Playoff Live Thread (Game 4): Cavs vs Celtics

Whelp. We’ve officially enterest the surreal phase of this playoff series. Donovan Mitchell and Jarrett Allen are out tonight and LeBron James is in (the building). It feels a lot like LeBron attending Z’s jersey retirement ceremony in 2014 with the king in the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, and I’ve been contending for a while that there’s a combo forward sized hole in the Cavs’ roster for a reason.

The whole LeCircus definitely puts a strange spin on this game, and without CPJ or TY Jerome to fill in for DM, it will be up to Caris and Sam Merrill to absorb the minutes. Meanwhile, I hope Evan Mobley has spent the last 48 hours studying how to read double teams and pass out of the post when he gets collapsed in, which was a major reason Boston shut him down in game 3. I also hope the Cavs have been practicing open threes cause they sure missed a bunch, Saturday. With the Cavs auditioning for the king, I expect a weird vibe to lead to Boston playing with their food and the Cavs catching them in a Cavalanche (hopefully). Go Cavs.