn't make a jump shot, couldn't score outside of that, and Cleveland, you know, just kind of leaned into that momentum, got a bunch of big shot shot making nights from some key guys. We'll go into that here in just a minute. So the flow of the game, Celtics got out to an early nine point lead, kind of started to chip away in the late first quarter. Big thing I was noticing on film Karis Lavert and Evan Mobley, We're really
picking on Sam Hauser and Luke Cordnett. Now the houser Cornett lineups throughout the postseason up until last night were mostly good defensively, And I do think that those guys do their jobs, but it's less about like how good they are within the game plan of doing their jobs, and more about do stars feel comfortable against them? And the reality is is even though Howser slides his feet and he gets good contests, like when Karis Lavert saw him,
he felt comfortable dribbling against him. When Donovan Mitchell saw him, he felt comfortable dribbling against him. It was a different level of comfort and ability to get to their spots than it was when they face a Derek White or a Tatum or a Brown or a Drew Holliday. So like that, the Calves were just going way out of their way to attack those two in action in that
late first quarter run. It immediately stood out to me and it became a trend later on in the game, which we'll get to as we talked about the Celtics started missing shots. You know, they were hitting early. Al Horford did a couple threes. They were hitting early when they went up fourteen to five. But the Calves go on a big run, riding that two man game with Lavert and Mobley, who by the way, had his best games scoring in as a role man of this postseason.
We'll get more into that in a minute. But the Calves going a big run. They go up thirty to twenty one. Then the celt come back in, their main guys come back in and they reassert control. We basically go into halftime tied, but in that early third quarter, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland catch a little heater. They make five threes in the first seven minutes. They build that first little bit of margin. Obviously Boston still missing the Garland threes in particular felt huge because he didn't
do much scoring elsewhere in the game. Calves go up by eleven points. Then we go into that late third quarter stretch and exactly like what happened at the end of the first quarter, incomes Cornett and Hauser. The Cavs go right back to attacking them, and a big part of that was Donovan Mitchell did not come out of the game. He stayed in the game during that portion and he was going right at Sam Hauser. He ended up drawing a foul in a three point shot against
Derek White. He had to pull up three in Sam Hawser's face. He had that bomb, that buzzer beater like step back three that he hit on Jason Tatum to send it into the fourth quarter. And then early in the fourth quarter he hit that banking shot kind of coming off of that screening action towards the top of the key that he made, and then the game was basically over. They were up by sixteen with like, you know, nine minutes left and it was over, and they went
on to blow it open from there. But really it came down to a critical hot streak from Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell in the early third quarter, some really good matchup attacking from Karris Lavert in that late first quarter against that Howser Cornett duo, and then Mitchell kind of stepping into that Lavert as well, but Mitchell stepping into that in the in the second half, and then as long as Boston wasn't able to kind of keep up with them with their three point shooting, they kind
of lost control of the rope and the game was over. I can't say enough about Donovan Mitchell. He's been the best player in this series so far. That's gonna be the biggest thing that that kaz fans are going to be leaning on for optimism. Like Jason Tatum, We're gonna get to him in more detail in a minute. Just not having a good playoffs, He's playing limited competition, just
not having a good playoffs. And Donovan Mitchell has been one of the best players in the league in this postseason run and consistently has just had his foot down on gas doing everything he can to generate offense for a team that has struggled to generate offense in this postseason run. He just smelled blood in the water in that second half, and he went after it and got a big win for the Cavs on the road. I
don't even know. I think we all kind of have to reevaluate Donovan Mitchell as a playoff player after this playoff run because he's shown a resiliency against against really heavy defensive coverages that has been super, super impressive. Evan Mobley playoff career high twenty one points great on the role against Sam Houser. He scored six points on the role in this game, most he's had in a game
in this postseason run. I hited three at the top of the key in that first quarter run that kind of helped them spark and most importantly, he was incredible defensively. I'm gonna show you guys some examples when we get to the film, but like he does a really good job when he has to leave his band to help of being super active with his hands to get deflections.
