Jaylen Brown guards LeBron James in an October 2017 Celtics-Cavs game. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- Entering the season, most people would've predicted the Celtics and Cavaliers would square off for a trip to the NBA Finals.
Going into the playoffs, almost no one would've made that claim.
But, here we are. Game 1 of the East Finals is Sunday at 3:30 p.m., and Cavs big man Kevin Love sees many similarities between Boston and Cleveland.
"There's been a lot of turnover for our team and that's well, well noted and talked about," he said. "But also with the Celtics and just losing Hayward early on in the season, and obviously Kyrie for the playoffs, they've been extremely resilient, and obviously they're well coached with Brad Stevens."
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The Celts have Al Horford and a bunch of kids with star potential.
"They have a lot of guys that can do a number of things, and guys that have really stepped up," he continued. "And not just one player--it seems like, whether it's been a rookie, whether it's been Rozier coming in and playing point guard, Al Horford's playing out of his mind. It's been a lot of guys, Jaylen Brown too. It's been a lot of guys that play at a high level."
It's the second straight semifinals meeting between the C's and Cavs, and it'll also be Boston's seventh postseason series against a team led by LeBron James.
The Celts won in the conference semis in 2008 and 2010, but have lost the last four, including twice under Brad Stevens.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman reports