3 reasons the Celtics could beat the Cavs this postseason

This postseason, there are two clear-cut favorites to reach the NBA Finals — the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. 

All season it's seemed inevitable that Warriors-Cavs III will tip off on June 1, and even with some ups and downs this regular season, nothing has changed in that regard. 

But before either team can play that Finals rubber match, they'll have to get through their respective conference playoffs, and there are six teams — three from each conference — that could make that journey difficult. 

The Boston Celtics are one of those teams for the Cavs, and here are three reasons they could take down Cleveland this postseason: 

IT had an incredible season, averaging 29 points and six assists per game this year.  

And in four games against the Cavs this season, he had the exact same numbers.  

Outside of putting a forward on the Celtics' diminutive dynamo, the Cavs don't have an answer for Thomas' offensive game — he's going to put up big numbers in the pick-and-roll against Kyrie Irving (who allowed nearly 1 PPP defending the pick-and-roll this season) and when IT is at his best, the Celtics offense is formidable. 

There are big questions about Thomas' defense — by some metrics he's the worst defender in the NBA — but against Cleveland, a team full of specialists, there would be some options. The Celtics could put Thomas on a spot shooter and hope that they decide not to drive. 

Is that a stellar plan? No, but it certainly would be a more viable option than putting him on Kyrie Irving, and even having that option is a huge bonus to the Celtics. 

The Celtics had a disproportionately high number of open 3-pointers against the Cavs this year — they averaged 11.8 open (defender within 4-6 feet) and 15.5 wide-open (no defender within 6 feet) 3-pointers per game in four matchups against the Cavs. 

The Celtics hit the wide-open 3s — scoring on more than 40 percent of those shots — but the open ones were a bit more difficult — Boston hit only 27 percent of those 3-pointers. 

If Boston can get that number comfortably into the 30s (or the 40s), the tight margins between these two teams could turn in their favor. In Boston's only win against the Cavs this year, the Celts hit 42 percent of their 3-pointers. In the losses, they shot 29 percent from behind the arc. 

Boston is the No. 1 seed, and while the Cavaliers seemed more than OK with letting the Celtics hold home-court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, they might come to regret it. 

That's because the Cavs could be in for two really tough series in the first two rounds of the postseason. The Pacers are no pushover for Cleveland and the Raptors could beat them in a seven-game series. 

There's a good chance that Cleveland is taxed in ways it hasn't been in past postseasons — six- and seven-game series are not the norm for a LeBron James team in the postseason. 

And if the Eastern Conference Finals go seven games, wouldn't it be nice if a team as taxed as Cleveland had home-court advantage, particularly in the fourth quarter?

The new Garden doesn't have anywhere near the mystique of the old Boston Garden, but playing a Game 7 on the road is never easy, and even the smallest advantages are important in the big picture.