Can Cavs Beat Celtics This Playoff Series? (2023-24)

Celtics Depth Chart 5/11/2024:

Last Updated on July 7, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

On paper, I’m not sure the Cavs aren’t better than the Celtics. I may take Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland over the Celtics’ top 3 players. I also think highly of Caris Levert. Sometimes you can be tricked into forming an opinion because it’s the popular opinion. Other times you can be deceived by a regular season record. Every good NBA player will tell you that the playoffs are a different ball game to the regular season. Some analysts assume this to mean that the Cavs will struggle more in the playoffs because they don’t have chemistry good enough at the moment to truly go to war for one another, one reason being the supposed unhappiness, for whatever reason, of star player Donovan Mitchell. But that could also easily turn into a case of overthinking things: these are professional athletes with all the money and resources in the world to deal with minor chemistry-related issues — how expensive can a group therapy session be, even if it is only designed to help them survive one playoff season together? Even if Mitchell goes to another team/demands a trade this offseason, I still expect him to be every bit of a professional in the meantime, and most of all play well for his team and his own sake. I know from my experience as a basketball player, that if you love the game your instincts inevitably take over on the basketball court; the competitor in you plays no differently than if things were better. The problems arise when players don’t treat each other with adequate respect — i.e. when a player like Rajon Rondo purposefully doesn’t pass Ray Allen the ball, the team will suffer. But I don’t see that lack of continuity with the Cavs this season; they seem willing to respect one another. Depth Chart for both teams in this series: Cavs Depth Chart 5/11/2024:

Celtics Depth Chart 5/11/2024: