CelticsLife Round Table: Can the Celtics win game 2?

This may come as a surprise to you, but tonight the Boston Celtics will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers in a basketball competition. Do they have a chance to steal game 2? Our pane of readily available dudez weigh in:


Who wins game 2?

Cavs. It sucks to say but I think LeBron and Kevin Love will play better.

Percentage chance the Celtics win:

11.04% chance. I realize that is a very weird number, but it has to do with the three key players the Celtics need to play well to steal Game 2. Evan Turner, Avery Bradley, and Isaiah Thomas.

As I wrote yesterday Turner and Bradley stunk up the joint in Game 1. They need to play well for the C's to have a chance. When Bradley is knocking down the mid-range jumper, it opens up the floor for others, like Turner to work.

Thomas needs to go off, without turning the ball over. I'm talking 25-30 points, with some big-time daggers from beyond the arc.

What adjustments need to be made?

Brad Stevens and the C's need to figure out how they can utilize the good of Turner. If he has to play LeBron on both ends he has no chance. If that is the case I expect to see a lot of Jae Crowder.

The Celts also need to grab the so-called 50/50 balls as well as the numerous long rebounds they missed out on Sunday. They can't let Love and Tristan Thompson work them on the offensive glass. To win the C's have to play near perfect meaning limiting offensive rebounds as well as taking care of the rock.


Who wins game 2?

Cavs.

Percentage chance the Celtics win:

35%

What adjustments need to be made?

Brad Stevens needs to figure out a way to stop the Cavaliers from converting highly contested, horribly improbable shots. Here's to hoping the law of averages turn that around.

Past that? They're going to need to figure out a way to at least even out the rebounding discrepancy. That's a lot easier said then done because this Celtics team doesn't have a whole lot of talented rebounders. Despite this, and I think it's a borderline miracle, the Celtics were able to finish around league average in team rebounding so it's not to say it's impossible.


Well, if Game 1 has shown anything, it is that Kyrie Irving's lack of Playoff experience and his hip injury means zilch. That's bad news for the Celtics. We have Zeller, Bass, Sullinger, Olynyk and Jerebko allegedly protecting the rim -nothing against those guys, especially Zeller and Bass who are doing their best on D, but still...- while LeBron holds a PhD from UHeat in penetrate-and-dish-out, and Irving is possibly the league's best finisher at the rim. (Random thought: Can we stack guys on top of each other and play, like, 7 of them together? Is that allowed?)

So, what are the Celtics' chances of winning tonight? Let's see: In the last 10 years, 2nd seeds won 33 and lost only 7 against 7th seeds in the first two games of the matchup. Those are not great odds. The Cavaliers have a great offense, and while the Celtics run great schemes offensively, it is difficult for them to outscore a rolling Cavs team. I'd say our chance of winning is 10% tonight, tops. But no worries, the odds of it being a very exciting game is actually much, much higher. I think the Celtics will legitimately hold their ground until mid-to-late 4th quarter.

How can we win? Well, either LeBron or Irving has to not show up, which would drive down the cost of playing 4-on-5 basketball on defense. Stevens will surely make some adjustments, and hopefully Blatt will not be able to respond to them effectively. After the horrible rebounding performance in Game 1, I'd assume that Sully sees more time on the court, and if we still cannot grab boards, Stevens puts our 3-guard lineups out there to stop the Cavs before they reach the paint. Oh, and Bradley has to improve his shooting too. If we don't give the Cavs as many 2nd chance points and shoot consistently to hinder any momentum building in their favor, we can win.