How do we beat the Cavs in the ECF?

[bopna]

You can beat them by making them play D.

Break their defense with constant drives to the hoop and make plays out of that.. Mix it with post up plays drawn up for Smaht or Brown if Korver is guarding them.. Basically punish em if Korver is in the game by going after him.. Hr does not and will not be able to guard Brown or MS or even Tatum but I assume LEBUM guards Tatum.. If thats the case also go after Bron.. Make him exert effort on D so he spends energy there..
Play Lewhine straight up and let him get 60(he can't because our D is better than toronto or the Pacers).. Stay disciplined on their 3 pt shooters.

[jbp126]

The real question that needs to be asked is how did this team make the East Finals with no Kyrie, no Hayward, and probably the laziest, worst designed rally hashtag CUsRise???

[SHAQATTACK]

Yubu , Semi and Morris .....15 fouls

Bron should hit the deck on his rear about 3.5 times a quarter ......everytime he plays bully ball .....his rear should hit the floor , get up,and shoot freethrows.

there are ho enforcers on Cavs ...... push Bron around , if he wants to fight ...he ll get hit too,  and we know he is mentally weak when pushed.

[droopdog7]

The other thing we can all hope for is that the Cavs stay small (starting Love at the 5).  That matches up Horford with Lebron and I think Baynes would be fine on Love.  If they Thompson at the five, we'll need to put Brown on Lebron, which is less preferable to me.

[bellerephon]

They will need to rotate defenders on Lebron throughout each game, if Horford, or anyone else spends too much time one on one they will likely foul out. Horford, Tatum, Brown, Morris, Semi, and Smart will all get matched up with Lebron from time to time.

[Eja117]

Give the ball to Tatum and say "Win this series for us"....then walk up to Marcus and whisper in his ear "Bro. Win this series for us."

[bellerephon]

I know it seems silly to say, but they need to shoot the ball well. They can't get 1-10 nights from Marcus Morris and Rozier, especially at home. If they play well at home, don't turn the ball over, and shoot a good percentage, they can win. But they still have offensive droughts, that could kill them against Cleveland.

[fairweatherfan]

It has to start with LeBron. He's a different level of player but strategy is similar to how we went at Embiid - don't collapse on him, accept that he'll get his points and try to take away his shooters. Try to make him play defense but in ways that draw him away from the play.

Try to jam up their off-ball movement and focus on disrupting the Love/Korver off-ball actions they like to run.

On offense, attack them at PG - Hill has a bad back and Calderon is terrible at D. Terry needs to use the gravity of his drives to find open shooters or hit Horford for hockey assists. If we move the ball better than them we can take them down, and it starts with initial penetration.

We'll need some things to break our way but I think we're much better equipped than last year. Last year they had Kyrie, this year nobody does 

[PhoSita]

It has to start with LeBron. He's a different level of player but strategy is similar to how we went at Embiid - don't collapse on him, accept that he'll get his points and try to take away his shooters. Try to make him play defense but in ways that draw him away from the play.

Try to jam up their off-ball movement and focus on disrupting the Love/Korver off-ball actions they like to run.

On offense, attack them at PG - Hill has a bad back and Calderon is terrible at D. Terry needs to use the gravity of his drives to find open shooters or hit Horford for hockey assists. If we move the ball better than them we can take them down, and it starts with initial penetration.

We'll need some things to break our way but I think we're much better equipped than last year. Last year they had Kyrie, this year nobody does 

The two things that give me some hope in this series are:

1) The Celts spent the last two playoff rounds basically practicing how to defend physical freaks.  LeBron is much, much tougher to guard than any of Giannis, Simmons, or Embiid, but there are some lessons the Celts can take from the first two rounds.

2) In years past the Celts had a notable height and wingspan disadvantage at nearly every spot in their starting lineup compared to the Cavs.  That is no longer the case.  If anything, the Celts have the size advantage.

[sdceltsfan]

I think Semi will be able to guard Lebron effectively most of the time. LBJ doesn't have the same length as Greek Freak, and definitely doesn't have as explosive of a first step at this stage in his career as Giannis. However, he is a far superior outside shooter, which I believe is going to force Semi to play tighter on him, and he will be in foul trouble most of this series.

I think whoever wins the Horford/Love matchup is going to come out on top.

Lebron is also going to be spending most of the game likely guarding Tatum, which will hopefully tire him out.

