It was as though the Cavs were eager to get a first glance at the challenges the Celtics present. Now they need to solve them.
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BOSTON — Let’s assume the Cleveland Cavaliers make this a series, that they will not simply be overwhelmed the next three games through the same method the Boston
Celtics used to crush them in Tuesday’s Game 1.
If this assumption comes true, it could take a while to materialize. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, so, the Cavs have exactly two games to at least get near an answer.
But the complicated ordeal of keeping the league’s best 3-point shooting team off the 3-point line, while also guarding against being gutted in the paint by two of the game’s best finishers, isn’t something that necessarily is gleaned from one game.
The Celtics’ 120-95 dismantling of the Cavaliers in this Eastern Conference semifinal opener presented the puzzle, front and center. Boston was 6 of 22 on 3s in the first half (the Cavs actually had made eight by halftime), and yet led Cleveland by 10. When the game was over, the Celtics had carpet-bombed their way to 18 3s on 46 attempts.
Jayson Tatum didn’t even play well (7-of-19 shooting, 0-of-5 3s, 18 points), and the Celtics still had way too much. Derrick White canned seven 3s on his way to 25 points. Jaylen Brown only needed four 3s to get to 32 points — in part because the driving lanes were open from all the pressure Boston applies from the perimeter.
Payton Pritchard had 16 points off the bench, mostly on 3s. Jrue Holiday, one of the game’s best perimeter defenders, made two 3s en route to his 14 points.
“We have to do a better job of limiting the amount of 3-pointers that they took,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “That’s, being in our spots as early as we can be, but doing a better job than we did tonight of reading the basketball.”
This is the third time in eight playoff games the Cavs were blown out, but unlike the two lopsided losses to Orlando, there weren’t long, blank stares, slumped shoulders and sullen grunts in the Cleveland locker room.
It was as though the Cavs were eager to get a first glance at the various challenges the Celtics present, and if a beating was to be administered Tuesday night, so be it. “We got an opportunity to see them firsthand, and our guys got an opportunity for reps on what we’re trying to do,” Bickerstaff said.
But a mere declaration of trying to limit the Celtics’ 3-point tries is only a starting point, at best. Pulling defenders away from the rim to get to the perimeter will leave gaping driving lanes for not only Brown, who dominated Game 1, but Tatum, perennially one of the NBA’s best players.
“That’s what we’re all trying to figure out,” Cleveland wing Max Strus said.
Whereas this is the first playoff matchup against the Celtics for most of the Cavs players, Strus has now faced Boston in the playoffs in three consecutive years. Twice in the previous two seasons, Strus was a member of Miami Heat teams that went to seven games with Boston in the Eastern Conference finals — each team won once.
Strus said this iteration of the Celtics was similar to the previous two because they, for the most part, play the same way. He noted that Kristaps Porziņģis (calf) is out, so, as usual, Al Horford is on the court playing major minutes. Strus didn’t say that Holiday is Boston’s point guard, which gives the Celtics an entirely different dimension of not having to force Tatum and Brown to initiate offense in the clutch — but there weren’t any clutch minutes Tuesday as this game was only close for a few minutes.
The Celtics took the most, made the most and had the second-highest shooting percentage on 3s in the NBA all season, so limiting their attempts is not something anyone did with any regularity. Cleveland’s answer will have to be a little deeper than that.
The Cavs could try and make a few 3s themselves. Their spring slump continued in Game 1, shooting 11 of 42 on 3s after shooting 28 percent for the series against Orlando. Cleveland simply cannot survive another series shooting so poorly from deep.
While Donovan Mitchell remained hot – 33 more points, bringing his total to 122 over the last three games – Darius Garland (6-of-15 shooting) and Strus (2-of-8 shooting) struggled again. Sam Merrill, a sharpshooter all season who played a small but important role in Cleveland’s comeback Sunday in Game 7 against the Magic, was 0 of 5. Caris LeVert, 2 of 6.
“I think you can see the formula of how to attack, how to put yourself and the group in proper positions to succeed,” said Mitchell, who shot 12 of 25 overall and 4 of 11 on 3s. “I think you can figure some things out (after one game), but we’ve got to make some shots. They’re a high-volume team, a high-powered team.”
This was a long time ago and the Cavs have only one player on the roster from those days, but organizationally, it took two full games — both blowout losses — for Cleveland to even begin to figure out the Golden State Warriors in the 2016 finals.
That’s what Tristan Thompson said Tuesday. He was a starter on that Cleveland team and is now playing reserve minutes in this series.
“Game 3, we figured them out, so we were down 2-1,” Thompson said. “Game 4, we kept messing up the Klay (Thompson)-Steph (Curry) pick-and -roll, because they kept slipping, and J.R. (Smith) and Kyrie (Irving) were trying to…we didn’t do the best job preparing for that. But you know, we won Game 5 with the same game plan we had for Games 3 and 4. We just knew how to cover that better.
“It’s just the whole coaching staff watching film and breaking it down, but it’s a long series.”
What, you may be wondering, does a championship series from eight years ago have to do with the here and now?
Playing the Celtics now is somewhat similar to playing the Warriors back then not because of the styles of play, but the sheer amount of pressure Boston’s offense puts on its opponents. It took the best Cleveland team, with arguably the greatest player in history, two full beatdowns at the hands of Golden State to even begin to figure out how to respond. But, in time, the Cavs were able to do just that.
Thompson agreed, and said: “They have Horford guarding Isaac (Okoro), which is how they guarded Draymond (Green) when the Warriors beat Boston in the finals (in 2022). So, probably have Isaac watch some of those clips where he mixes up the short roll and the pops. When Tatum or one of their smalls is guarding our five, when we set screens and they’re switching, throw it in for a quick, easy bucket for Evan (Mobley) and take advantage of it, because if we can get quick, easy little points like that, it will open up our 3-point shooting.”
Bickerstaff, and all the Cavs, expect a better performance in Game 2 on Thursday. But if you’re pulling for Cleveland and that’s not what happens, don’t panic — yet.
Give Cleveland through Game 3, at home, the chance to figure this out.
