Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are the future of the Boston Celtics and that future looked particularly bright on Friday afternoon. Jaylen Brown set a new regular season career-high with 34 points while Jayson Tatum added 30 as the Celtics cruised to their fifth straight win over the Cavs. It was the first time since 2014 that a pair of Celtics crossed the 30-point plateau in the same game and both Tatum (11/20 FG) and Brown (13/20 FG) did it with incredible efficiency against an overmatched Cavs defense.
Kevin Love (30 points) managed to help the visitors to keep things interesting for the first three quarters but the C’s led by the double digits for the final 36 minutes of the game thanks to the scoring outbursts from Brown and Tatum. Enes Kanter added 14 points and 9 rebounds off the bench while Gordon Hayward added a team-high 8 assists to go along with 7 points and 5 rebounds. The Cavs had their three-game winning streak snapped with the defeat and dropped to 0-3 against the Celtics this year. Meanwhile, the Celtics moved all alone into the second seed in the East with the victory.
PG: Kemba Walker
SG: Jaylen Brown
SF: Gordon Hayward
PF: Jayson Tatum
C: Daniel Theis
- Marcus Smart was upgraded to questionable by the Celtics before the game but Brad Stevens ruled him out on Friday following a pregame workout: "We’ll get a good hard workout in now and then we’ll see if he’s able to go tomorrow. But making the right strides. He came in yesterday, did some full-court stuff, looked good. And then we’ll be able to assess that tomorrow.” Rob Williams and Vincent Poirier remain out for at least another couple weeks.
- The Celtics now have three players averaging over 20 points per game after Jaylen Brown's 30-point eruption against the Knicks, making them the only team in the league currently with three players averaging 20 ppg.
- The Cavs are in the midst of a three-game winning streak for the first time all season but will be without a key bench piece for today's matchup after Jordan Clarkson was dealt to the Jazz for Dante Exum and picks earlier this week.
- Enes Kanter is averaging 23 rebounds per 36 minutes in the past four games and is currently the best offensive rebounder in the NBA.