Robb: Celtics finally have the horses to hang with the Cavs

Perspective is always important during the NBA regular season. The Celtics had a few advantages heading into Wednesday’s 102-88 win over the Cavs. The hosts were well-rested and had a healthy roster (minus Gordon Hayward) for the first time in weeks. The Cavs were coming off the second half of a back-to-back and were still down bodies in Isaiah Thomas, Iman Shumpert and Derrick Rose. In the big picture, this wasn't an overly meaningful game for both sides. However, one thing was evident right away on Wednesday night: This Celtics team matches up much better against the Cavs roster than past seasons.

It was hard to be certain of that opening night as a shell-shocked Celtics team full of rookies nearly stole a win in Cleveland after Hayward suffered a gruesome leg injury.

Forty games later, we have a more clear picture of what kind of team we are looking at. The Celtics are the best team in the East with a 31-10 record. Meanwhile. the Cavs looked old on Wednesday night outside of LeBron James, because they were tired, but also because that's what they are right now: there’s limited youth and athleticism up-and-down this group and that was painfully apparent in the first half of Wednesday’s game.

Cavaliers not named James and Kyle Korver shot a collective 5-of-28 from the field against a tenacious Celtics defense in the first half. James played phenomenal basketball (16 points on 7-of-9 shooting) and Korver couldn’t miss (4-of-6 from 3-point range), and the Cavs were still down nine at the break.

“Their defense was very good,” James said. “They were very in tune to what we wanted to do execution-wise offensively. We had some good looks at times, some of the looks were a little bit tougher, but they had a good defensive play and they executed very well.”

With Marcus Morris, Semi Ojeleye and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics had a host of defenders they could throw at James as they attempted to stay home on the rest of the Cavs' high-powered offense to slow down their outside shooting.

“It’s all about being able to be versatile and switch,” Brad Stevens explained of his team’s defensive strategy. “It’s one of the things with having Morris out, Ojeleye out, Brown missing some games, obviously Hayward, that we haven’t been able to take advantage of here, recently, as much, but it’s really important. You know, against LeBron, there’s nobody that can guard him the whole game, so you have to throw as many bodies at him as you can, and then pray.”

James finally looked human in the third quarter (1-of-6 shooting) and there was no one else on the Cavs to step up for his scoring drop off. He finished the game with 19 points in 32 minutes.

On the other end, the Celtics were simply being carried by their non-stars. While Kyrie Irving and Al Horford had pedestrian games, Terry Rozier (game-high 20 points) Marcus Smart (15 points), Jaylen Brown (14 points) and Jayson Tatum (15 points) took turns punishing the woeful Cavs defense. Those guys created mismatches against certain Cavs lineups and just looked ready for the moment against the Eastern Conference defending champs.

“I just think that they just play with a lot of confidence,” Horford said of his team’s youth. “That’s the biggest thing that impresses me. Sometimes when a rookie comes in or when you’re on a new team, sometimes you’re trying to feel yourself out, you don’t want to step on any toes, you’re not sure about certain things. They’re very assertive, aggressive offensively, knowing when to take shots. And on defense, they just keep getting better. So that’s a really good sign for our team.”

While the Cavs will play with better energy, more fight and have more reinforcements (Thomas, Shumpert) down the line, the Celtics still will have an athleticism edge against this crew. That hasn’t happened for a long time in Boston against a LeBron-led squad and could be a game-changer in the postseason. Even fatal flaws (like offensive rebounding) even weren't a factor as Love and Tristan Thompson were neutralized for much of the night by Aron Baynes and some nice gang rebounding.

Thomas will obviously be a big boost to Cleveland’s offense, but he’s not going to help a defense that already ranks 27th in the league nearly halfway through the season. One look down the Cavs bench shows a long list of subpar defensive players in Korver, Dwyane Wade, Jeff Green, Derrick Rose and Channing Frye. Those names may be ‘savvy’ veterans but they don’t have an extra switch on the defensive end and that's a problem.

The Celtics, meanwhile, still have a meaningful trade chip waiting to use in their disabled player exception. They also have a treasure chest of draft picks at their disposal to add one more bench piece or two, if needed. Danny Ainge will add help for this roster with that exception, in the form of another shooter or big man, you can count on that. There’s also the looming status of Hayward, whose potential return can’t be counted out entirely at this stage.

Even if Hayward doesn’t return, it’s more evident than ever that the Celtics are on a level playing field this year with the Cavs. James will always be the favorite until he’s beaten in the East, but the blueprint for that may be slowly but surely coming together in Boston under Stevens’ watch.

The Cavs still have some draft capital of their own (i.e. the Brooklyn pick) to improve their cavalry, but without any assurances from James about his future, that won’t be an easy decision for general manager Koby Altman as he balances a title run with leaving something in the cupboard to rebuild with if James skips town.

Wednesday’s performance should give Altman even more to think about with the trade deadline looming a month away. While the Warriors were always going to be a bigger problem for Cleveland, the Celtics may end up being an issue as well this spring.