As far as NBA games in late November go, Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night had everything. The two best teams in the Eastern Conference. The reigning champs vs. the 15-0 Cavs. An NBA Cup game. Boston had a chance to ruin Cleveland’s undefeated season. And while they largely played it off like any other game, in the back of their minds, they understood what was at stake.
“Yeah, we knew,” Derrick White said post-game with a smirk.
Despite a third-quarter surge from Cleveland, the Celtics hung on to hand them their first loss of the year.
“I think everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming into our building,” White said. “Also, it's an NBA Cup game, and we already lost one game, so it was a really big game in that aspect. So we were all aware.”
By the time April rolls around, this game won’t matter. Perhaps it could help separate the first and second seed in the East, but in the grand scheme of things, neither team was living or dying by the result of this contest.
Actions speak louder than words.
Tuesday vs. the Cavs was more than just another game for the Celtics
From tip-off forward, there was a different ambiance around this game. Neither team was willing to give an inch on defense. The Celtics were brutally hunting individual matchups on defense. Every player on the court, from Donovan Mitchell to Jayson Tatum, was taking pride in their individual defense.
Boston had battled through a few tight squeezes prior to welcoming the Cavs to town. An overtime game against the Toronto Raptors here, a one-point loss to the Trae Young-less Atlanta Hawks there. It was a slog.
Tuesday night was a different story.
Was it a one-game desire forged by the thought of spoiling Cleveland’s early-season party combined with the glory of the NBA Cup? Or simply the long-winded desire to improve game-to-game?
“I would say probably a little bit of both,” Joe Mazzulla said. “If you were to ask the players, I'm sure they would say it's a little bit of both. To me, I care more about, ‘Can we do it again in 72 hours, whenever the hell we play, and can we do it again a month from now and a month later?’”
The Celtics didn’t have any wasted movements in the first half. Their offense was a crisp blend of mismatch-hunting and wide-open threes that spawned from drive-and-kicks. Their defense was a well-oiled machine designed to disrupt the Cavs’ methodical, high-powered approach.
Then, the third quarter came around, and everything changed.
Mitchell and Evan Mobley brutally targeted Neemias Queta. In the same manner Boston used Damian Lillard’s poor defense to propel their comeback against the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland attempted to do so with Queta.
An onslaught of Mobley buckets combined with a pair of threes from Sam Merrill helped the Cavs climb back into the game. But a Tatum three at the buzzer, at the expense of a floor-bound Georges Niang, launched the Celtics into the fourth with new life. And they knew exactly what had to be done.
“It's simple, we just locked in on defense,” Tatum said of Boston’s response.
“We've been in that situation a million times where, like, it's time to win. It's time to lock in, guard your yard, help each other on defense, [and] get a stop. Go down on offense, and find out who we're trying to attack, where we need to put guys at and make the right play.
“So, like I said, we just do the simple things really well, really often.”
Cleveland’s 40-28 fourth quarter got them back in the game, but they couldn’t capitalize. They were stifled by deliberate attacks on both ends.
Offensively, this was spearheaded by Jaylen Brown’s drives and some timely threes from Derrick White and Payton Pritchard. Defensively, Al Horford’s two blocks highlighted Boston’s efforts.
“We just kept a level of poise about us,” Mazzulla said. “We were able to tighten up some of the stuff in the fourth quarter that we gave up in the third quarter, and we just showed a level of physicality that we can get to on both ends of the floor. I thought the guys did a great job. I thought we were physical the entire game, which I care more about throughout the regular season is our physicality, our toughness.
“The details are the second most important thing, and we slipped a little bit on that in the third. But in the fourth, we picked up both of those things. But I thought we were extremely physical defensively, and I thought we were very poised and intentional in the offensive end. And I thought we made good reads.”
On the outside, the Celtics wanted this to be a normal night. Just another hum-ho game against a random opponent put in front of them. But once they got on the court, that idea couldn't have been further from the truth.
From targeting Darius Garland to mixing up coverages to keep Queta on Craig Porter Jr., the Celtics made every decision with a purpose on Tuesday night.
They go into every contest with a game plan. But the way they executed on Tuesday had a different feel to it. Boston wanted this one, and they got it.
Now, though the Cavs still sit above them atop the East, the Celtics know that the “1” in their loss column belongs to them.
