Eddie House and Scal share their instant reaction to the Cavs’ 118-94 win over the Celtics in Game 2 of the East Semifinals
The Boston Celtics failed to defend home court Thursday night, falling 118-94 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at TD Garden. While the Celtics struggled on offense en route to their second-lowest scoring total on the year (only behind their 91-point outing against the Milwaukee Bucks on April 9), NBC Sports Boston's Eddie House believes the team just became complacent.
"What happened was we just didn't guard," House said on NBC Sports Boston's Celtics Postgame Live, as seen in the video above. "We just got complacent on the offensive end."
Tied at the half, the Celtics weren't able to get their offense going in the last two quarters. While Jayson Tatum finished with 25 points-- up from his 2024 postseason average of 21.2 -- the rest of Boston's offense struggled. Derrick White had been a bright spot in the first six postseason games, hitting 3-pointers at a 50 percent rate, but went 1 for 8 from 3 in Thursday night's loss.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The "live by the three, die by the three" phrase was in full effect for the Celtics, who made just 8 of 35 attempts as a team (22.9 percent). Meanwhile, the Cavaliers took full advantage of the space the Celtics were giving them around the perimeter, converting on 46.4 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc (13 of 28).
"There was a possession in the second half where, it was right out of a timeout, Jayson Tatum does get the ball on the post, but he shoots a shot with five seconds left," House said of Boston's inability to play through their offense. "It took forever for us to get into our offense, and that was the theme of tonight -- every single quarter it took forever for us to get into our offense unless we got a turnover and were able to push it in transition."
On the defensive end of the ball, the Celtics let Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley combine for 50 points. With Kristaps Porzingis still sidelined due to a calf injury, the Celtics had no answer for Mobley in the paint. Mitchell made the Celtics pay for lax coverage on the perimeter, converting on 5 of 7 attempts from deep.
"I just didn't like our defense -- I didn't like our effort, I didn't like our mindset, I didn't like the way that we came out and attacked this game," House added. "Cleveland looked like a desperate team and we looked like we were just going through the motions."
MORE CELTICS COVERAGE
Co-host Brian Scalabrine also added that the defense was disconnected as a unit, noting a lack of urgency, a lack of help defense, and miscommunication leading to opposing players left uncovered.
"There was no heart today," Scalabrine said of Boston's effort. "They were just playing rather than trying to win. Winning basketball, your back is against the wall -- I didn't see much of that today. No force, no purpose."
With the series now tied at a game apiece, the Celtics will hit the road as they attempt to bounce back and steal a game in Cleveland on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. ET, with NBC Sports Boston's coverage beginning at 7:30 p.m. with Celtics Pregame Live.
