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Celtics’ patience gives them margin for error against Cavaliers: ‘We can just carry them’

Posted on by angelo

BOSTON – The knockout required more than just a punch. For the Boston Celtics, this is often the case. Their skill lies not only in hitting hard, but also in controlling the fight when their hardest punches fail to connect. They often command action even though they seek the best in themselves.

It must be so frustrating to play the Celtics when they do, as they did Tuesday night by outscoring the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-95 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference second-round series. Kristaps Porziņģis (calf) wasn’t up to par, Jayson Tatum was held to 18 points on 7-of-19 shooting and Boston still shrugged off early shooting struggles and occasional defensive miscues to maintain a double-digit lead the entire time. second half. Before even finding a consistent offensive rhythm, the Celtics leaned on the Cavaliers until the Cavaliers began to falter, their shoulders began to slump, and TD Garden began to rock.

“We just continue to trust our teammates,” Payton Pritchard said. “If we take good shots, it will eventually change for us. We’re all capable of making a lot of shots and 3s and all that kind of stuff. As long as we play strong defensively, make the easy plays and take the right 3s, we’re going to keep running.

It’s a type of torture to come up against the Celtics at their peak, when they’re splitting the nets, sharing the ball and defending with intensity. It’s another to slow Tatum down, keep Boston in a frigid first half and still not be able to stay attached. The Celtics finally put together a big run in the second half, but everything leading up to that should worry the Cavaliers more.

Boston entered halftime with a 59-49 lead despite six of its first 22 3-point attempts. For the game, Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points on 12 of 25 shooting, but Cleveland still only managed to score 102.2 points per 100 possessions, which would have comfortably ranked last in the NBA during the regular season. The Celtics have taken care of almost every statistical category that Joe Mazzulla emphasizes most. They generated more 3-pointers (46-42), attempted more baskets (92-90), made more free throws (14-13) and dominated the glass (13-7 in offensive rebounds).

“I just manage the game,” Mazzulla said. “You’re always going to go through periods of shooting and not shooting, it’s the other things that put pressure (on a team) – when you turn it over, when you put guys at the free throw line, when you have empty possessions because they’re not good shots, and when you give up shots that you don’t want to, so I think even in moments like you said about poor shot making, I thought we did all the other things really well I think they only shot five free throws in the first half, they only had (three) offensive rebounds in the first half, and we didn’t. “We only had five or six turnovers, so managing the game on those margins allows us to only play the typical periods of the game.”

Like all the best teams, the Celtics seem to know that as long as they do what they do, results will eventually come. They usually stick to the right brand of basketball, even if it doesn’t deliver overwhelming results. They normally stay in character regardless of what happens in the game.

After Mitchell surged in the first quarter, they responded. Luke Kornet could have easily been left out of the rotation if Porziņģis had been healthy, but he changed his team’s energy with 5:31 left in the first quarter. Kornet blocked a shot on its first possession on the court. He turned away another Cavaliers attempt late in the first quarter. He grabbed 10 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass, in a dominating effort. After scoring 40 points in the first quarter to take a six-point lead, the Celtics extended their lead by outscoring Cleveland 19-15 during an ugly second quarter.

“I think what opened the game up was we kept defending and then the shots started going in,” Brown said. “So the defense, being able to get stops, allowed us to play the (style) we wanted. It’s gunshots, stand up for 3 seconds. But we didn’t get any stops in the first half, or at least in the first quarter, and that’s why the game was a lot closer.

It wasn’t close for long. After a Pritchard 3-pointer early in the second quarter, the Celtics led by double digits for all but 50 seconds of the final 33 minutes. Derrick White carried the offense in the third quarter while hitting four 3-pointers in the period. Pritchard thought the toll of the contest against the Celtics had worn the Cavaliers out.

“I think it takes energy out of teams when you don’t let them score easy baskets,” Pritchard said. “When they have to work for a hard bucket every time, it takes energy away from them. It’s easy when people are making shots to play tougher defense. It’s just natural. For us, if we take that away defensively, we can just carry them.

Excluding a Game 2 loss to Miami, the Celtics have won their other five playoff games by an average of 22.6 points per game. White said his team did a lot of damage in the series opener against Cleveland, but Boston still left the Cavaliers behind. It wasn’t the Celtics’ best performance, but a consistent performance. They want this to be a more stable playoff run than they’ve had in the past.

“Anything can happen,” Brown said. “It’s the NBA playoffs. We just take it one game at a time and that’s all we can control. And we try to stand out, to be the team that plays the hardest. We stick to our program and let the issues fall where they may. It’s going to be tough for a team to have to beat us four times. But as long as we come out, we execute on both ends, we’re the team that plays the hardest, I think we’ll be fine.

(Photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)