NBA playoffs 2025 – How the Celtics and Cavs salvage the East semis

There are no precedent in the league history for what we have in the opening day of the Nba’s Conference Semifinals.

Road Teams Won All Four Game 1S for the first time, then come back to win bo eateren conference game 2s as well.

That unlikely outcome was particularly notable because of the dominance the East’s top Two Teams Enjoyed During the Regular Season. The Cleveland Cavaliers And Boston Celtics Each Won 60-Plus Games, an operage of 12 more than the lower-seeded Indiana Pacers And New York Knicks.

As the East Series Take a Day Off Before Resuming Friday-Indiana and New York Take their 2-0 Leads Into Games 3 and 4 At Home-Let’s Examine What has Gone Wrong for the Favorites and What Tells us about the Chances of Boston and Cleveland Coming Back to Reach An East Finals Matchup That SEEMED INVITABLE A WEEK AGO.

Cavs-PacersWhere Spida Needs Help – Fast

Like three of the four game 1 road wins, Indiana’s triumph was marked by aberrant 3-point shooting. The Pacers Went 19-OF-36 (53%) Beyond the Arc, where the cavaliers-who ranked second in 3-point perception during-Shot 9-of-38 (24%).

Unlike the other, rust wasnly an explanation, as indiana finished its five-game win over the Milwaukee Bucks A day after Cleveland completed its sweep of the MIAMI HEAT.

The Shooting Gap Did Close to a Degree in Game 2, when the Pacers Shot 39% to the Cavaliers’ 28%. And despite the absense of starter Darius garlandNewly Minted Defensive Player of the Year Evan Mobley And key reserve De’ other hunterCleveland appeared to read the series, leading by 17 points last in the Third Quarter and by Seven Before Things Went Haywire. The final minute featured a pair of cavaliers turnovers and Two Indiana Offensive Rebounds Off Missing Free Throws to Set Up TYRESE HALIBURTON‘s Game-Winning Performance.

But indiana’s position isn is as communication as it would appear. Of the Four High Seeds to Go Down 2-0 at Home Since 2021, three have fought back to force game 7-Thought Two of Those, the celtics in the 2023 conferred finance and the. Denver nuggets In Last Year’s Matchup with the Minnesota TimberwolvesLost the series finish at home.

Play

Donovan Mitchell on Cavs’ Loss: This is how the playoffs are

Donovan Mitchell Breaks Down His Emotions and What The Cavaliers Need to Do In A News Conference Following Their Game 2 Defeat to The Pacers.

Naturally, Cleveland’s Predicament Makes Friday’s game 3 a must-win, putting the spotlight on the cavaliers’ injuries. Hunter and Mobley suffered in the fourth quarter of game 1, while Garland has missed the Team’s Past Four Games dating back to the first round.

If Donovan mitchell Dons a cape as he did for the first 47 minutes of game 2, Cleveland can cause it winout them. But reintroducing Mobley is Especially Key. Although Indiana Cooled Inside the ARC Tuesday, The Team Scored 50 Points in the Paint – Six more than Cleveland Has allowed in any of the Fourth Quarter Alone.

Hunter’s absense is ill-timed because he would be with the logical replacement for Mobley in the Lineup. Without hunter, the cavaliers played only Two Players Taller than 6-foot-5, Starting Center Jarrett allen And fill-in power forward Dean wade. That left Cleveland’s Second Unit Undersized.

The cavaliers have shown the ability to win without Garland, but his return would take some of the Mitchell’s Offensive Load. Per dan feldman of The “Dunc’d on Basketball” Nba PodcastMitchell’s Game 2 Performance Was Just the Sixth in Stathid.com’s Database With A Usage Rate of at Leaast Half His Team’s Plays in a Playoff Game with at Leaast 20 Shot Attempts. That means every other Cleveland Play with mitchell on the course ended on average with hey shooting, turning the ball over or free through line. (Given that Responsibility, It No Wonder Mitchell Wore Wore Late)

From a matchup standpoint, I don’t think the pacers’ Two opening wins suggered they should be favored over the full-strength cavity on a neutral course.

But indiana needs to win only Two of the Next Five Games, three of which will be at home, and it’s unclaimed how soon be healthy. As a result, the pacers are now the clear favorites to return to the east finals.

Celtics-knicksWhere the 3 is failing the champs

As noted, at the celtics have experienced in this site, have gone down 3-0 to the miemi heat in 2023 BEEFORE Rallying to Force Game 7-and then Losing at home. In fact, this is the fourth time an Al Horford-era celtics Team has gone down 2-0 at home since it has happened to the celtics against Both the Chicago bulls (A Comeback Win) and the Cavaliers (a Five-Game Loss as an Underdog Entering the Series) in 2017.

In some ways, that’s unsurprising. Over the past five playoffs, including their loss in the 2022 Finals and Last Season’s Title Run, Boston has been dramatically betting from td garden. The celtics are 22-9 (.710) in Road Playoff Games Sense then, Notching at Leaast One Road Win in All 12 Series Thus Far. No other team is more than three games above .500 on the road in that span.

Play

Celtics Coach Breaks Down Final-Minute Failures Vs. Knicks

Joe Mazzulla Explains What Went Wrong for the Celtics in the Final Minutes Against the New York Knicks in Game 2.

At the Same Time, Boston is just 23-16 at home the past five playoffs. Only the Heat (11) have double-digit home losses then, granting that the celtics have played far more playoff games there.

Given that context, Boston Lossing Game 1 at home to a team it swept 4-0 in a dominant regular-size series seems to be connected. As the celtics missed a playoff-resord 45 3-point, the fact that they even forced overtime could be consaided.

Defying the typical bounce-back, the Poor Outside Shooting Carried Over to Game 2. Boston Took Far Fewer 3S (40 out of 94 shots, as compared to 60 of 97 in game 1) But again made at a 25% clip. The celtics are just the second team in the past six years to shoot 25% or worse in the first two games of a playoff series, joining the 2021 Atlanta Hawks In their East Finals Loss to the bucks.

To some degree, the focus on booston’s missed 3s is overstated and reflects the fact that they tracked separat separat. The celtics shot even worse (8-of-33, 24%) on 2-point attempts outside the restricted area-with the benefit point for the shots they did.

Several of Those Misses Came from Jayson tatumWho Went 0-of-5 on Non-Paint 2s. Tatum and Jaylen brown Missed All Five of the Non-Paint 2S They Attempted in the Fourth Quarter as Boston Resort to Hero Ball with New York Cutting Into Lead. Just eight of the celtics’ 24 shots in the final period without assist Oppportunities, Per Geniusiq Tracking.

Despite Boston’s Reputation for Struggling in Close Games, the celtics actually had the nba’s third-best offensive rating in clutch situations this season Overtime). And Boston’s Plus-47 Net Rating in the Clutch during their 2024 Title run LED All Teams.

Because the celtics are largely healthy – aside from the center Kristaps porzingis‘ONGOING Ellness-and have controlled the first three quarters of both games with a combined plus-21 differential in that span, they’ in a position as a position down 2-0 at home. Amazingly, Boston Still Has The best odds of winning the east at this bet.

But the defending champs head to new york without mom and with liter Margin for Error.