I'd be very surprised if we could pull off a series win to be honest, but I do like our changes of at least making it hard for them - I could see the Cavs winning the series 4-2.
For the Celtics to win they need to nail two things - defence, and teamwork.
One big advantage we have is depth. Our starters don't need to necessarily outplay theirs, all they need to do is compete, hold their own, and keep it close. As long as they can do that the guys in our second unit (Thomas, Olynyk, Sully, Crowder and Jerebko) should be able to outplay their bench with relative ease and might be able to give us the edge.
There are two a huge fundamental differences in the way Cleveland is constructed compared to this Celtics team.
Firstly Cleveland is extremely top heavy and highly depending on their three big stars. They can dominate in a regular season, but for them to dominate in the playoffs they absolutely NEED those three guys to all play well. If any of those guys get hurt, get into foul trouble, or have a bad shooting series, then the Cavs could be in a lot of trouble. The Celtics on the other hand don't have any one guy they depend on - they do what they do by sharing the sugar, and with every guy playing their part. We have enough depth that if one guy has a bad game or gets into foul trouble, there's always another guy or two ready to take their place.
Secondly, Cleveland wins games entirely with their offence, because their defence is ultimately pretty terrible. Boston are much improved offensively, but they win primarily with their defence. Everybody says defence wins playoff games, and that's because defence is an effort area that you have full control over. You can (and will) go through good and bad shooting streaks, but if you play great defence you give yourself a chance to win every night.
As far as matchups, they could be interesting. Boston is under a lot of pressure defending the likes of Kyrie, James and Love...but with the exception of James not one of those guys is a capable defensive player. Smart can really make things hard for Irving, but neither Irving nor JR Smith can really defend Bradley if he gets on one of those hot streaks. Likewise Bass can make things difficult for Kevin Love (who is pretty athletic and undersized) but you're not likely going to see Love making much of an effort to close in on Bass' jumpers so he should be getting easy shots all night. Zeller and Mozgov will be a very interesting matchup, and I'll also be interested to see what Smart can do with Irving defending him. Lebron is going to get his points and will probably take Turner out of the game, but you never know...Turner is streaky and can have his moments.
As far as bench goes, that's where Cleveland are going to find it hard. Who on Cleveland's bench can defend Isaiah Thomas? How about Sully and Olynyk - who's going to chase those guys out to the perimeter?
Somehow I get the feeling that Kelly Olynyk is going to come up big at some point in this series, and I think Isaiah Thomas is going to make Cleveland's life a living hell.
Still doubt Boston can win the series, but we'll see. If they did, the outright embarrassment the Cavs would face...there's a good chance Love would bail in free agency and I'd be curious to see if Lebron does the same. But that's just dreaming really, because not likely lol