From Fedor's column:
As part of his halftime message, Bickerstaff urged his team to ignore the whistles. For the first time in more than two decades, each team had at least 10 fouls called in the first quarter. There were 30 combined fouls in the first half.
According to Bickerstaff, that led to the Cavs being timid, far too consumed with the uncontrollables. The usual physicality and aggressiveness that led to them becoming the league’s No. 2 defense through the first week had been sucked away by the three-person officiating crew.
“In the second half, we said, ‘To hell with it,’” Bickerstaff told cleveland.com. “We went out and we were physical. Our technique was sound. We did a better job of guarding while not being concerned with foul trouble.”
And the Celtics went from scoring 75 in the first half to 39 in the second.
We get Boston at our house on Wednesday for a rematch. They will have Grant Williams back and we may have Garland by then. Now that we figured out how to defend them we'll see if we can get a win in regulation this time. OTOH, the Celtics will be looking for payback and will have a plan to defend Mitchell and LeVert, probably doubling them and forcing them to give up the ball.
Both teams will have studied the film of this game and made some adjustments. Both teams will have had two days off. Should be a great game.