A good old-school Eastern Conference battle is coming to Boston. The Celtics begin their second-round playoff series Tuesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers (6 pm CT, TNT) in a matchup of two of the NBA’s top-seven defenses.
As good as those defenses are, each team gets it done in different ways. Boston has arguably the best perimeter defense in the league, headlined by last year’s NBA All-Defensive first-team selection Jrue Holiday and second-teamer Derrick White.
In Cleveland, the backcourt defense is below average, but a towering frontcourt erases many of the mistakes. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are both among the best frontcourt defenders in the NBA.
The Celtics have easily been the class of the East after winning the conference by 14 games. They will play this round without 7-foot-2 rim protector Kristaps Porzingis, but the high-powered team is 21-4 without him this season.
Boston is a heavy -3500 favorite to take out the Cavs in the second round.
How can Cleveland pull off the upset?
If Cleveland wants to do the unthinkable, the first step would be getting the return of Allen. The Cavs went 2-3 when Allen was unavailable this season. There isn’t a large sample size of games without the center, and that’s not a good recipe against Boston. Allen is listed as questionable for Game 1 due to a rib injury.
His return would give Cleveland arguably the frontcourt advantage when pairing him with Mobley and Max Strus’ three-and-D ability at small forward. Cleveland is not a great offense by any means, but Donovan Mitchell has every right to step on the floor and believe he can go basket for basket with anyone on the Celtics. And when he struggles, point guard Darius Garland is capable of explosive offensive stretches.
Boston’s defense keeps rolling
This Celtics roster wasn’t put together for the regular season. Adding Porzingis and Holiday in the offseason was all about suffocating teams defensively in the postseason. The team did just that in the first round against the Miami Heat. While the Cavs have two dynamic backcourt scorers, their offense still finished 18th in the NBA. Boston will have the ability to put Holiday, White, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on Cleveland’s starting backcourt. This will allow those players to stay fresh over the course of the game.
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Cavs vs Celtics: Who wins?
The Celtics are heavy favorites for a reason. They’re deeper, more experienced and more talented. Losing Porzingis doesn’t hurt Boston as much as missing Allen does Cleveland. The Celtics still have a proven playoff starting center in Al Horford, plus trade deadline acquisition Xavier Tillman Sr., who started playoff games for the Memphis Grizzlies in each of the previous two seasons. Cleveland has the defense to make things interesting, but Boston’s defense will take advantage of a mediocre offense.
prediction: Celtics in 5
