Celtics will face Cavaliers in second round of NBA playoffs

BOSTON -- The Celtics will square off with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals, marking the ninth time the two teams will meet in the NBA playoffs.

The Cavaliers punched their ticket to the next round Sunday afternoon with a Game 7 win over the Magic in Cleveland. Boston has been waiting since Wednesday night, when they ended their series against the Miami Heat with a blowout victory in Game 5. 

Celtics-Cavaliers Game 1 is set for Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Celtics vs. Cavaliers in the regular season

The Celtics won two of three over the Cavaliers during the regular season, with the home team winning all three showdowns.

The teams played two games in Boston over a three-night span in mid-December, and the Celtics took both of them. All five Boston starters finished in double figures in scoring in the first matchup, led by 25 apiece by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Both teams shot the ball well from downtown, with Boston hitting 40.9 percent of its threes and Cleveland knocking down 42.2 percent. But the three-ball wasn't the Celtics' only attack that night, as Tatum and Brown both got to the free-throw line nine times. Boston went a perfect 26-for-26 at the charity stripe, while Cleveland had just nine freebies and six makes.

Kristaps Porzingis was huge for Boston that game, scoring 21 points to go with his 10 rebounds and two blocks. A few nights later he dropped 18 points and pulled down six boards, as Tatum led the C's to a 116-107 win with a team-high 27 points. Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 30 points in a losing effort.

Cleveland got its lone win over Boston on March 5 at the Rocket Mortgage Field House, and it was a pretty big win for the Cavs. The Celtics arrived riding an 11-game winning streak and were coming off a 53-point win over the Warriors, but the Cavs emphatically broke that streak by coming back from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

Dean -- not Dwyane -- Wade outscored the Celtics all by himself in the fourth quarter that night, scoring 20 points with five three-pointers to lead the Cavaliers to a stunning victory. The Celtics scored just 17 points in the final frame as they took their foot off the gas, but still had a shot to win in the end.

Tatum had the ball in his hands in the final seconds and appeared draw a foul on Darius Garland as he attempted a game-winning (you could probably guess this) fadeaway as time expired. But the Cavs challenged the call, and officials overturned it when they deemed that Tatum's leg caused the contact and not Garland.

The Cavaliers won, 105-104, despite not having Mitchell and Evan Mobley leaving the game early with an ankle injury. 

Celtics-Cavaliers regular season stats

Tatum led the scoring charge for the Celtics against the Cavs in the regular season, averaging 26 points per game. But he wasn't all that efficient against Cleveland, shooting just 38.7 percent overall and 35.7 percent from three. He needed 20.7 shot attempts per game to get those 26 points.

Brown was second on the Celtics during the regular season at 22.7 points per game against the Cavs, though he was much more efficient, hitting 49.1 percent of his shots. His three-ball wasn't as good, with Brown hitting at just a 35.3 percent clip.

But the Boston backcourt was red hot from downtown against the Cavs, with Derrick White knocking down 50 percent of his threes and Jrue Holiday draining 42.9 percent of his long-range bids. White is on fire at the moment, after scoring 63 points over the last two games against Miami and shooting 57.7 percent for the series.

Of course, the Celtics will be without Porzingis for this series, which will leave them shorthanded against a pretty talented Cleveland frontcourt. He averaged 21 points and eight boards in his three games against the Cavs, but now Al Horford will have to hold down the fort in the paint. 

The Celtics averaged 120.6 points per game during the regular season, but just 113.3 in their three games against the Cavaliers. 

Mitchell was a beast in his two games against Boston, averaging 30 points off 50 percent shooting. Garland was a pest with 20.7 points and 7.0 assist per game, and Caris LeVert is a dangerous scorer, averaging 15.7 points in his three games against Boston on 48.6 percent shooting overall and 40 percent from three-point range.

And just as a warning to Boston fans: Max Strus, who was super annoying against Boston as a member of the Heat the last two postseasons, will now be looking to do the same as a Cavalier. 

This won't be an easy series for Boston by any stretch, especially against a pretty stingy Cleveland defense and without the services of Porzingis. Plus, Mitchell is a threat to take over a game at any moment. The battle of the backcourts will be an entertaining one, especially whomever Joe Mazzulla sicks Holiday on.  

But the Celtics were locked in Wednesday night and had a few nights to rest up before this one gets underway, and should be able to dispatch the Cavs in 5 or 6 games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third straight season.

Celtics vs. Cavaliers postseason history

The Celtics and the Cavaliers have split their previous eight playoff matchups, though the Cavaliers have won the last three meetings: A first-round sweep in 2015 and in the Eastern Conference Finals in both 2017 and 2018. That last time these two teams met, Tatum was a rookie and Brown was in his second NBA season, as the Celtics came up just short of a surprising run to the NBA Finals. (Where they would have gotten smoked by the Warriors.)

The Cavaliers did have a guy named LeBron on their team in those three previous matchups, and that made a pretty big difference in their favor.

The Celtics won their postseason series over the Cavaliers in 1976, 1985, 2008, and 2010. Boston made it to the NBA Finals each time they beat the Cavs in the playoffs, winning titles in 1976 and 2008.