Eastern Conference Finals: Game 2

Welcome to another edition of WhoReps' look at the NBA Playoffs. Today we'll be looking at Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Enjoy! Click a bolded name to see their page.                                            
                                                   
The Cleveland Cavaliers' backs were against the wall for the umpteenth time this season. On the road, in an incredibly hostile environment, against an elite team, with teammates alternately useless and ineffective, they desperately needed the inimitable LeBron James to deliver the kind of heroic performance he has given them so many times before in his career. The kind that renders all other organizational failures moot, and ensures everything the opposition has done right irrelevant. And like he nearly always has since entering the league in 2003, he delivered. He powered his way to a 42 point, 10 rebound, 12 assist triple-double with the sort of all-around dominance thats both casual yet riveting that we've come to expect. It still wasn't enough.
 
These Boston Celtics are simply too deep, too tough, and too well-coached to let one man beat them. In retrospect, that they trailed by only four after a first quarter in which James was hotter than a dying star was a sign of things to come. Second-year man Jaylen Brown calmly kept them within striking distance with tough shots of his own early, then the young guard duo of Terry Rozier and Marcus Smart provided energy, shooting, and tenacious defense in the second half that the old Cavaliers couldn't match. Boston's starting backcourt of Rozier and Brown ended up outscoring Cleveland's far more expensive starting counterparts in George Hill and J.R. Smith 41 to 3. Center Al Horford was his usual quiet but versatile and effective self, the anchor of their defense and the engine of their offense. Not many predicted this undermanned Celtics team would even beat Milwaukee in the first round. Now they're two games from the Finals. 
 
What's clear is that nine months after he was traded from Cleveland to Boston, and two months after he was declared out for the season by the Celtics, it's the Cavaliers who miss Kyrie Irving the most. The players Cleveland got in return, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder, so electric for the Celtics a year ago, are both long gone after trade deadline deals of their own. Supposed midseason saviors Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., and Rodney Hood were nowhere to be found. It's fitting that the NBA Draft Lottery was held before this game, and the first round pick the Cavs also received from Boston finished a disappointing eighth. Should James leave this summer, Cleveland will certainly become intimately familiar with the lottery process once again.