After losing in last year\u2019s conference finals, the Celtics have been on a mission to not only win<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the East but win the whole darn thing. Boston finished with 64 victories, 7 games better than<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oklahoma City in the overall standings and easily dispatched of the Heat in 5 games, with an<\/p>\n\n\n\n
average margin of victory of 22 points. But the playoffs are a whole different beast compared to<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the regular season. While the Cavaliers may not have the same name cachet as they once did<\/p>\n\n\n\n
when LeBron was rocking their threads, they could make this one interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Donovan Mitchell truly shines in the postseason. He\u2019s scored at least 30 points in nearly half of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
his 52 career playoff games. He\u2019s coming off a Game 7 victory that saw him post 39 points and<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that’s after he put up 50 in the game before. Then there\u2019s his career versus the Celtics. For<\/p>\n\n\n\n
some reason, Mitchell really turns things on against Boston, averaging 29.6 points per game<\/p>\n\n\n\n
which are the most he\u2019s scored against any NBA opponent (with a minimum of five games<\/p>\n\n\n\n
played).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can bet that the Celtics are well aware of Mitchell\u2019s exploits and will have a plan based on<\/p>\n\n\n\n
shutting the Cleveland Guard down. That means we\u2019ll need to see a heck of a lot more out of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Darius Garland who is averaging just 14.9 points through the first round. It\u2019s a huge dropoff from<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mitchell\u2019s first round average of 28.7 and with Center Jarrett Allen missing Game 7 against the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Magic, someone will have to step up. There is potential with Garland who averaged 20.3 points<\/p>\n\n\n\n
against the Celtics this season. The question remains whether or not Garland can take the reins<\/p>\n\n\n\n
in place of Mitchell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Celtics entered the seasons with expectations of nothing less than an NBA championship at<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the end of the playoffs. So far, they are living up to that billing. They took care of the Heat quite<\/p>\n\n\n\n
handedly in five games. They have a solid plus\/minus at 15.6, especially when compared to the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cavaliers\u2019 -4.4 through the first round. Boston may not be fully healthy though as it looks like<\/p>\n\n\n\n
they\u2019ll be without Kristaps Porzingis for the entirety of the second round. That being said, they\u2019re<\/p>\n\n\n\n
22-4 without the Latvian and are 10-3 against playoff teams where they outscored their<\/p>\n\n\n\n
opponents by 8.6 points per 100 possessions during those 13 outings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cavaliers +850<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Celtics -1450<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Celtics took the season series 2-1 but did allow the Cavs to hit the 100 point mark in each<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of those games, something they failed to do five times in the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dec. 12, 2023 Celtics 120 <\/strong>Cavaliers 113<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dec. 14, 2023 Celtics 116 <\/strong>Cavaliers 107<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar. 5, 2024 Celtics 104 Cavaliers 105<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 1: Cavaliers vs. Celtics, Tuesday, May 7<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 2: Cavaliers vs. Celtics, Thursday, May 9<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 3: Celtics vs. Cavaliers, Saturday, May 11<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 4: Celtics vs. Cavaliers, Monday, May 13<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 5: Cavaliers vs. Celtics, Wednesday, May 15 *<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 6: Celtics vs. Cavaliers, Friday, May 17 *<\/p>\n\n\n\n Game 7: Cavaliers vs. Celtics, Sunday, May 19 *<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After losing in last year\u2019s conference finals, the Celtics have been on a mission to not only win the East…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":24918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[162],"class_list":["post-24917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-nba"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tSERIES SCHEDULE<\/h2>\n\n\n\n