BSJ Game Report: Celtics 116, Cavs 107 - Team effort keeps C's perfect at home

Everything you need to know about the Celtics win over the Cavaliers, with BSJ insight and analysis

IN A NUTSHELL

Some hot shooting and a typically strong first quarter from Jaylen Brown got Boston an early double digit lead that grew to 14 in the second quarter. That's a big as the lead would get as Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland kept Cleveland close. Caris LeVert’s 15 in the third cut it down to three after three. The Celtics shut Cleveland down in the fourth, holding them to 20 points while Jayson Tatum’s 12 points and six rebounds helped shut the door, and keep Boston perfect at home

Box Score

HEADLINES

- Fighting off the Cavs: Cleveland refused to go away. The Celtics could never turn their 14-point lead into anything more significant. The Celtics answered every run, and not only led the entire game, never allowed the Cavs to even tie it. 

- Team effort: Everyone did something to help win this game. Everyone in the starting five hit double figures. Guys crashed the offensive boards. Joe Mazzulla talks about winning on the margins, and this is how it’s done. Boston shot better, turned it over less, rebounded better, and got to the free throw line. 

- Star power: Brown and Tatum did their parts, and in familiar fashion. Brown got the C’s going to start the game, Tatum closed the door. Brown finished with 22/5/5 to go along with two steals. Tatum went 27/11/3 with three blocked shots. Including this one: 

- Perfect at home: This is the fourth time in franchise history that the Celtics have started 12-0 at home. The last time they did it was the 2007-08 season.

TURNING POINT 

Cleveland cut it to five with 3:01 to go when the Celtics called a timeout. The Celtics regrouped and fired off a 6-0 run to make it an 11-point game with 1:28 left. 

THINGS I LIKED

- The cutting: I don’t know what the cutting numbers were, but my eye test said they cut a lot more than usual. There were a few that led to turnovers, which is fine with me because those were aggressive plays and the ball went out of bounds. I’ll take the occasional game like this if it leads to more cutting. 

Perseverance: The Celtics don’t seem to get down when shots miss or when the other team makes runs. It’s becoming a defining quality about this team. We are very quick to say “same ol’ Celtics” when some things happen but honestly, those things aren’t happening very much anymore. 

Jaylen Brown: I wrote back on November 28 that “Jaylen Brown is figuring it out.” Ever since then, aside from maybe a game or two, he’s been playing phenomenal basketball. 22 points on 50% shooting overall and 40% from 3 along with five rebounds, five assists, and two steals only begins to tell the story. He didn’t force anything, he moved the ball well, he got in the mix for offensive rebounds. This is next-level stuff from Brown. 

Lamar Stevens: He didn’t have the best game, but he came in and worked. He made some nice hustle plays as well. He was pressed into service at the last minute and he ate up some innings.

Jrue Holiday: I think he’s officially comfortable now. 

Al Horford: Finished with 10 rebounds, three of them on the offensive glass, including this incredible fight for a board and then assist to Stevens. 

via GIPHY

Sam Hauser: He’s not just hitting open 3-pointers anymore. He’s hitting tough, contested ones on the move. 

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE

I honestly can’t think of much I didn’t like. Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled with their inability to put the Cavs away, but I never really thought the Celtics were taking it easy. They played hard, they got some good looks that they missed, and the Cavs have some really good players who did good things. 

Maybe if I took the Celtics -9.5, I’d be singing a different tune, but I think basically maintaining a double-digit lead most of the night against a tough team like Cleveland was pretty good. 

HIGHLIGHTS

ONE TAKE KARALIS WILL PROBABLY REGRET LATER

Perfect script for a win: Yes, we’d all like to sit and watch a wire-to-wire 40-point win where all the shots fall, all the defense leads to misses and turnovers, and the bench gets to play 12 full minutes to close the game.

How often does that happen?

To me, this was the perfect script for a win to make everyone happy. 

You’re happy because it was a close game and the Celtics were able to stay in front the whole time and make an impressive push to close things out late in the game. You were probably invested throughout the game because it was never really out of hand. 

The Celtics are happy because they beat a tough team. Everyone got their touches. Everyone got to make some tough plays. There were highlights to go around and a lot of guys can feel like they contributed to winning. 

The coaches are happy because they not only got the team to buy in, but they got a few things on film that the team can do better. Coaches really do love getting mistakes on film so they can sink their teeth into those during the next film session. 

And I’m happy because I got something decent to write about. 

Everyone wins in a game like this. 

Except for Cleveland. They lost. That's their third straight. 

Next up: The Celtics take on the Orlando Magic tomorrow on the back-to-back (and third game in four nights)