Page 2 - East Conf. Finals Game 5 - Cleveland Cavaliers 83-96 Boston Celtics: 5 Talking Points

#4 Boston dominated the other 3 Four Factors

2018 NBA Playoffs: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics At TD Garden — Baynes alters a layup by Jordan Clarkson

Basketball Reference defines the Four Factors as Shooting, Turnovers, Rebounding and Free Throws. Now, we've taken a look at how neither team was particularly effective on Factor 1 in the first slide, but a closer look at the rest of the box score stats shows that the Celtics dominated the other three factors.

They had 3 steals in the first quarter itself and finished with 10. They forced the Cavaliers into committing an unhealthy 15 turnovers through the game, while only coughing up the ball 8 times themselves. Al Horford had 2 of these in the 4th quarter in successive possessions, but so cold were the Cavs that they could not reduce the deficit after either of those two turnovers as Jordan Clarkson missed two 3-pointers.

Boston also outrebounded Cleveland 45 to 39. They gave up a total of just 3 offensive boards to Cleveland, while they grabbed 7 offensive boards of their own. They also outrebounded Cleveland on the defensive glass 38-36, leading to fewer second-chance points conceded.

In addition, the Celtics shot 23 free throws, out of which they converted 21 for a spectacular 91.3% conversion rate as a team. The Jays led the team in attempts with 8 each, with both converting 7 of them. They only gave up 19 free throws to the Cavs although both teams committed the same number of fouls (19). Cleveland was able to make only 12 of those, and this was definitely a huge factor in their 13-point loss.