2024 NBA Playoffs preview, prediction: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Boston Celtics

With the Cavaliers backs against the wall, down double-digits entering the second half of Game 7 against the Magic, Donovan Mitchell and his teammates found another gear. Mitchell scored 17 in the third quarter, his teammates rallied behind him, and the Cavaliers won comfortably and advanced.

Mitchell and the Cavaliers are going to have to find a few more gears if they are going to advance again.

A rested Boston Celtics team — with the deepest roster and best record in the East — is waiting for the Cavaliers. Cleveland is expected to start this series without Jarrett Allen, who has missed the last three games due to a rib injury.

Boston presents a lot more challenges for the Cavaliers, let’s dive in and break it down.

When does the Cavaliers vs. Celtics series begin?

Game One between the Cavaliers and Celtics will be played on Wednesday, May 7, at 7 ET in at the TD Garden in Boston, and it will be broadcast on TNT.

Minnesota Denver Playoffs Schedule 2024

All times are Eastern (* = if necessary).

Game 1: Cavaliers at Celtics, May 7 (7 ET, TNT)
Game 2: Cavaliers at Celtics, May 9 (7 ET, ESPN)
Game 3: Celtics at Cavaliers, May 11 (8:30 ET, ABC)
Game 4: Celtics at Cavaliers, May 13 (7 ET, TNT)
Game 5: Cavaliers at Celtics, May 1 (TBD, TNT)*
Game 6: Celtics at Cavaliers, May 3 (TBD, ESPN)*
Game 7: Cavaliers at Celtics, May 5 (TBD, TBD)*

Three things to watch for in Indiana vs. new York

1) How will Cleveland score in this series?

For the second series in a row, the Cavaliers face a top-three defense in the league, but Boston’s will be a tougher matchup for Cleveland because the Celtics go deeper with quality defenders.

While Orlando had Jalen Suggs to try and slow Mitchell down, Boston brings much more depth to the party — they likely start Jaylen Brown on Mitchell but they can also use Jrue Holiday or Derrick White, keeping a fresh defender on him at all times. Furthermore, there is no obvious switch to target for Cleveland in this series — everyone the Celtics roll out can defend. With Kristaps Porzingis likely out for the series with a calf strain Al Horford will start and get heavy minutes at center, and while he may be the weakest link he is still a solid defender.

Expect Boston to pressure Mitchell and throw some doubles at him, forcing him to give up the ball because they don’t fear anyone else on the Cleveland roster to beat them.

The Cavaliers will need a lot more out of Darius Garland, who simply wasn’t good enough against the Magic, including a 3-of-13 shooting outing in Game 7. Evan Mobley will also be asked to do a lot more on offense. It will take a team effort from the Cavaliers to beat Boston, which brings us to key No. 2 in this series.

2) Cleveland’s role players will have to step up, hit 3s

Boston’s elite defense is going to take away a lot of primary scoring actions for Cleveland, which is going to have to move the ball and count on role players such as Isaac Okoro, Caris LeVert, Max Strus, Georges Niang and others to drain 3s when the ball finds them (Okoro in particular will be critical, JB Bickerstaff will need his defense on the floor, but he can’t be an offensive zero the Celtics help off of). If the Cavaliers plan to win games in this series, they will have to rain 3s on Boston and the role players will have to play a big part in that.

The Cavaliers are also going to have to defend much better than they did last series—Boston has a much deeper attack than Orlando.

Cleveland has a very good defense (seventh in the league in the regular season, although they miss Jarrett Allen), but everyone in Boston’s starting five is capable of a big game. It’s not just Jayson Tatum and Brown, although Cleveland will have its hands full trying to slow that forward duo. Garland and Mitchell are a bit undersized against Boston as defenders. Look for Holiday and White to have some monster games in this series.

3) Stat to watch: Celtics transition points

Orlando got stops against Cleveland last series, but they didn’t run off those stops much, just 14.1% of the Magic offense started in transition.

Boston will run off the stops and turnovers and get some easy buckets going the other way. (The Celtics didn’t run much against Miami, but they also didn’t have to, and the Heat were disciplined in getting back.) If the Celtics rack up a lot of transition buckets against the Cavaliers, it will create too big a hole for Cleveland to climb out of.

Prediction: Celtics in five

Congratulations to the Cavaliers for advancing to the second round, but they will be outclassed. I expect Cleveland to get one win because they get hot from 3 — plus the Celtics never seem to sweep a team in the playoffs — but this series is going to put all the hard questions about the Cavaliers roster (will Donovan Mitchell sign an extension and stay? Can Mobley and Allen play together long-term?) back on the front burner.