There were a lot of things that Boston did right in this game: Great defense, especially in the first half, taking Cleveland out of its flow and keeping the ball on one side of the court; Jayson Tatum scoring 33; To Horford hanging with the two big men the Cavaliers are rolling and coming up with crucial blocks late.
However, the Celtics won for a much simpler reason: They made 22 3-pointers and shot 53.7% from deep. Boston shot 14-of-22 (65.2%) on 3-pointers in the first half. For the game, core Celtics Tatum, Horford, Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Payton Pritchard combined to shoot 20-of-32 from beyond the arc.
CELTICS DO IT WITH THE 3-BALL
☘️ 22 3-pointers made
☘️ 22/41 (53.7%)
☘️ Only the third time in NBA history a team has made 20+ 3-pointers in 3 or more consecutive games pic.twitter.com/AZcuvRZX1Z— NBA (@NBA) November 20, 2024
When Boston shoots like that from 3 it becomes a math game and no other team can keep up.
Boston played a brilliant first half of basketball, led by as many as 21, and held on at the end to hand Cleveland its first loss of the season, 120-117.
The Cavaliers are now 15-1 on the season, still atop the East, but with a better idea of what it will take to knock off these Celtics in the postseason. Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points, while Evan Mobley had another strong game with 22 points and 11 rebounds.
One thing that hurt Cleveland was a rough night from Darius Garland, who was hounded by White and Holiday, and shot 3-of-21. The Cavaliers can also spin a positive from this loss that they went toe-to-toe with the champs while without rotation players Isaac Okoro (they really missed their defense), Caris LeVert, Max Strus and Dean Wade. To be fair, Boston won without their starting center Kristaps Porzingis.
This was a game that both teams took seriously, not something you often see in November – Boston wanted to remind Cleveland who is the champion, Cleveland wanted to make a statement, and throwing this was an NBA Cup game and matters a little more (both the Celtics and Cavaliers are 1-1 in NBA Cup games and both now trail 2-0 Atlanta in East Group C).
Early on this just felt like Boston’s night, they went on an early 9-0 run and all the 3s started falling. Boston led by 17 at the half, and early in the third quarter, it extended that lead to 21. Boston could seem to do no wrong.
Then came the Cavaliers, who went on a 22-5 run in the third quarter and turned it into a game.
“You expected something like that to happen…” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said postgame. We got cross-matched in transition, which gave them some easy baskets … just the nature of the game.”
It was a single-digit game the rest of the way, but the Cavaliers could never get over the hump.
These teams play three more times this season, but what Cleveland really wants to find a way to do is get over the hump with this team in May.