I think the Celtics have a good chance to beat Cleveland. It will take a very low turnover, mistake free series. Smart is going to have to spin some more magic and either make his outside shots, or just pass the freaking rock. He has been ice cold from the outside. His plus minus would have been through the roof with all his amazing defensive plays, had he taken a few less outside shots a game.

[GreenWarrior]

make shots. this is the biggest reason why teams struggle against this team... they psyche themselves out, miss lay ups, open shots.

next biggest thing we have to overcome is there will be a time during each game where the cavs will essentially triple team and get their hands all over the ball handler and no foul will be called(this is called the "every LeBron team defense"). this leads to teams playing the cavs afraid to pass the ball and become all iso, we need to limit this or retaliate with even more physicality or both.

defending LeBron, we need to limit the open court opportunities and if he drives to the basket in the half court he needs to pay the price and get wrapped up. no lay ups

[JHTruth]

I think Semi will be able to guard Lebron effectively most of the time. LBJ doesn't have the same length as Greek Freak, and definitely doesn't have as explosive of a first step at this stage in his career as Giannis. However, he is a far superior outside shooter, which I believe is going to force Semi to play tighter on him, and he will be in foul trouble most of this series.

I think whoever wins the Horford/Love matchup is going to come out on top.

Lebron is also going to be spending most of the game likely guarding Tatum, which will hopefully tire him out.

I think the Celtics have a good chance to beat Cleveland. It will take a very low turnover, mistake free series. Smart is going to have to spin some more magic and either make his outside shots, or just pass the freaking rock. He has been ice cold from the outside. His plus minus would have been through the roof with all his amazing defensive plays, had he taken a few less outside shots a game.

I'd say pass. If this series hinges on Smart making threes, we're going to lose, and badly. The guy simply cannot shoot, period. Of course that does not stop him from jacking many of them, but that's not the approach we need to take..

[sdceltsfan]

I think Semi will be able to guard Lebron effectively most of the time. LBJ doesn't have the same length as Greek Freak, and definitely doesn't have as explosive of a first step at this stage in his career as Giannis. However, he is a far superior outside shooter, which I believe is going to force Semi to play tighter on him, and he will be in foul trouble most of this series.

I think whoever wins the Horford/Love matchup is going to come out on top.

Lebron is also going to be spending most of the game likely guarding Tatum, which will hopefully tire him out.

I think the Celtics have a good chance to beat Cleveland. It will take a very low turnover, mistake free series. Smart is going to have to spin some more magic and either make his outside shots, or just pass the freaking rock. He has been ice cold from the outside. His plus minus would have been through the roof with all his amazing defensive plays, had he taken a few less outside shots a game.

I'd say pass. If this series hinges on Smart making threes, we're going to lose, and badly. The guy simply cannot shoot, period. Of course that does not stop him from jacking many of them, but that's not the approach we need to take..

Lol, I would ideally like to see Smart take zero 3's in this series, is what I meant. Just drive to the rim, draw fouls, dish it back out to your teammates who are shooting better, and focus on defense and rebounding. He would be so [dang] valuable in this series if he would just stop trying to pretend he is shooting the lights out like T-Roz.

Smart is the guy who can completely take a momentum changing shooter like Korver out of a game. The Love/Korver connection gained some steam in the last couple games of the Toronto series. Hoping to see Smart disrupt that, and take a whole dimension and a half away from Clevelands offensive game, which then makes them very beatable, even without Kyrie, G-H, Thiess, and Larkin.

[Phantom255x]

One way is to beat them in transition. Forcing turnovers would help there too.

It's how we won our lone regular season match up against them when Cleveland had their old roster (Wade, IT - injured, Rose, etc), and it applies here too.

Toronto actually did a good job against them in transition or when they went up-tempo trying to push the ball up the court. It's primarily how they stormed back in Game 3 that series before LBJ ripped their hearts out again. Indiana did a good job in transition as well.

Yes, the Cavaliers did get a bit younger with their flurry of trades (adding Hood, Clarkson, etc.) but this C's team IMO is faster and also younger. I'm not saying we keep running in transition and just jack up 3s, nor am I advocating that we erratically try to push the ball up the court prematurely (forcing it too much), but the Celtics have looked like a great team in transition all year and they were in the Sixers series as well.

I'm sure our defenders will hound them all series and force some TO's. Then, we got to run and attack.

Lebron won't tire, but we can certainly tire out much of their team if we attack more in transition and stay aggressive. 

[SHAQATTACK]

Box out Love
Stay glued to Corver s hip.

Bully Lebron back and fast break him much as possible.

Make bron go to the line to,earn freethrows, no free trips in the paint un contested .