Jayson Tatum leads Celtics to win over previously unbeaten Cavaliers: 10 takeaways
For Tatum, who has put together an MVP-caliber start, Tuesday’s game was the kind of performance that voters might remember later in the year.
Jayson Tatum and the Celtics handed the Cavaliers their first loss 16 games into the season on Tuesday, holding off a late charge to claim a 120-117 victory.
Here are the takeaways.
Jayson Tatum delivered … yet again.
On perhaps the biggest stage the NBA has had to offer thus far – a game with Emirates NBA Cup implications between the defending champions and a Cavaliers team off to a 15-0 start to the year – Tatum once again delivered a huge performance. The Celtics superstar posted 33 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, two steals and – during a first-half onslaught of 3-pointers by Tatum and the rest of the Celtics – at least three kisses-of-death.
Tatum delivered so many kisses of death, in fact, that Cavaliers guard Craig Porter Jr. took some exception and delivered one of his own in the fourth quarter as the Cavs rallied back from a big deficit (Tatum answered immediately by beating a defender off the bounce of the corner and throwing down a two-hand slam with Porter Jr. flying past him).
Tatum and the Celtics downplayed the importance of Tuesday’s game a bit in the lead up to it with good reason – they aren’t competing to have the best start out of the gate, and they have bigger goals than ending the Cavaliers’ perfect start to the year.
After the game, they were more willing to admit it mattered.
“We knew,” Derrick White said. “Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming to our building. And also, it’s an NBA Cup game and we already lost one game. So it was a really big game in that aspect. So we were all aware.”
For Tatum, who has put together an MVP-caliber start, Tuesday’s game was the kind of performance that voters might remember later in the year.
The Cavaliers are really good, but they have some holes.
The Cavaliers look every bit like the Celtics’ toughest competition in the Eastern Conference, at least in the early going.
Admittedly, the competition isn’t stiff outside of Cleveland – the Bucks have more holes than a 10-year-old undershirt, and the 76ers are in tatters.
But the Cavaliers are real. Donovan Mitchell is a monstrous volume scorer and a freakish athlete with a ton of strength, jittery side-to-side movement, and the ability to get his shot off whenever he wants. Evan Mobley seems to have taken a step on both sides of the floor – already an excellent defender, the Celtics unsuccessfully attacked him repeatedly and got nothing out of it. Meanwhile, on the offensive end, he’s a versatile scorer who was probably underutilized with just 13 field-goal attempts against the Celtics.
The issue for the Cavaliers might be the same issue that a lot of teams have against the Celtics: There are a few players on the floor at any given time who simply are not capable of staying in front of the Celtics’ best players. The worst case was Darius Garland who had a nightmarish game offensively – just 3-for-21 from the floor – while Tatum and Jaylen Brown targeted him repeatedly and created offense as a result of getting past him. Georges Niang isn’t a great matchup for the Celtics either.
The Cavaliers were without Isaac Okoro and Dean Wade, who will figure prominently in this matchup at a later date, and it’s far too early to start thinking about a series between the Celtics and Cavs in earnest. Still, Tuesday’s game showed some encouraging signs for the Celtics.
Al Horford did not look his age.
The Celtics have gotten a number of encouraging updates about Kristaps Porzingis recently, but in the interim, Al Horford is playing some of his best basketball of the year.
Horford was excellent again on Tuesday, shooting 4-for-5 from behind the arc and finishing with 20 points.
Defensively, he was fresh and active – defending switches well on the perimeter and limiting Evan Mobley when other Celtics players had a lot of trouble doing so.
Offensively, he collapsed the defense by posting up smaller players and operating around the dunker spot, and – like so many of his teammates – he bombed away from 3-point range, especially during the Celtics’ first-half barrage.
“It was just about finishing the job,” Horford said. “I felt like we played really well in the first half. In the 3rd, they cut into the lead and in the 4th they got in there and it was a back-and-forth, and it’s like, ‘Man, like we put ourselves in a position, we’ve got to finish this and see it through.’
“So, at that point, it’s just you’re out there just making plays and competing and that’s what I was doing.”
