Peaking Celtics the Better Team

Filed under: Cavaliers, Celtics, Magic, NBA Playoffs

BOSTON -- There's no complex explanation for the Boston Celtics beating the Cleveland Cavaliers in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.



The Celtics were simply better. Plain and simple. The better team won. The Celtics were smarter, played harder, played more mature, came up bigger in games that mattered most and simply outplayed Cleveland. Especially defensively.



Boston put the clamps on the Cavs in ways few teams have done -- and especially put the clamps on LeBron James, who averaged 21.3 points the final three games and needed 53 shots to score 64 points. After taking a 2-1 series lead, James shot 18 for 53 in the final three games and had 19 turnovers.



Cleveland played the way it played all season -- coasting and assuming it could turn on the switch when it was needed. That worked in the regular season, but in the playoffs things are different. And Boston, a team of veterans, understood.



"The playoffs come around, it's time to pick it up a notch," Boston's Kevin Garnett said.

 

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Full story at http://nba.fanhouse.com/2010/05/14/peaking-celtics-the-better-team/