Everything you need to know about the Celtics' 119-113 win over the Cavs with BSJ insight and analysis:
HEADLINES
Gordon Hayward posts his best night as a Celtic: The shorthanded Celtics went down to the wire with an inferior opponent once again, but it was Gordon Hayward that rescued the visitors this time around. The veteran swingman erupted for 39 points, his career-high as a Celtic and just a point shy of his all-time best as he went a ridiculous 17-of-20 from the field in Boston’s six-point win. He also added seven rebounds and eight assists in easily his best performance as a Celtic, leading Boston to their second straight road win.
Kemba Walker added 25 points and Jayson Tatum chipped in with 18 points for the undermanned visitors who played their third straight game without Jaylen Brown and Enes Kanter. Tristan Thompson had a game-high 19 points for the hosts, who dropped to 2-6 on the year.
Carsen Edwards comes alive: The rookie had dealt with a brutal start to the season shooting the ball, knocking down just five of his first 22 shots from the field and 2-of-13 from 3-point range entering Tuesday night. A return to the arena where he exploded for 30 points in the preseason was exactly what Edwards needed to break out of his funk, as he posted a career-high 13 points in just 15 minutes on 5-of-6 FG, giving Boston’s offense a needed boost in the second half to sustain a lead. Boston’s bench scored 24 points as a whole on the night, a nice shift in support after the starters began the game by scoring the first 41 points.
Five straight wins: The C’s have now won five straight games, continuing to add to their best start since the 2010-11 season over the first six games. With a reasonable schedule upcoming (@ Charlotte, @ San Antonio, vs. Dallas, vs. Washington, @ Golden State), Boston looks to be in position to put some separation between themselves and other mid-tier teams in the East before tougher opponents arrive in mid-November.
TURNING POINT
The Cavs fought back from a 10-point deficit in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, trimming the deficit to three with under a minute remaining. However, a Gordon Hayward putback off a Walker missed three essentially sealed the win with 22 seconds remaining, giving Boston a two-possession lead and Hayward 39 points on the night.
TWO UP
Gordon Hayward: In addition to tying his career high during the regular season, Hayward became just the second player in NBA history to shoot 100 percent from 2-point range while taking 16 or more attempts inside the arc. The other player? Wilt Chamberlain.
Daniel Theis: The German center set a new career-high with five blocks and continues to form some nice chemistry with the starting five while Kanter is sidelined. He struggled finishing at the rim (2-of-7 FG) but his rim protection and mobility make the C’s defense more potent with him on the floor.
TWO DOWN
Vincent Poirier: Even with Tristan Thompson (eight offensive rebounds) feasting against the C’s undersized frontline, the Frenchman did not get off the bench on a night everyone else saw five-plus minutes. Brad Stevens clearly doesn’t trust him just yet.
Celtics 3-point defense: There was far too much over helping on dribble penetration in this one and unnecessary double teams were sent Kevin Love’s way a bit too often too. The end result was plenty of wide open corner 3s for the Cavs, who shot 39 percent from downtown on the night. This is an area that needs to be cleaned up.
TOP PLAY
.@gordonhayward comes up BIG for tonight's @jetblue play of the game to secure our fifth consecutive win ? pic.twitter.com/mTXdCQ2gyv
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 6, 2019
TWO TAKES B-ROBB WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER
Putting Marcus Smart on the other team’s best player every night seems like a good game plan: Kevin Love may have had a respectable night on paper (17 points, 9 rebounds) but the fact that he wasn’t able to make the Celtics pay for having an undersized player guarding him most of the night is a tribute to Smart’s effort. He made life difficult for Love with his ball pressure and that’s the same kind of impact he had against Giannis Antetokounmpo last week in a similar situation with Jaylen Brown sidelined and Boston playing small. With defensive anchors like Al Horford and Aron Baynes no longer in the picture, sticking Smart on the best scorer on the opposing team every night looks like the best path the Celtics have to thriving this season. He clearly relishes the opportunity to play against bigs and it helps open up Boston’s offense with a smaller lineup on the floor.
Jaylen Brown may lose his starting job again to Smart: It will be through no fault of Brown’s own this time as opposed to last season but I’ll be curious to see if Stevens thinks long and hard about having Brown come off the bench when he returns. Despite Carsen Edwards' nice outing tonight, the reserves are in need of some additional firepower and Brown is better positioned to give the C’s that than Smart with the reserves. While Brown is a strong defender, having Smart in the starting five allows him to be unleashed against the opponent’s bench right from the opening tip as well, something that keeps guys from getting into any kind of rhythm. There may not be a need to switch things up just yet (C’s were 2-1 with Brown starting) but it’s hard not to see the offense flow more with Smart in the game as another ballhandler/distributor with the starters. Finding the right balance and rotation is going to be essential for this group all year long, so experimenting with Brown off the bench is something I expect to see at some point this year.