Prizing:

1st Place: $25 Amazon gift card

2nd-5th Place: $10 Starbucks gift card

Overview:

On Thursday, May 25th, the Cleveland Cavaliers will be on the road to take on the Boston Celtics in game five of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Cleveland has a (3-1) series advantage.

The Crowd:  

“The Crowd” is projecting a final score of Cavaliers 106.0 – Celtics 102.6 with an over/under of 208.5.

Statistics (2016-17 season):

Point differential: Cavaliers +3.1 (7^th) > Celtics +2.6 (8^th)

Points per game: Cavaliers 110.3 (4^th) > Celtics 108.0 (7^th)

Points allowed per game: Celtics 105.4 (15^th) > Cavaliers 107.2 (20^th)

Field Goal Percentage Offense: Cavaliers 47.0% (5^th)> Celtics 45.4% (16^th)

Three Point Percentage: Cavaliers 38.4% (2^nd) > Celtics 35.9% (14^th)

Field Goal Percentage Defense: Celtics 45.0% (9^th) > Cavaliers 45.8% (16^th)

Turnovers committed per game: Celtics 12.6 (tied for 8^th) > Cavaliers 13.2 (tied for 15^th)

Turnovers forced per game: Celtics 13.4 (tied for 15^th) > Cavaliers 12.0 (28^th)

Rebounds per game: Cavaliers 43.8 (12^th) > Celtics 42.0 (tied for 26^th)

Assists per game: Celtics 25.2 (tied for 3^rd) > Cavaliers 22.7 (13^th)

Summary:

Cleveland now holds a (3-1) series advantage after winning game four 112-99 at home.  The Celtics are without their star point guard Isaiah Thomas for the remainder of the post-season.  Thomas was averaging 23.3 points and 6.7 assists in the playoffs and accounted for over 30% of the Celtics offense.  Cleveland started out slow with Lebron earning four early fouls but shot nearly 60% from the game as the Boston defense had no answers.   Lebron had perhaps the quietest 34 points of his career but he took 27 shots to get there.  The real story was Kyrie Irving who had 21 of his playoff high 42 points in the third quarter.  Kevin Love continues his excellent series play with 17 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 assists.  For the playoffs, Cleveland is averaging 115.3 points per game while allowing 103.3.  Boston is averaging 105.4 points per game and allowing 106.5.  The Cavaliers now have firm command of this series and I expect the dominant Lebron to return in game 5 to close out the series.

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