How do we beat the Cavs in the ECF?

[celticinorlando]

Good thing is I do not believe the Cavs have as much talent as the Sixers. Sixers were a tough match up...all the 3 point shooting

Cavs have James. He tilts things...but the other guys around him are not guys that scare me like Middleton, Giannis, Redick, Sario , etc..

Cavs defense is not very good. Boston should be able to get to the rim at will. No legit big in the middle to stop them

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Good thing is I do not believe the Cavs have as much talent as the Sixers. Sixers were a tough match up...all the 3 point shooting

Cavs have James. He tilts things...but the other guys around him are not guys that scare me like Middleton, Giannis, Redick, Sario , etc..

Cavs defense is not very good. Boston should be able to get to the rim at will. No legit big in the middle to stop them

make no mistake, butt ugly korver and JR THUG smith and Love can and WILL LIGHT U UP regardless what mental gymnastics or rationalizations we try to throw out! last year kyrie and lebron killed us at the rim. you make lebron score 80 FROM OUTSIDE and cover the rest. i would not double team lebron except in certain situations if we could afford to if a bum on other side is no threat to score.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

make lebron shoot 25 footers all night.  i can live with that. we could not do that last year nor could we cover anybody else.  give him space. tempt him to shoot those jays. if not he will go to rim and destroy u

[seancally]

Play em straight up. We're switchable enough where we don't need to worry about too many guys ending up with terrible mismatches. Last year, realistically, even Bradley and Crowder were too small to get switched. I feel comfortable with anyone from Brown/Tatum/Horford/Semi/Smart/Morris getting switched to Bron or Love if that happens.

We have elite defense, but specifically, elite 3PT defense when dialed in. They will need the 3-ball to be true and defending against that is one of our best skills.

Underrated: Make Lebron work on defense. Who did he guard last year? Rookie Jaylen? Crowder? This year he'll need to be honest and work hard to stop legit scoring threats.

[SHAQATTACK]

How about hiring Casey ...  according to his peers he is great coach ..

[SHAQATTACK]

Lebrons on weakness is still free throws and mental fatigue.

He ll have to with stand a pounding and make his free throws to beat my team .

He is allowed no dunks , he hits the floor , wrap him up , he has to make his freethrows.

He ll eventually get tired of laying on the floor.

[crimcartel]

The cavs will blitz the ball handler on the pick and roll like they did last year with IT and horford. How rozier, tatum and smart handle that will go along way in determining our offense efficiency. Also, I think we let LeBron score his 30-40 and we stay home on the shooters.. LeBron wont beat us single handedly if he does not get 20 from atleast one other guy.

[seancally]

We've always had Horford on Love, and that probably makes sense most of the time. But also wonder if we try Horford on Lebron, like we did with Simmons and Giannis for stretches (actually, Al was on Simmons quite a bit). Could we get away with a smaller player on Love? He's a great post player, but will they really force feed him in the post?

[celticinorlando]

Jaylen draws Lebron IMO...has to at least start on him

Semi and Morris would need to get time also on him

[footey]

Always felt the prototype player to guard Lebron would have great mass, long arms, and quick feet.  Someone who can stop his bulldoze drives to the hoop.  Otherwise he just uses a blend of athleticism, strength and mass to navigate to the basket for pretty easy buckets.

Obviously Yabusele is not ready to take on that responsibility, but he would be the candidate of the future. He is the right body type.  Needs to take lessons from Semi on how to defend the post.

I just don't think we have an answer for the Lebron problem. If we had Kyrie and Gordon, we could outscore the Cavs. Our depleted roster just doesn't have the bullets to do that in my opinion.

By the way, I picked Celtics to beat the Bucks, and to beat the Sixers in 7 games, because I felt we matched up well with them. I don't feel that way with Cleveland.

[BudweiserCeltic]

My question is... do the Cavs start big with Thompson, or start small with Love at center?

If they start with Love at center, do we keep Baynes in the starting unit or start Marcus Morris or Smart?

Jonas' defense was exploited particularly with a quick Love at center, will that be a factor with Baynes who's a very good defender?

I'd like to see how we handle those units, that will say a lot on our chances.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

The Raptors didn't have anyone to matchup with Lebron -- Siakim just wasn't very good on him. OG was alright, but he is still figuring it out. The Cs have Morris, Ojeleye, Brown, and Horford to defend Lebron.

Also, when the Raptors went small to spread the floor and hit more 3s, they didn't have anyone to guard Love.

The Cs will hopefully stay home on shooters and make Lebron and Love create in isos. The Cs can't shut Lebron down, but I do think Love might have some trouble scoring consistently in isos.

If the Cs show up defensively, they'll be in every game.

On the other side of the ball, who is going to defend Rozier? Hill? Clarkson? Smith?
Who is going to defend Brown and Tatum? Hood? Smith? James? Green? Osman?

I actually think the Cs are set up to get good shots on offense and make the Cavs take tough shots on defense. That's a good recipe for success.

[celticinorlando]

My question is... do the Cavs start big with Thompson, or start small with Love at center?

If they start with Love at center, do we keep Baynes in the starting unit or start Marcus Morris or Smart?

Jonas' defense was exploited particularly with a quick Love at center, will that be a factor with Baynes who's a very good defender?

I'd like to see how we handle those units, that will say a lot on our chances.

Think they start out James, Hill, Love, Korver and JR Smith...if they get in trouble you could see Thompson get the start

[playdream]

Defensive matchups:
Morris/Semi mainly on Lebron (with Horford helping ,Brown and Tatum not a good choice)
No double

AL/Tatum mainly on Love
Brown/Smart/T-Ro chase the shooters

Baynes and Moose can't be on the court when Love is playing the 5, otherwise they may have roles if starters are cold

Offensive matchups
There should be many mismatchs we can attack since they should be the worst defensive team of the 3 teams, though Brown and Tatum will have to carry the main load.
And try to decrease the bad shot, like a morris jumper when he is cold then we will be more than fine

Overall the strategy should be simple , and the matchups aren't bad for us

I predict Bucks-Sixers-Cavs are the 3 team that we matchup the best and it looks like we are very lucky

[The One]

I'm sure Brad has dissected and analyzed the Indy film.

He, along with other NBA coaches, steal stuff all the time so follow their gameplan and customize with the Celtics personnel.

Can Rozier or Brown come close to replicating Oladipo?
Can Mook come close to replicating Bogdanovic and ?

I think that is a way to beat them.