Two weeks into the season, the Celtics have learned plenty. Their defense continues to need sharpening. They need to be better on the glass. Consistency has eluded them through seven games.
And, among other things, the Cavaliers have presented themselves as a major problem, to the Celtics and the rest of the league.
In the matter of five days, the Celtics have learned that lesson the hard way in two games that could be an early preview of a playoff series next spring. The Celtics looked poised to avenge last Friday’s overtime loss on Wednesday night in Cleveland, but given another extra session, the upstart Cavs proved to be too much.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points and Jayson Tatum overcame a slow start to score 26, but the Cavs once again made more winning plays down the stretch. All-Star guard Darius Garland returned to post 29 points and 12 assists, and Donovan Mitchell was big late as the Celtics fell to the Cavs, 114-113, in an overtime classic. Brown’s game-winning attempt at the buzzer missed as the Celtics fell to 4-3.
In a sometimes chaotic game of punches and counter-punches, the Celtics found themselves with one possession for much of the fourth, after losing a double-digit lead in the third quarter. They trailed by two in the final seconds when Tatum — who started slow offensively but was still impacting the game in other ways — created an MVP sequence to force overtime. With 10 seconds left in regulation, Joe Mazzulla drew up a perfect play out of a timeout, as Marcus Smart found a running Tatum, who drove to the hoop and slammed a vicious one-handed dunk over Jarrett Allen to tie the game.
Tatum wanted a foul called, but regained his composure on the other hand to make an impressive block of Mitchell at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
But the Celtics couldn’t carry the momentum to a victory. Garland hit a second-chance 3-pointer to begin the extra session, and Allen’s dunk with 1:50 left gave the Cavs a five-point lead. Still, the C’s had a chance. Brown and Tatum hit back-to-back buckets to cut the deficit to one, and with 46.9 to go, Smart drew an offensive foul, his second down the stretch.
But on the ensuing possession, Smart forced a bad shot. With 26 seconds left, the Celtics chose not to foul and Garland missed a 3, giving the Celtics a chance to win with 2.3 seconds left. But Brown, defended well by Dean Wade, couldn’t hit a fadeaway attempt.
The Celtics trailed by as many as 11 late in the first quarter as they allowed a 35-point frame to the Cavaliers, but looked like a different team in the second quarter. It all started on the defensive end.
Williams and Tatum set the tone to begin the period, when the Cavs tried to go inside to Kevin Love, who was denied on their first two possessions. Williams blocked Love before Tatum swatted away a dunk attempt on the ensuing possession, and that defense carried their offensive momentum. Williams hit a triple to cap a 9-2 run that made it a two-point game, and after Caris LeVert hit a step-back 3-pointer to give the Cavs a five-point lead, the Celtics turned the tides.
Brown scored five consecutive points — including a three-point play — to tie the game at 46 as the Celtics’ defense turned into easy offense. Brown hit Derrick White for a transition 3 to give the Celtics the lead, Tatum followed with a 3, and then White found Tatum for a transition dunk to cap a 13-0 run.
After allowing 35 points — including 14 to Garland — in the first, the Celtics held the Cavs to 15 points on 6-for-24 shooting in the second, and just seven points over the final 8:28 of the period. A key factor, and a major difference from last Friday’s loss to the Cavs, was the Celtics cleaning up the boards. They allowed just three offensive rebounds and zero second-chance points in the first half.
