BOSTON -- The Cleveland Cavaliers' dominance of the Eastern Conference over the past three-plus years can be epitomized by what they've inflicted on one of the conference's All-Stars: Al Horford.

This is the fourth consecutive year Horford has seen LeBron James, Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and other Cavs up close in the spring. He may have spent more time with them on Mother's Day than his own mom over the past few years.

Horford played against them with the Atlanta Hawks in 2015 and '16 and didn't take part in a single win, getting ejected from one game in 2015 for a flagrant foul. Last season, he absorbed another lopsided series loss after moving to the Boston Celtics. In the final game of his season, Horford mustered just eight points and three rebounds, going out meekly.

When including a 2009 series sweep loss to the Cavs, Horford came into the Eastern Conference finals with a 1-15 playoff record against James-led Cavs teams in the postseason. James and a collection of Cavs big men have been merciless against him, averaging just 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds against the Cavs in those 16 games. His plus/minus in that matchup was a gruesome minus-236, per data tracking by ESPN Stats & Information.

In other words, Horford badly wants to pivot from this black hole in an otherwise wonderful career. He may be getting the best chance he's going to get right now.

In an effort to put five shooters on the floor as much as possible, the Cavs have gone small this postseason and made Love the starting center. That makes the Horford-Love matchup a crux point in this series and opens up an opportunity for Horford to strike back at the Cavs.

Celtics coach Brad Stevens seems to think so, as he saw that matchup as one he could exploit based on his game plan Sunday. The Celtics put Love in 13 pick-and-rolls when he was on the floor with starting point guard George Hill in Game 1, clearly something they wanted to exploit. In all, the Celtics ran 41 pick-and-rolls at Love and Thompson combined, according to Second Spectrum tracking, and Horford was involved in most of them.