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Six days ago the world was once again collapsing for the Boston Celtics as they fell to Cleveland 118-94. Now, for the second-straight series, Boston returns to the TD Garden with a chance to close out Cleveland in five games, and advance to its third-straight Eastern Conference Finals.
Here are three keys to the game for the Celtics to close out the undermanned Cavaliers.
Twist the knife
To say Cleveland is on the ropes would be an understatement, and it isn’t getting any healthier either. As first reported by Shams Charania, All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell is expected to miss his second-straight game Wednesday night.
Center Jarrett Allen and guard Caris LeVert were also missing from Wednesday morning shootaround, heavily implying their absences from Game 5.
That said, don’t expect the Cavs to lie down, hopefully the Celtics aren’t either.
“We prepare the same way,” forward Al Horford said. “We expect them to come out fighting and battling, and we have to be able to match that regardless.”
Even without Mitchell in Game 4, Cleveland still gave Boston a run for its money. The Cavs pushed the Celtics from beyond the arc, sinking 11 triples in the first half, five coming from guard Max Strus.
“We knew they weren’t just going to go away,” guard Jrue Holiday said. “Being tested in that way and responding in the way we did, we did a pretty good job.”
Cleveland still has plenty of players that can get hot from three, and suck the air right out of the Garden. Guard Darius Garland hit four threes to go along with 30 points and guard Sam Merrill knocked down two threes as well in Game 4.
Don’t expect too similar of a performance from three, but do expect them to keep launching as the three-point game will be the only way they keep it close.
“We have to throw the first punch,” Garland said. “Next man-up mentality, have your shoes tight and compression shorts ready.”
No one knows the severity of Mitchell’s calf injury but with him being reportedly “day-to-day”, it makes Game 5 all the more important for Boston to knock out Cleveland with him watching from the bench.
Protect the parquet
It’s no secret that Boston hasn’t been very good at protecting home court in the playoffs the last few seasons. Since 2022, the Celtics are 14-14 at home, including a Game 6 loss in the NBA Finals and Game 7 loss to Miami in the ECF.
This year they haven’t shown that they’ve kicked the habit, with a 3-2 home record.
“Winning is difficult, and if it were up to me, we wouldn’t lose at home,” Horford said. “We do have an opportunity to come out and set the tone. The focus is just taking advantage of this, and making sure that we come out and we try to get it done.”
It’s not like Boston hasn’t had success on the parquet this season. The Celtics boasted a 37-4 record at home, good for the best home record across the league. The Oklahoma City Thunder slotted in at second at 33-8.
There isn’t really any true explanation as to why the Celtics have struggled at home in the postseason. In past seasons, I draw it up to not having enough playoff toughness when they went up against the likes of the Golden State dynasty and Eric Spoelstra’s Heat.
This season, the theme seems to be their opponents having strong nights from three, while the Celtics struggle.
Without three out of arguably their top four-players, I don’t imagine Boston’s home struggles will reemerge tonight. With the crowd juiced up and an ECF berth on the line, I see this one playing out similarly to Game 5 against Miami.
Old man Horford
When Kristaps Porzingis went down in Game 4 against Miami with a calf strain everyone knew Horford would slot into the starting center role. The Horford that has filled the role however, hasn’t been the one that the Celtics have known for almost 10 years now.
“There hasn’t been any limitations,” Horford said. “I’m just happy to be able to contribute to our group.”
The Dominican Republic native just seems a step slow, and you don’t have to look any further than his performance from the three-point line to see it.
Throughout the regular season, when Horford was mostly coming off the bench, he was hitting threes at 41.9% — pretty good for a 37-year old forward. Now, with an increased workload, Horford is only knocking down threes at a 27% rate.
If Porzingis is going to need more time recovering, Horford is going to have to find his stroke from deep. His inconsistency allows defenders to leave him alone in the corner and double team Brown or Tatum. Boston’s offense is predicated on all five players knocking down threes and maintaining space across the court.
We are already seeing signs of Joe Mazzulla leaning away from Horford and looking towards a more stereotypical center — Luke Kornet.
“He really is seizing his opportunity,” Horford said. “He’s just bringing a lot of energy, doing whatever he needs to do on the floor and he’s competing at a very high level.”
Kornet is coming off what is probably his best postseason performance in Game 4 (9 points, 6 rebounds and a block) in 19 minutes. A significant increase from his eight minutes in Game 3, where Horford played 39 minutes and was noticeably short-arming shots.
Expect to see a similar split in minutes between the two Celtic centers in Game 5.
The Celtics will look to close out the Cavaliers tonight in Boston. Tip-off slated for 7 p.m.
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