Their bench obliterated ours. Hauser +18, Kornet +10, Pritchard +19, and Horford +19. On our side it was LeVert -23 in 17 minutes, Jerome -11 in 15 minutes, and Niang -13 in 25 minutes with 5 fouls. The three of them combined for 11 points in 57 minutes. Only Merrill contributed off the bench.
Every Celtic starter had a negative on/off except Tatum who was +1. The bench won it for them.
Mobley did not look anything like an All-Star, shooting 3-for-14 overall and 0-for-4 on 3's. It looked like Porzingis got into his head early and he was done for the night. The Cavs started the game 2-for-18 as they were clearly jittery, not to mention Porzingis forcing hurried shots and higher arcing shots than usual.
The Celtics picked on Garland relentlessly, constantly forcing swithches so he was guarding Tatum, Brown, or Porzingis. The Cavs tried a zone but you can't play a zone against a team that shoots 3's like Boston.
Derrick White put it away late in the 4th after the Cavs got to within striking distance and had a chance to steal the game. At 99-95 White scored 8 points in just over a minute to give the Celtics a commanding lead.
The Celtics can get a mismatch any time they want just by setting a screen. The Cavs switch and end up with a little man on a big. It seemed like on every possession Garland was guarding Tatum or Brown or Porzingus.
Allen (17/18/2) and Mitchell (31/10/6) were outstanding, especially Donovan's rebounding. The Cavs gave up 15 offensive boards but it seemed like twice that many. In the second half it went down partly due to Donovan hitting the defensive glass.
Niang is a foul machine. Five tonight in 25 minutes.
The Cavs had a putrid shooting night outside of Allen, Mitchell, and Merrill. They were 39.6% from the field and 28.2% from the line. They were 11-for-39 on 3's. Just 14-for-39, which is still bad, gets them 9 more points in a 7-point loss. Part of it was the Celtics but part of it was just bad shooting by a team that looked intimidated and jittery.
Getting Wade in for Niang would help, I think, and LeVert needs more time since he recently returned from injury. We play these guys again at the end of the month and hopefully we'll be fully healthy by then.