And again, like when you double team and you don't get a deflection and you allow an easy kickout pass, that's when you end up in the problematic four on threes. When you're actually really active when you're with your hand and you can either one force a turnover or two get a deflection that slows down the pass that gives your team a better chance to rotate on the back end. It's one of the most important parts of help and recover defense is you've got to pressure the ball and
make those kickout passes difficult. Mobley was just unbelievable in this game. Darius Garland, like I said, that little three point shooting Runnie had early in the third quarter vital to the Cavs getting this one. And then Karris Lavert just you know, he's one of those guys that he kind of has a little bit of that like Dejonte Murray, like high hesitation, ability to beat people off the dribble and get to spots closer towards the rim. Has that
good chemistry with Mobley in the ball screen. Hit a couple of big mid range pull up jump shots as well, big time game from Karis Lavert. Moving on to Boston, they got smacked. The guy outscored one thirteen to eighty after going up fourteen to five. That's getting thirty pieced on your home floor by a team that, in terms of the talent differentially, you should have swept. So this is obviously an ugly look. Now, is Boston gonna lose
the series? I don't think so. Cleveland might go home and kind of ride the energy and the belief that they have from this game and they might get another one. But I think Boston's gonna win this series in five or six games. But it's just a bizarre brand of basketball.
Their shot selection is flat out dump Al Horford ninety seconds into the game, takes like a trailing twenty five foot or off the move, hadn't made a shot yet, just decided I'm shooting this drifting, you know, like quick stop in Pop three in transition early in the shot clock made absolutely no sense. There's a random possession in the first half for Jalen Brown just early in the shot clock, shoots a contested step back three at the
top of the key. There's a random Drew Holiday post up where he takes a left shoulder fade along the baseline early in the shot clock. Jason Tatum settling for super difficult pull up jump shots in ISO, even though he continues to not be able to make them at a high clip. Then every time he gets into traffic, instead of going up and taking bassketball shots, he just sticks his arm out and just throws throw him up like that and throw some bizarre shot up at the
rim that has a small chance of going in. It is unbelievably bizarre and like there's no real hierarchy, you know how in Cleveland it's like we're running everything through Donovan Mitchell. Tatum doesn't have that luxury. If he misses one or two shots, they just go in a different direction and another guy goes it's my turn. Now. Like Donovan Mitchell, he misses one or two shots in a row, he's just gonna go down and take the third one
until he gets into a rhythm. There's a clear hierarchy and order of operations offensively for Cleveland and really for most teams in the league. For Boston, it's like just it's just vibes, man, It's just do whatever the hell you want on the offensive end of the floor. And most importantly, they are not consistently engaged on the defensive end.
They have a great defensive fastball. They do, but they don't throw it until they feel some sort of desperation or like if they drop a game, but it's not programmed into their basketball character. Derek White is really the only I see that like on a night in and night out. Basis really brings it on the defensive end of the floor. And like that's a fundamental difference between what they were under emy Udoka. Like under emay Udoka,
they were way less dependent on three point shooting. They were ninth in three point attempts per game that year. They were taking about two and a half year or threes per game. In the postseason, they were seventeenth in
points in the paint. This team is twenty seventh in points in the paint, so substantially higher percentage of their offense in the paint, substantially lower percentage of their offense from the three point line, much better balance in that twenty twenty two season, But by far the biggest difference emy Udoka baked into them a toughness and a commitment to the defensive end that they just have not had
since then. That twenty twenty two team, when they beat Brooklyn, that was one of the best defensive efforts I've seen from a playoff team in this era. That is a ceiling that they just have not been able to get to. And yes, I get it, they don't have chrisops Zingis right now, and they don't have the Robert Williams kind of rim protection they had in that season. But even on the perimeter, Tatum and Brown, all those guys were
so much more engaged consistently on the perimeter defensively. That team, Like, literally, if you gave me this roster with the identity of that team, better balance in their shot selection, a more clear hierarchy running through Jason Tatum, in a much better commitment to the defensive end of the floor, I think they would be guaranteed to win the title. They have the most talent. I would feel so much more confident in their abilities to do this. If that was the
breakdown of their basketball approach. But that's not it. There's no hierarchy. They lean heavily into spamming three point shots and difficult pull up jump shots, and they defend when they feel like it. And you know the crazy thing is they might just win the damn championship anyway, because
that's how talented they are. I actually think they match up pretty well with Minnesota, certainly better than the Western Conference teams, because they have so much shooting that they can space them out and kind of mitigate some of
the size advantages that Minnesota brings to the table. They also have so much ball handling that if you're pressuring the hell out of the basketball with Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards and even with your centers, you can just find one of your guards to bring the ball out the floor against the Mike Conley or one of the Jay's is gonna have to be guarded by a Karl Anthony Towns, you can bring the ball up the floor
against him. Like Boston has real advantages because they have incredible personnel, and they very well might hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June. Playing this garbage ass brand of basketball. It's crazy. Like a lot of people think I hate the Celtics because I am a Lakers fan, but I'm not really a Lakers fan. I root for the Lakers because I'm a Lebron James fan. I have nothing against the Celtics. I really liked that twenty twenty two Boston
Celtics team. This is this specific brand of basketball under Joe Missoula is so unlikable to me, and it's just every time I'm watching them, I just am completely blown away at the complete lack of regard for the value
of every possession on either end of the floor. And if there's anything to be said about the talent advantage, it is a curse in the sense that I think, especially in that Eastern Conference where it's so weak, especially after you get past the top few teams, that you could win sixty sixty five games with this roster while playing an iffy brand of basketball, Like I believe if Boston played in the West, they probably would have more commitment to the defensive end of the floor and a
little bit more value on each possession. But they've been allowed to kind of play this brand because of that week's schedule out East, and like, again, it just might not even matter. They might just win the damn thing anyway. But like I can just say personally as someone who has covered this team all year, like every time I watch them play, I'm like, are what are what are
we doing here? Like what I'm watching game one and it's like Jason Tatum is the best player on the team right and a top ten player in the NBA, and he's basically standing around watching Jalen Brown go to work, And like I get it, Like all of these guys are capable. Derek White is capable of running the offense for an entire game, so is Tatum, so is Jalen Brown. Drew Holliday is capable of doing it as a secondary
shot creator. But it would make way more sense to bake this down into a simpler hierarchy and have guys play smaller roles. It's so equal opportunity, it's so just based on vibes that everyone kind of feels the leeway to hijack a possession. And when everyone has the leeway to hijack a possession, nobody's in rhythm. And that's probably the last that's the last thing I'm gonna say about this and then we'll move on to the film. Like, when you have hierarchy, it is much easier to stay
in a rhythm when everyone can hijack a possession. There is no consistency in where you're getting your touches, what you're doing with your touches, where you're getting your off ball catches, what you're doing with your off ball catches. There's no consistency there, and so no one can really get into a groove when each game just fundamentally looks different. When you watch Cleveland, they play the same damn way
every game. On offense, Here comes Donovan Mitchell. He's gonna run twenty five pick and rolls tonight, you know, Like Darius Garland's gonna be aggressive when Mitchell's off the floor, and when Mitchell's tired, they'll they'll run some thing Garland. But you know what you're getting, Okay, Karris Lavert came into the game. He's gonna spam ball screens, Like you understand, a very clear hierarchy with Cleveland and with Denver, and with Minnesota and with all of these guys that Boston
just doesn't have. Every Boston game looks different and when it cooks, it cooks like when there's there's an upside to that too. I want to be clear, when you play equal opportunity, there is an upside where like when all the pieces kind of click in simultaneously, it's like, holy shit, all five guys are in rhythm. Now they can't guard us, and we just put up one hundred and forty two points. Right. But the flip side is sometimes none of the pieces fit and then it just
completely falls apart. And like I again, I'm not concerned about Boston. I feel the exact same way about them that I did before the postseason, Like am I gonna pick? If if Minnesota or Denver gets out of the West and lines up with Boston, I will probably pick them over Boston simply because they have such a clear basketball identity that they're more likely to reach their ceiling than
Boston is Consistently. That said, I would still give Boston a very good chance to win that series against both of them, and it wouldn't be the least bit surprised. I absolutely think this team can hoist the trophy, but even in that context, it feels like they're underachieving on a night in a night out basis it feels like they're leaving meat on the bone with this bizarre ass
brand of basketball. Again, I give Cleveland a good chance to get one in Cleveland, just simply because winning this game gives you a certain amount of belief and the crowd will have a certain energy that might not have been there if you were down two coming home. And so I do think Cleveland has a chance to get one at home. But I still think Boston is gonna win the series in five or six games. All I have for this particular video, I'll be back in a
few hours with MAVs Thunder. I will see you guys. Then the volume