Three Takeaways After Celtics Suffer Lousy Game 2 Loss To Cavs
BOSTON — The Celtics rarely found themselves on the losing side of a double-digit loss throughout their league-leading 64-win regular season. So, colliding face-first into the TD Garden parquet wasn’t a familiar sight to anybody.
With Boston coming off four consecutive double-digit playoff wins, the momentum and fortune weren’t favoring the Cavaliers at all. Cleveland didn’t have its rebounding leader Jarrett Allen ready to go, and Boston seemingly had its backup plans figured out with Kristaps Porzingis injured and Jayson Tatum performing below standard. Yet, despite it all, the Cavaliers emptied the seats at TD Garden, forcing Celtics fans to exit early along with Boston’s starters, who head coach Joe Mazzulla pulled with 4:58 left in the fourth quarter.
“I thought that was the best thing to do at that time,” Mazzulla said following Boston’s 118-94 loss on Thursday night.
Mazzulla added: “It’s a playoff series. (We) played against a really good team with really good players, well-coached. I expect it to be difficult.”
Unforeseen, lousy, and a perfect example has Boston learned its lesson yet reintroduces itself routinely come playoff time.
Here are three takeaways as the 1-1 series heads to Cleveland:
1. Derrick White is human
It’s hard to believe after connecting on 50% of his first 56 playoff 3-pointers that White would collapse so quickly. But the Celtics should’ve been prepared as they were in the regular season for off nights as such.
After averaging an impressive 29.3 points for three straight games entering Thursday night’s contest, White was seen as the out-of-the-blue offensive standout. But the scalding hot hand was due to cool off at some point, right?
White finished with 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting, went 1-for-8 from three, and finished a horrendous minus-27 — runner-up to Jaylen Brown (-29) for the worst plus-minus rating of anyone in Game 2. It’s easier to finger-point performances when the offense, as a whole, collapsed and its non-existent momentum hindered the defensive response.
“We gotta play defense, we gotta rebound, get ’em off the glass. And those are two things that we didn’t do tonight,” Brown admitted. “We didn’t rebound very well and we also didn’t defend at a high enough level. They were close to 50% from three — they shot the ball pretty good — but we can also can do a lot better on defense.”
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2. Boston’s ugly, sloppy third quarter can’t be repeated
Cleveland’s most impressive quarter of the series (so far) came in the third, although it said more about the Celtics than anything.
Knotted up, 54-54, at halftime, both teams entered the second half with an equally clean slate, but the Cavaliers played with significantly more urgency and refused to stop. Boston did itself no favors, forcing 3-point shot attempts, poorly reading Cleveland’s defense, and opening the door for the Cavaliers to slowly, but effectively, snag a double-digit lead for the first time this series.
Boston went 0-for-8 from three in the third, trying desperately to get White going from beyond the arc — which didn’t work. White went 0-for-4, airballing once from the left corner as Cleveland responded, outscoring the Celtics, 36-24, to take a 90-78 lead into the fourth quarter.
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell ended the frame with an exclamation point by draining a 27-foot buzzer-beating three before starring down the TD Garden crowd.
3. Donovan Mitchell with confidence is dangerous
Mitchell didn’t have much assistance from Cleveland teammates despite leading all scorers with 33 points in Game 1.
Yet with Evan Mobley (21 points) and Caris LeVert (21 points off the bench) pitching in, Mitchell had all the confidence in the world to teach Boston’s defense a lesson. Whether it was stepping back from 25-plus feet or slashing through the lane, Mitchell had the hot hand from anywhere and everywhere in the second half, while Boston’s front office couldn’t buy the team a bucket if it wanted to.
Mitchell, yet again, finished as the game’s leading scorer, putting 29 points on the board while shooting 10-of-19 from the field and 5-of-7 from three. The 27-year-old also tallied seven rebounds and eight assists, exposing the Celtics for their no-show offense and disappearing transition defense.
“Just continuing to find ways to apply pressure,” Mitchell said. “In the second half, it was scoring. And I’ve said it all year, sometimes its assists, sometimes its rebounding. Whatever it takes. When it’s time to go, it’s time to go.”
Boston’s home playoff record since 2021 now stands at 15-15.