BOSTON — The Cavaliers played the night before. The Celtics resembled a team that took the weekend off. Jaylen Brown flew to Miami. Jayson Tatum visited St. Louis. Kristaps Porziņģis spent time away with family as well. Despite a brief practice session on Monday — and shootaround on Tuesday — Boston played rusty.
It didn’t matter, as the Celtics escaped arguably their slowest start of the season, which drew early groans from the crowd, along with a flurry of Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland pull-up jumpers and with 10 threes by Cavaliers role players, to close a win late in the fourth on a 9-0 run. They involved Porziņģis on three actions, Brown connected with Tatum for three and Boston generated 26 free throws, hitting them all. The Celtics won their fifth game over the last six — 120-113. It marked Boston’s eighth clutch win in 12 games to begin the season.
“Getting to the free throw line is important and I think being able to throw the ball into the post is important,” Joe Mazzulla said on Boston’s crunch time success. “When we get into our proper spacing and we can get free throws at the end of the fourth quarter, that’s one thing we haven’t been able to generate is free throw opportunities. So getting the ball into the paint, closer to the basket … playing physical basketball. I think that helps with that, and then making sure we don’t turn it over. I don’t know the number, but I feel like our defensive rebounding has been better in those situations than in the past.”
That checks out, with the Celtics’ 68 DREB% this season coming in at a level above their postseason production (60%). Boston rebounded last regular season (72.1%) and won 24-of-37 close finishes, but that unraveled into a -11.4 net rating in postseason clutch time. They lost 6-of-11, sinking their attempt to return to the Finals.
Their start nearly cost them on Tuesday. The Celtics fell behind 25-10, missing 14 straight shots aside from Brown’s early makes over the first 10 minutes. They turned the ball over four times, three by Porziņģis to open his 0-for-6 first half, while the Cavaliers fed off those misses and defensive miscues like a bad switch between Tatum and Jrue Holiday that freed Max Strus for a wide open shot inside. Darius Garland snuck to the basket for a free layup on the inbounds following Porziņģis’ block on Strus before Dean Wade converted a corner three with nobody close to him to push Cleveland ahead by double-digits.
“I knew I had to turn it on. I was terrible in the first half,” Porziņģis said. “I was happy the game was that close already. Mismatches, J.B., J.T. found me, was able to get myself in the game, get some easy free throws, some easy looks, hit a couple threes and was aggressive, but let the game come to me. That was a big contrast from first to second half.”
Tatum scored twice inside and found Payton Pritchard for three to close the gap into the second, powering inside to draw nine free throws and targeting Isaac Okoro with post-ups. Pritchard hit another three and fed him in transition for a dunk in traffic, pulling Boston back within four, then Holiday, Brown and Tatum hit Derrick White on three straight possessions for threes. The passing efforts led to 23 assists, in line with the team’s relatively low totals league-wide, but setting up the timely makes on good reads to keep the Celtics close.
Mitchell and Strus hit threes to maintain the Cavs’ lead for a moment, but a trio of scores in transition from White, Brown and Tatum tied the game at 52. Mitchell drew a technical foul with an angry response to the out-of-bounds call against him following Porziņģis’ block, and that combined with Tatum’s pair of free throws and Brown’s cutting second-chance layup gave the Celtics a brief lead before halftime.
Cleveland escaped with a 60-59 lead by finding Garland for three after Brown checked out, rolling his right ankle on a missed layup. He returned and finished with 25 points and four assists, matching Tatum’s scoring output, while the team stressed not letting stats define their nights.
“Joe often challenges me to dominate the game,” Tatum said. “I understand the dynamic of our team and just how talented we are offensively. Myself, J.B., D.White, K.P., Jrue, Al, everybody has to sacrifice. I’m certain none of us are averaging career highs in points. They’re all taking a dip, but it’s for the betterment of the team. Our success as a unit is more important and we understand that. We know what the ultimate goal is. Human nature takes a part. It’s not easy. You’re accustomed to scoring a certain amount of points per game, and you have to empathize for each guy. It’s not easy, but we’re winning and we know we’re gonna need everybody.”
Mitchell picked up where he left off in the second half, scoring back-to-back threes in the opening minutes after halftime, giving the Cavs a two-possession lead (72-68) and triggering Mazzulla to call timeout. Mitchell scored 27 points through three quarters, including 5-for-12 from deep, but he wasn’t the only player draining momentum-shifting treys in a hurry.
When Holiday connected on back-to-back attempts from behind the arc, it granted the Celtics only their second lead of the night, and then Jrue’s teammates joined the party. Tatum, Porzinigs, and Sam Hauser connected on a three before the end of the frame, but Boston only had a two-point lead to show for it.
They finished methodically, finding Porziņģis for four straight free throws before White set a down screen for Tatum that freed him for three on a pass from Brown. Porziņģis found a switch on Mitchell and Strus inside again to mount the run to 9-0, and Boston scored another win in crunch time with heady playmaking — only committing one turnover.
“Offensive rebounds, free throws, transition points, turnovers, getting more shots. We were very process-oriented in that approach,” Mazzulla said. “We got more shots than they did, we got to the free throw line … I just liked our approach of executing on both ends of the floor throughout the game amidst the emotion. I felt like this was one of the games where the emotion of what was happening didn’t affect our effort or execution.”
