Why the Cleveland Cavaliers were blown out by the Boston Celtics

As Cleveland has been riding a three-game winning streak, they had just come off their best win of the season against Detroit, winning by 21. Cleveland came into Boston ready to dominate the Celtics and continue their reign on the Eastern Conference. 

Boston came into this game in a different spot, as they started the season 1-3 after losing key players like Jayson Tatum to injury and big men Al Horford and Luke Kornet to free agency. 

The high-scoring brigade started early for both teams as the Celtics nailed eight threes in the first quarter, with four coming from Sam Hauser. Cleveland answered, though, with ten threes, a couple from Evan Mobley and the most from Donovan Mitchell, who ended the quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer, making it 42-40 Cavaliers. The teams combined for 18 threes in the first quarter, which was one short of an NBA record. 

The second quarter, though, is when Boston started to take over. The Celtics outscored the Cavs 35-18 in the second, nailing six more threes. Jaylen Brown took over as he matched the entire output of the Cavs in the second, scoring 18. Brown was making every type of shot, especially tough three-pointers, as the quarter ended, furthering the lead for Boston to 75-60. Boston finished with 20 assists in the first half.

Cleveland tightened up their defense after halftime, though, just allowing 23 points in the third quarter. They weren’t completely able to capitalize on the good defense, as they were just plus 3, even with nice contributions from Jaylen Tyson. 

Boston went into the fourth quarter with a 13-point lead over the Cavs, but we know a Cavalanche can happen at any time. The run for Cleveland was held off, though, as Boston held on with more threes from Hauser and buckets around the rim for Payton Pritchard. 

The Celtics would pull away and win 125-105. 

The top scorers from the Cavs were Evan Mobley and Jaylon Tyson, both finishing at 19 points on the night. De’Andre Hunter had 18, but shot just 3-of-12 from three. While Donovan Mitchell started the night hot, as he began the game 5/5 from the floor, all of those came from behind the arc. He would not make a shot for the rest of the night, finishing 0-for-7 from 10:36 in the second quarter on, also not connecting on two free throws. 

While the contribution for Jaylon Tyson was significant, there weren’t enough points from other Cavaliers to keep them in this game. 

Cleveland hosts Toronto on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. in the start of the NBA Cup.