Last season’s Eastern Conference finals between the Celtics and Cavaliers is perceived as lopsided because, well, for most of the series it was.
The Cavaliers power-dribbled the Celtics to elimination in five games, winning Game 2 by 44 points and the clinching fifth game by 33 points.. Those Cavs weren’t much into providing suspense.
That version of the Celtics was outmanned and out of its league against those Cavaliers. That made it easy to forget in the aftermath — and even now, as the teams meet again under the same circumstances but strikingly different rosters — that for a moment the Celtics had a flicker of hope that looked like it might become a flame.