The Cleveland Cavaliers continued their remarkable run Friday night, overcoming a 22-point in the first quarter and coming back to beat the Boston Celtics, 123-116 in Beantown.
The win pretty much cements the wine and gold being the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the playoffs, extending the lead over the Celts to 7.5 games wit about 20 games remaining.
To play the game many play, if Cleveland goes just 12-11 in their remaining games, Boston will have to go 19-1 just to tie them.
It was a good win, especially after the green took the huge 25-3 lead to start the game, and we know fans particularly loved the comeback win after Jayson Tatum ran his mouth after the Cavs’ timeout that followed the onslaught.
However, Kenny Atkinson didn’t get too excited, pointing out Boston didn’t play two starters in Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis. Donovan Mitchell said the same in the locker room.
And to be fair, fans in northeast Ohio would be saying “yeah, but” if Boston had won with the Cavaliers not having Darius Garland and Evan Mobley available.
Look, it’s a great matchup. The Celtics, despite our dislike for them, are the defending champions and they are an excellent basketball team. Cleveland is having an unbelievable regular season, now at 49-10, and have won only one playoff series.
And Celtics’ coach Joe Mazzulla played it smart on Friday. There was no advantage for him to play the game with all hands-on deck. Boston won two of the first three games and Boston was only totally healthy in one game, the third one, which the Celtics won in Cleveland.
That doesn’t mean the Cavs can’t win the conference finals, though. Although Cleveland has been relatively healthy this season against Boston, this was their first time playing the Celtics with De’Andre Hunter, who played 29 minutes last night and was a +21.
Dean Wade (yes, we’ve been critical of him in the past) missed the first three games vs. Boston, and he is important because of his ability to guard the wing at 6’9″, played 19 minutes and was a +12.
We are sure Atkinson won’t alter his starting lineup if the two teams matchup in May, but we would bet we see a lot of Hunter and Wade on the floor together, and also Ty Jerome, who gives the coach some added size in the backcourt.
Remember, when you are playing the same team in a seven-game series, you have to match up, and a lineup of Mitchell or Garland, Jerome, Hunter, Wade, and either Mobley or Allen does compete with Boston in terms of size defensively.
We did think the Cavs were trying to match the Celtics’ hot three-point shooting early on, settling a bit when they should have attacked the basket more. That was a big reason for the huge early lead for the Celts. Cleveland was missing and that led to transition threes for the home team.
And one of these games, Darius Garland will hit some shots vs. Boston. He’s hitting 49.1% from the floor and 42.3% from three on the season, but against the Celtics this season, his stats are at 32.9% and 33.3%.
If he’s shooting close to normal, it’s a different Cavalier offense.
It was an important win for Cleveland because Boston was missing two starters, losing would have given the Celtics a mental advantage.
But the Cavs pulled it out with an epic comeback. The next time the two teams meet, it will be for higher stakes.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 