LEBRON CARRIES CLEVELAND TO FOURTH CONSECUTIVE FINALS

0
152

In a low scoring 87-79 game; the Cleveland Cavaliers handed the Boston Celtics its first home loss in the TD Garden, to book a place in the NBA finals. The Cavaliers overcame a 12-point deficit in the first half to defeat the Celtics.

This win advances the Cavaliers to its 4th consecutive NBA finals and for LeBron it would be his 8th consecutive finals appearance; the other four appearances for LeBron were made with the Miami Heat where he played between 2010-11 and the 2014-15 season. A win would have sent the Boston Celtics to its first finals appearance since the 2009-10 season where it lost 4-3 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Both teams were not without injury problems; notably, the Celtics were without all-stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward since the playoffs started, while the Cavaliers played without Kevin Love who did not pass concussion protocol after a clash of heads with Jayson Tatum in Game 6.

LeBron James flirted with another near triple-double as he led his team with 35points, 15rebounds and 9assists. LeBron has now scored 30 or more points in six games 7’s, the most such games in NBA playoffs history. In the absence of Kevin Love; Jeff Green, JR Smith and Tristan Thompson came up with the much-needed performances on the night with 19points, 12points and 10points respectively.

Celtic’s rookie Jayson Tatum poured in 24points and 7rebounds, with his 24points showing on the night he climbed to second place on the all-time rookie playoff-scoring list with 351, just one point behind the leader, Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He is also the first rookie in the last 40years to score over 300 points in a single NBA playoff season.

The Celtics poor performance shooting from the field came back to haunt the team as the game progressed. Jaylen Brown shot 5-18 from the field, while point guard Terry Rozier III shot 2-14 from the field. As a team, the Celtics performance was poor; they shot 17.9% from beyond the three-point line, missing 32 of the 39 three-points they shot.

LeBron in the press conference said this has been one of the most challenging seasons he’s ever had, and he also praised Tatum, saying he has the potential to be a star in the league.

The Cavaliers will play either the Houston Rockets or Golden State Warriors whose series is tied at 3 games apiece. Game 7 of the western conference finals between the Rockets and Warriors would come up tonight. If the Cavaliers meet the Warriors in the final, it would be the 4th consecutive matchup between both teams.

Image Credit:Getty Images & YouTube