Boston Celtics Valiant Effort Falls Short in Game 2 Loss

By Jason Haskins | Apr 21, 2015

Close. Better. Almost.

The Boston Celtics were right there with the Cavs, trailing by seven heading into the fourth before running into the two-headed monster that is Kyrie Irving and LeBron James. The two stars of the Cavs scored all 24 of the team’s fourth-quarter points as the Cavs defeated the Celtics 99-91 Tuesday night.

Game 2 played out in similar fashion to the first game of the series. The Celtics led by nine early, fell behind at the half, watched the Cavs go on a third-quarter run, and then watched the Cavs do just enough to earn a comfortable victory.

James scored 15 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter. He also added 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

Despite committing only 11 turnovers and forcing 18 from the Cavs, the Celtics struggled from the field all night. They shot only 39% (33-85), including 27% (6-22) from beyond the arc. They did not hit a three in the second half.

Isaiah Thomas, a day after getting runner up in Sixth Man of the Year voting, had another solid game. He scored 22 points and had 7 assists.

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The Celtics started the game trying to right the wrongs from Game 1 and it was working. After falling behind 5-1 early, they rattled off a 15-3 run to take an eight point lead.

The Cavs, true to form, scored 8 quick points and the lead went back and forth until the quarter ended with the Celtics leading 26-25.

Tyler Zeller was a force in the first quarter. He played with intensity on both ends of the floor, scoring 9 points and collecting 4 rebounds.

As a team, Boston rebounded the Cavs15 to 12 in the first quarter, including 7 to 1 on the offensive glass.

Avery Bradley found his range in the second quarter as he knocked down two 3’s. His eight points in the quarter had the Celtics up nine with 4:36 remaining in the quarter.

Then the cold spell set in.

The Celtics managed only five points the rest of the half, allowing the Cavs to score 15, and Boston trailed by one at the half, 51-50.

Despite the cold shooting, the Celtics still held an advantage on the boards, by three, and were doing a good job of keeping the Cavs off the offensive glass.

The third quarter was a different story as the Cavs, in similar fashion to game 1, used a 15-2 run to go up 68-54. Timofey Mozgov controlled the boards for the Cavs and everything that was working for the Celtics in the first half came to a grinding halt.

Jared Sullinger stepped in and scored six points for the Celtics in the quarter. As in game 1, the Celtics battled back and were only down 75-68 heading into the fourth.

Thomas scored 11 of his points in the quarter, but James and Irving were simply too much.

After out rebounding the Cavs by three in the first half, the Celtics ended up getting out rebounded by eight. (47-39)

Sullinger finished with 14 points for the Celtics and Zeller finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds.

Irving finished with 26 points for the Cavs and Mozgov had 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots.

The effort is there. If the Celtics are to have any hopes of salvaging this series they will need better production from their starters. Brandon Bass scored only 2 points (on 0-6 shooting from the field). While Evan Turner collected 12 rebounds, he shot only 3-11 from the field in scoring 9 points. Bradley, after a decent first half, only attempted two shots in the second half, missing on both.

The Celtics hope to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole when they return home to face the Cavs on Thursday.

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