CLEVELAND -- Composure.
It has been defined by Merriam-Webster as “a calmness or repose, especially of mind, bearing or appearance,” and admittedly, the Cleveland Cavaliers felt they lost that in the second half of their 107-94 loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of the 2018 NBA Eastern Conference Finals at TD Garden in Boston Tuesday night.
The Cavaliers committed 13 personal fouls, had eight turnovers, were given two technicals and one flagrant foul over the final 24 minutes of Game 2.
“Well, I thought it started in the third quarter,” shooting guard Kyle Korver said. “When they started their run, when they put their run together, we didn’t respond. We didn’t respond, so it’s something we have to talk about amongst ourselves and be better at in Game 3.”
During the third quarter, Boston outscored the Cavaliers, 36-22, in the third quarter, thanks in large part to its 56 percent shooting from the field. Out of the halftime break, the Celtics converted 14 of their 25 looks at the hoop, including a five-for-10 showing from three-point range.
After a strong shooting performance in the first half, the Cavaliers made only nine of their 22 attempts from the field in the third quarter.
“I thought we took some rushed shots, didn’t close the half well, had a chance to go up double figures going into the locker room and didn’t really close the half the way we wanted to close it,” Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Then, they had a big offensive third quarter, scoring 36 points. That’s way too many.”
In addition to the poor shot selection, tempers flared early and often between the Cavaliers and Celtics during the second half of Game 2.
And things reached a boiling point when Cavaliers shooting guard JR Smith pushed Celtics forward Al Horford in the back as he went up for a shot with 3:49 to play in the fourth quarter and drew a flagrant foul for his conduct.
Following the push in the back, which sent Horford crashing into the courtside camera operators, Celtics guard Marcus Smart ran at and went face-to-face with Smith. Smith attempted to push away Smart, but the Celtics reserve persisted.
Again, Smith pushed Smart away, this time making contact with the face, at which point, multiple players stepped in to break up the two before the situation escalated further.
Both Smith and Smart were awarded technical fouls for their roles in the skirmish.
“We’ve got to be tougher,” Lue said. “I think they’re playing tougher than we are. We see that. They’re being physical. They’re gooning the game up, so we’ve got to do the same thing. We’ve got to be tougher, mentally and physically.”
The one positive for the Cavaliers, at least to Korver, is the fact that the team played well in the first half and will look to carry that success over to Game 3 at Quicken Loans Arena Saturday night
“We played how we needed to play in the first half,” Korver said. “Besides the ending, that’s a good model for how we need to play and the physicality we need to play with and how hard we have to play, the energy we have to play with.
“It just wasn’t there in the second half for us, and so, we need to look at the first half and say, ‘This is how we need to play,’ and look at the second half and say, ‘This is how we do not need to play,’ and go from there.”
