BOSTON -- The Celtics rolled the dice by electing to have Paul Pierce's retirement ceremony after a game against the Cavs, instead of during it. The dangers of that gamble were on full display Sunday afternoon as the current Celtics treated Pierce and a number of other Boston legends to a horrendous performance in a 121-99 defeat to Cleveland.
LeBron James (24 points, 8 rebounds, 10 assists) was at his best for most of the afternoon while surrounded by four new teammates (Rodney Hood, Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, George Hill) and he even got the fourth quarter off as the Cavs outscored Boston by 24 points over the final three frames. The Cavs were red-hot from 3-point range (16-of-30) as their perimeter shooters got countless open looks set up by James all night.
Meanwhile, the Celtics' offense languished after a 32-point first quarter, thanks to a mix of turnovers and subpar shooting. They trailed by as many as 29 points in the second half.
Kyrie Irving had a team-high 18 points in the defeat and the Celtics have dropped three of their last four overall. They've trailed by 26 or more points in all three of those defeats.
GAME: No. 57 of 82:
WHO: Celtics (40-17) vs. Cavs (32-22)
WHEN: 3:30 EST
WHERE: TD Garden
RADIO: 98.5 the Sports Hub
TV: ABC
Projected starters
Celtics
PG: Kyrie Irving
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Markieff Morris
C: Al Horford
Inactive: Marcus Smart (hand), and Shane Larkin (knee) are out.
Cavs
PG: George Hill
SG: J.R. Smith
F: Cedi Osman
F: LeBron James
C: Tristan Thompson
Inactive: Kevin Love (hand) is out until March.
Third Quarter Notes
- Turnovers were a problem for the Celtics in second quarter. It switched over to shooting in the third quarter. Boston shot 33 percent from the field and from 3-point range.
- While their ball movement improved a bunch since the first half, those open looks from the perimeter (12 from downtown) did not provide much in the way of offense.
- The bigger problem though was on the defensive end for the C's. The Cavs got rolling behind LeBron James who was scoring and distributing at will.
- With the lane collapsing around him, James was finding open, capable shooters in his new teammates (Jordan Clarkson, George Hill). J.R. Smith has also re-discovered his shooting range in the past few games.
- The offensive struggles are expected at this point, but the defensive issues are more concerning if you're Brad Stevens. The Cavs scored 31 points in the frame, pushing the lead out to 26 points at one stage of the frame.
- Cavs new-look bench gave them a nice scoring boost to start second quarter. Hood, Clarkson and Jeff Green combined to score 20 of Cleveland's first 43 points. Hood has been particularly active early in the frame seeking out his shot with seven points in seven minutes.
- With Marcus Morris starting and the Cavs playing limited bigs, Boston's big staple of bigs saw limited minutes early. Aron Baynes (4) and Daniel Theis (2) played briefly off the pine while Greg Monroe didn't even get into the game until the seven minute mark of second quarter.
- Irving looks the best he has attacking the basket since returning from his quad injury. Not settling for jumpers today.
- Fairly horrendous final six minutes of the quarter on both ends for the Celtics as Cavs outscored them 25-12 since the seven minute mark of the period.
- Lots of sloppy turnovers in the frame on bad passes, which led to easy leakouts for the Cavs. Some missed boxouts and failed defensive communication also led to open jumpers for Cleveland.
- Rough few minutes for Greg Monroe, who looked lost at both ends of the floor. Celtics were outscored by eight points in his five minutes.
- Incredible atmosphere here at the Garden for Paul Pierce night. Felt like a playoff game with the ovations out of the gate. Doc Rivers, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett took in game courtside under the Celtics basket.
- The Cavs defense was just what the Celtics offense ordered out of the gate. They put up 32 points in the first period on 48 percent shooting.
- Kyrie Irving got it going almost immediately with nine points in the first nine minutes of the game.
- Marcus Morris was the beneficiary of a ton of 3-point looks and he knocked down a couple 3s.
- Cavs offensively had it going as well, primarily due to a an aggressive mentality that produced 10 free throws early. LeBron also knocked down a couple jumpers before leaving the game with a turned ankle briefly.
- This is the third and final regular season matchup between the two teams this season. The current season series is tied at 1-1 so today's result will be the regular season tiebreaker for any tie in the standings.
- All four Cavs new additions will be making their regular season debuts for Cleveland with Hill in the starting lineup, and Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. available off the bench. The Cavs held their first practice with that revamped roster in Atlanta on Saturday before flying to Boston for today's matinee.
- The Paul Pierce number retirement ceremony will begin approximately 20-30 minutes after the final buzzer and it will be broadcast on NBC Sports Boston.
- The Celtics have lost two of their last three games and have been one of the five worst offenses in the league over that stretch, shooting a paltry 41 percent from the field.