Celtics and Cavs Brought It on NBA Cup Night but Know Bigger Games Await

BOSTON — Caris LeVert, Dean Wade, Isaac Okoro and Max Strus sat out Celtics-Cavs, an (NBA Cup) game between the defending champs and a 15-0 potential postseason challenger. Whether for the former or latter, both teams brought it, exposing the other’s weakness.

Cleveland came in short-handed at the one position you can’t lack against Boston. The Celtics struggled to stop paint scoring. Something had to give.

Both did in separate halves through a 120-115 Boston win that featured the Celtics building up a big lead and squandering it in the third quarter. Cleveland pulled within two points twice midway through the fourth before Derrick White landed a three-point put back, Jayson Tatum dunked driving from the corner and Payton Pritchard hit a three in transition to secure a 107-100, multiple possession advantage that held.

The Cavs played close, neither team stopped fighting, but the Cavs couldn’t reach Boston’s level mostly due to the shooting difference. Cleveland finished 10-of-29 from three. The Celtics hit a scorching 22-of-41 the other way. Kenny Atkinson shook his head after the game thinking about it.

“Maybe not prepared enough for what they were throwing at us,” he said. “We adjusted in the second half, but especially that big second quarter, that was too much to overcome.”

Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Jaylen Brown hit their first tries from three as the Celtics began 4-of-7 from deep and shot out to a 18-8 lead while the Cavs missed two layups. Cleveland responded playing through Evan Mobley, who hit Jarrett Allen for one of many cutting finishes while on the roll.

Trouble continued for Boston into its first bench stint, Georges Niang posting and scoring through Payton Pritchard before Ty Jerome dropped a floater over Neemias Queta. Darius Garland struggled, starting 1-of-11 from the field and ending the night only 3-of-21.

“We understood that’s a really good team over there, we knew they were gonna make a run,” Horford said. “Once you’re in the position, you just have to find a way to get it done and get the win. It’s about us, it’s not about to prove to the league or anyone or anything. It’s a long season and we continue to make strides to be better. Obviously, our team is not complete, we’re missing KP and we’re getting better. We’re not where we want to be, but we continue to work toward that.”

Evan Mobley, who started the game in the wings, got more involved in actions later in the first, blocking Tatum before landing a dunk back line and ahead of Boston’s defense. Neemias Queta, who logged backup center minutes inconsistently, leaped to pass and landed to begin his first stint before grabbing Sam Hauser’s miss at the end of the first quarter and feeding him behind his back for a second chance layup at the buzzer. The promise that’s led Joe Mazzulla and Boston’s staff to stick with him through highs-and-lows this month.

In a high-stakes game, the Celtics chose the long game to get Queta experience. It could’ve cost them, but the lesson proved valuable.

“Some of the shots that they were tough,” Mazzulla said. “Some of the stuff that we gave up, he’s gotta work on, but if we’re gonna believe in our guys and get them to a level that they need to get to, those are the things you have to go through … if you’re gonna believe in your guys, you gotta do it in critical moments as well.”

The Celtics’ three-point avalanche heightened in the second, one the Cavs couldn’t come close to contending with. Pritchard started it before a pair of Horford scoring plays inside, then Tatum and Brown drained a pair to extend Boston’s lead to 13 on a 22-9 run, shooting 7-of-9 from three into halftime. Between the second and third, they drained six straight to hit 11-of-13 tries at one point, their lead reaching 21 when Horford shot out of a screen into the pocket to find Holiday for three. That could’ve demoralized Cleveland.

Instead, Mobley over-powered Horford on a put-back, drained a three and dunked through Holiday for a three-point play that cut Boston’s lead to 11. Two possessions later, Mobley grabbed his own miss inside twice before dunking to cap and 18-3 run while Boston’s offense shut off on a 1-of-9 drought. Mazzulla liked that the Cavs continued a run of physicality by opponents against the Celtics, which they expect to benefit from dealing with.

“I hope teams continue to be physical,” he said. “Because it just gets us reps.”

The Cavs began putting Queta in every action, Donovan Mitchell lining him up for a mid-ranger, then hitting Porter in the paint to draw him as Allen cut for a dunk. Boston’s lead fell to two before Tatum shook Georges Niang for a three to end the third.

Horford and Mitchell traded threes to start the fourth before Allen and Queta scored on separate possessions around the rim. The Cavs pushed them, and forced Boston to execute through frustration. Mobley leveled White in the post on what could’ve been called an offensive foul, allowing him to find Craig Porter Jr. for three to make it 102-100. Garland nearly led Cleveland back from seven shortly after until Horford blocked him at the rim. Mitchell kept driving and going to the free throw line until the clock ran out, trying to play the foul game.

“It’s just a test, a big test,” Mitchell said. “Obviously, you want to learn through wins, we lost tonight, but there’s a lot we can take away, good, from the second half and a lot we can learn from the first half to get better at.”

He began the morning excited about the test that the matchup presented while agreeing with the Celtics’ player that neither team would win the championship on Tuesday. Kristaps Porzingis’ return looms, a potential solution to Boston’s rim protection problems. The Cavs will return their wing depth, Sam Merrill playing hurt to get them by in the first of four games between what looks like the two best teams in the east so far. The fans got up, roaring after Pritchard’s fourth quarter three keyed an 8-2 run, and Boston saved its NBA Cup chances.

The game, most importantly, allowed Boston to shake off their mid-season malaise and focus enough to approach top form.

“We just kept a level of poise about us,” Mazzulla said. “I thought we were physical the entire game … the details are the second-most important thing, and we slipped a little bit with that in the third, but in the fourth we picked up both of those things … I care more about can we do it again 72 hours from now … month from now and a month later? Understanding that we’re not gonna be at our best all the time … they should’ve the level we can get to, we just have to do it over and over again.”