INDEPENDENCE, Ohio _ The slashes to the psyche and the blows to a team's heart are hard to gauge, the differences for the two teams even more so.
What is more damaging _ a contentious Jan. 22 team meeting in which virtually no one was spared or the star free agent lost for the season five minutes into his debut? A roster torn apart at the trade deadline or a five-time All-Star shut down in early April after undergoing two surgeries on the same knee in a span of two weeks?
What reeks of more drama, or for outsiders packs more entertainment value _ a veteran shooting guard throwing a bowl of tortilla soup at an assistant coach or a young point guard's war of words, and T-shirts and jerseys, with his opponents?
The Cavaliers and Boston Celtics will not compare scars or obstacles overcome when they open the Eastern Conference finals Sunday afternoon at TD Garden. But an air of improbability may lurk, even though nothing seems out of the question as long as the Cavs have LeBron James, playing at perhaps the highest level of his 15-year career.
The Celtics will not have Kyrie Irving (recent surgeries that date back to his fractured left kneecap suffered as a Cav in the 2015 NBA Finals) and Gordon Hayward (dislocated left ankle and fractured tibia in the season opener against the Cavs). The Cavs do not have Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Channing Frye and Iman Shumpert, all sent out in Feb. 8 trades that brought in George Hill, Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance Jr.
In the regular season, the Cavs saw 15 players miss a total of 197 games to injury, illness and personal reasons. Then in the playoffs, starting point guard Hill suffered back spasms that kept him out for 3{ games. Only in winning seven of their past eight have the Cavs shown signs of jelling.
On Friday, Cavs shooting guard Kyle Korver took a stab at comparing the two teams' strange paths this season.
"They're different. I don't know which one is tougher. Neither one is ideal," Korver said. "But (the Celtics) are still really, really good. We all respect Kyrie and what he's capable of doing, especially in a playoff game. But they've really stepped up. I don't really see they're lacking at any position. They'll have five guys out there at all times who all can play. They're athletic, they can switch a lot of things. They're versatile.
"So even though they lost two really good players, they're not lacking for talent. They're not lacking for playmakers."
Korver and James have said that the Cavs' road feels like four seasons in one because of the injuries and changing rotations and roster makeover. Coach Tyronn Lue missed 17 days in March and April, taking a leave of absence to address health issues, but the Cavs went 8-1 under associate head coach Larry Drew. But after sweeping the Raptors for the second consecutive year, Korver said he believes the Cavs are in a good place.
"We've just had to keep evolving. Survive is a word that you could probably use," Korver said. "It felt like we were just trying to get through certain parts of the season. But I like where we're at right now. I think we're playing our best basketball the last series. I felt like that was the best we've played all season. Even when we won (a franchise record-tying 13) games in a row early in the season, we were just kind of getting by and winning. I thought the last series we played good basketball, so I like where we're at."
Lue praised his players Saturday for surviving.
"It was tough. But we adjusted," Lue said. "I think our coaching staff has done a great job. I think the players have done a great job of adjusting and understanding what we want to do. I would say more so the players have been great."
James said what Celtics coach Brad Stevens has done without Hayward and Irving typifies Stevens' five seasons in Boston.
"He can put guys in position to succeed and get the most out of whoever has been in their lineup over the past few years. It's not just this year," James said Friday of Stevens. "I think it has been a little bit overblown this year because of the names that have been out. Obviously, with Kyrie and Gordon and the injuries with those two big guys, but he has gotten the most out of everybody he has ever put in since he's gotten to Boston."
Pressed to explain "overblown," James said, "A lot of people are saying, 'How can they succeed like this without Gordon Hayward?' Do we even know who they would have ... he's not even like been on the team. We can talk from potential, but he's been out since the first quarter of Game 1 in Cleveland.
"I get it with the Kyrie thing. He was obviously a teammate of mine for three years and I know what he's capable of doing. But they got guys that's damn good no matter if they are young or not. They know how to play basketball and their coach has put them in position to succeed."
In his four seasons with the Cavs, Kevin Love has come to expect drama. That wasn't lacking this season and much of it centered around him. He was confronted by Wade and Thomas about leaving the arena early after missing a game because of illness and skipping practice the next day. Love later revealed in an essay for The Players Tribune that he has experienced panic attacks.
Like Korver, Love couldn't say which team has experienced a more tumultuous year. Another incident arose in Game 4 against the Raptors when Hood declined to go in with the Cavs up by 30 in the fourth quarter.
"There's been a lot that's happened throughout the season with us and for them," Love said. "Both teams have raised their level of play and been through it, but are here now and have to lay it all on the line."
Love said Thursday that chaos and drama seems to follow James, which may have been why James shot down the suggestion that it's part of the Cavs' culture.
"Nah, no it's not. Just happened to happen sometimes," James said. "We just try to get better, and then figure out what the main thing is, and that's how we can continue to help each other improve every day and try to compete for a championship. So, if you want to have a little chaos and you still compete for a championship, I'm all for it."
