Celtics Set to Open Eastern Conference Finals Against Cleveland Wednesday Night

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers come to TD Garden for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Boston Celtics will make their first Eastern Conference finals appearance since 2012 on Wednesday night when they host the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers at TD Garden for game 1.

“We got to get ready for the defending champs; we know that. The good thing about it is we’ve got home-court advantage, so we’ve got to be ready on Wednesday to try to take care of home court. We know it’s going to be tough, but at this point, anything can happen, and we really believe it," said Isaiah Thomas following Boston's game 7 win over Washington.

The Celtics advanced to the conference finals after beating the Washington Wizards in seven games.

Cleveland is in the conference finals for the third straight year after sweeping the Toronto Raptors.

Here is the full series schedule:

Game 1 – Wed May 17 Cleveland at Boston 8:30 PM TNT
Game 2 – Fri May 19 Cleveland at Boston 8:30 PM TNT
Game 3 – Sun May 21 Boston at Cleveland 8:30 PM TNT
Game 4 – Tue May 23 Boston at Cleveland 8:30 PM TNT
Game 5 * Thu May 25 Cleveland at Boston 8:30 PM TNT
Game 6 * Sat May 27 Boston at Cleveland 8:30 PM TNT
Game 7 * Mon May 29 Cleveland at Boston 8:30PM TNT

Celtics vs Cavaliers

During the regular season, the Cavaliers had their way with the Celtics, winning three of the four meetings, including a 114-91 victory in the last meeting of the season on April 5.

In those games, LeBron James averaged 29.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 9.8 assists.

So far in this postseason, James has averaged 34.4 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.

The Celtics will rely on Thomas to continue scoring both from three and in the paint.

Thomas has averaged 29 points per game, while shooting 60% from three in the Celtics game 7 win over Washington.

Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m.

For more on the series, see the charts below.