East Conf. Finals Game 2: Cleveland Cavaliers 94-107 Boston Celtics - 5 Talking Points

The Boston Celtics managed to withstand the supernova that was LeBron James' 40-point triple-double, and win the game anyway by the sizeable margin of 13 points. The King may have had 'Zero level of concern' following game 1 of the series when he underwhelmed in a 15-point performance as his primary defender Marcus Morris outscored him.

But he will be eating his words now, as he slipped to a rather anticlimactic defeat against a young, hungry, hustling Boston Celtics that does not back down from a fight. And a fight it was largely because of the amazing influence of James during the 1st quarter, when he recorded a career-high 21 points on 13 shots and gave the Cavaliers a 27-23 lead. That lead swelled to 7 points at halftime as Kyle Korver had a hot shooting streak in which he scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.

The Celtics took control of the game in a 3rd quarter during which they outscored the Cavs by 14, and they never relinquished that lead thereon, going on to win by 13.

The following are the 5 major talking points from the game:

#5 Tristan Thompson's insertion into the starting lineup

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Two

Tyronn Lue learned his lesson from Game 1, and he went with a 2-big lineup to start this game. Plugging Tristan Thompson in for Kyle Korver was not a masterstroke, but on a different night, it might have been the kind of adjustment that won Cleveland the game.

Thompson started off well, playing tough-nosed defense on Horford or whoever he was switched onto at the current moment. The Celtics missed a number of jump shots in the first half, and they were unable to reload using offensive rebounds as Thompson boxed out whoever would be playing center for the Celtics and either grabbed it on his own or allowed Kevin Love or LeBron to corral the rebound.

Thompson ended the night with figures of 8 points, 7 rebounds and a team-high +/- of -5 among the Cavs' starters. One gets the feeling that if he'd gotten more minutes, the Cavs would have been able to keep the game closer, or perhaps won it. Thompson's one-on-one defense was exemplary, as was his help defense, and the way he crashed the offensive glass (he had 4 offensive rebounds, which fetched him all of his points) was an asset to their offense overall.

#4 The Cavs' role players other than Kyle Korver had another bad night

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Two

The Cavs needed their role players to step up to have a chance of stealing homecourt advantage in the first two games of the series against the hot Celtics team, but they were a letdown for the second night in a row.

JR Smith had more flagrant fouls than points, as he laid a big, ugly egg on the night with 0 points on 7 shot attempts. Most of his teammates were not much better. George Hill finished with 3 points, 2 rebounds and just 1 assist, though he admittedly had 2 good blocks. He took just 4 shots in total, despite being an elite 3-point shooter through the regular season this year.

Jeff Green was hardly any more proactive, scoring 6 points on 5 shots and finishing with the worst +/- of the game at -17 during the 27 minutes he was fielded. Rodney Hood was only on for 11 minutes, and he finished with 2 points on 2 shots.

Only Kyle Korver's performance was anything worth writing home, as the veteran 37-year-old finished the game with 11 points on 8 shots.

#3 The Celtics had a momentum-swinging 3rd quarter

Rozier lays it up and in

The Celtics had been outscored and outplayed on both ends of the floor by a Cavaliers team that was, in general, on a hot shooting spree during the first half. But they emerged from the locker room after halftime with blood on their minds, and the 36-22 quarter they produced was an indication of their dogged spirit, their level of talent and the ability to turn on the afterburners in situations which require that of them.

Terry Rozier was one of the main factors in that decisive third quarter. The 3rd year guard out of Louisville dropped 14 points during the period. He wasn't alone in the fightback, however, as the quarter started off with Tatum nailing a sweet jumper - a sign of things to come during the quarter.

7 different Celtics scored in this period, but the game-changing moment was probably a steal by Jaylen Brown that was turned into an emphatic breakaway dunk by Scary Terry. The Celtics' multi-pronged offense enabled them to make a comeback that should be expected by now of a team which came from 15 points behind 8 times to win during the regular season.

#2 Kevin Love and LeBron James had monster games in vain

Love and LeBron attended the post-game presser together

Both LeBron and Love had underperformed in Game 1, and even casual fans could sense that they were going to come back with a vengeance in this game. LeBron had the kind of game that has cemented his name among the pantheon of all-time greats and possibly onto the Mount Rushmore of basketball, as he scored 42 points, nabbed 10 rebounds and dished out 12 assists in the kind of performance that would demoralize most opponents.

He finished the first quarter with 21 points, the highest number of points that he has ever hung on any team during a single quarter. He was as unguardable as any player in basketball history during that period, making 4 out of his 7 3-point shots and nearly every one of his shots from inside that arc. He cooled off somewhat after that, but he still had 21 points through the next 3 quarters as the rest of his teammates began taking over the primary offensive load.

Kevin Love was his usual self as well, finishing with 22 points and 15 rebounds. He could perhaps have shot better from 3-point territory (he was 2-of-6), but he gathered a number of points of backdoor cuts, back-to-the-basket play, and his mid-range game as well.

The fact that they were still handily beaten has to irk them.

#1 Boston's superior depth won them this game, and probably the series

Cleveland Cavaliers v Boston Celtics - Game Two

If there is one team full of players capable of making things happen in the manner that Golden State does, it is definitely this Celtics outfit which has executed immaculately whenever they have been tested in these playoffs - especially in the last 10 games. They have the talent to not use any one player as a crutch, and that leaves opponent coaches with nightmares to contend with.

Think about this: Jaylen Brown led the Celtics in scoring for the first quarter with 14 points, then Tatum led them in the second quarter with 9. Rozier's 14-point outburst in Q3 has already been documented, while veterans Marcus Morris, Al Horford and Marcus Smart steered them home in the 4th. Which other teams in the Eastern Conference have this luxury of finding new hot hands on a quarterly basis?

The Celtics' offense is capable of morphing into whatever form they need to in order to win a particular game, thanks largely to the excellence of Brad Stevens at setting up his players in the best possible position to succeed. They've won both games in this matchup, and so far, they are 37-0 in series when they have taken a 2-0 lead, historically.

This team has proved time and again that they are anything but chokers, so one would be hard-pressed to find legitimate reasons as to why they will not enter the NBA Finals for the first time in 8 years this time around.

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