We would be willing to wager a fair amount of money that this won’t be the last time we write this: Horford does not look like a 38-year-old, especially when he has some rest under his legs.
“Al is just a calming presence out there,” Tatum said. “He just does so many different things for us. Sometimes they show up in the stat sheet and sometimes they down, but just him being on the court with us helps our spacing, helps our defense. He’s such a good passer, willing passer. So we’re just a much better team when Al is out there and being aggressive.”
Horford is still Tatum’s favorite teammate.
After the game, a reporter asked Tatum about Horford, noting that Tatum has called the veteran his favorite teammate in the past.
Derrick White, who was sharing the podium with Tatum, whipped his head round and stared at Tatum indignantly as Tatum chuckled.
“D-White like my second-favorite teammate,” Tatum said.
The Celtics hit as many 3-pointers as the Cavs took in the first half.
The Celtics built a double-digit lead in the first half that stretched to 21 in the third quarter behind a white-hot 3-point shooting stretch. At halftime, the Cavaliers were 4-for-14 from deep. The Celtics had already made 14 triples.
Much of that was by design on the Celtics’ end: They, of course, like to generate looks from behind the arc, and they were focused defensively on running the Cavs off the line. While they won’t always make 12 more 3-pointers than their opponents, running their opponent off the 3-point line is a good way to make sure that margin is as friendly as possible.
Jaylen Brown overcame a tough shooting night late.
Brown made a couple of 3-pointers in the first half, but he struggled to find the range for much of the evening and was 5-for-15 with three turnovers late in the fourth quarter.
But Brown finished off two big layups late that helped lock down the win – one with 1:41 remaining, and one with 0:47.
For all of Tatum’s genuine MVP bona fides early in the year, the Celtics remain the best all-around team in the league thanks to their combination of star power with Tatum and Brown and the players around them who are stars in their roles.
Derrick White explained his 3-point celebration.
White’s celebration is pretty simple: He looked in his pocket, and he found a 3-pointer.
White finished with 19 points, six rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot. He found a 3-pointer four out of the seven times he fished around in his pocket.
Neemias Queta had a tough outing.
For all of the excellent things Horford did, Queta found the Cavaliers a difficult puzzle to solve.
Queta got extended time on Tuesday, but he struggled enormously against a Cavaliers team with a ton of ways to beat him. As the Cavs made their big run in the third quarter, Queta was the defensive target for the Cavaliers, particularly Donovan Mitchell, who started cooking by putting Queta in an isolation blender.
Queta is a useful player in some matchups and can buy the Celtics plenty of time while Kristaps Porzingis recovers. He moves his feet better than you would expect, and his size gives the Celtics a little bit of much-needed rim protection.
Still, if the Celtics and Cavaliers meet in the postseason, don’t bet on seeing much of Queta.
Mazzulla said Queta will continue to get better.
“At the end of the day. I don’t think he was bad,” Mazzulla said. “I think it was just that the volume was high. The easiest thing to see is that they’re going at him every time.
“But like I said, Mitchell only had four points in the third quarter. He had some tough ones in the fourth quarter, but he did what he was supposed to do. And like I said, at the end of the day, if you’re going to trust your guys, you’ve got to trust them in a critical moment.”
NBA Cup implications
The Hawks are at the top of the Celtics’ group at 2-0 with a +13 point differential. They have wins over the Celtics and the Wizards.
At 1-1 with a +2 point differential, the Celtics are now second with a head-to-head win over the Cavaliers. The Cavs are in third despite a 1-1 record with a +15 point differential. The Hawks and Cavaliers face off on Nov. 29 in a game that Celtics fans will now probably watch with some interest, demonstrating why the NBA Cup is – for all of its flaws – an unmitigated success for the league.
A presidential welcome
The Celtics have two more days off before they take on the Wizards in Washington on Friday – a trip that will include a visit to the White House.
“I think it’ll be cool,” Tatum said. “One of the perks of being a champion is going to the White House. You see most of the former teams attend, so we’ll have that moment and take pictures and videos. It’s something that’ll last a lifetime.”
They will take on the Timberwolves and Clippers in a back-to-back on Sunday and Monday.
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