Celtics

Celtics sweep back-to-back games against Cavaliers: 10 takeaways

The Celtics have a tough stretch of games at home, and they got off to a good start.

By Tom Westerholm

December 15, 2023

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The Celtics started a tough week with their second important win in a row on Thursday, claiming a sweep in their mini two-game series against the Cavaliers with a 116-107 victory.

Here are the takeaways.

1. The Celtics started last year hot too, but this has been an impressive stretch. After losing in the in-season tournament, they’ve won three in a row. Their best players both have top-shelf talent. The role players are overqualified. The bench has rounded into shape nicely. They have the NBA’s second-best net rating and a 1.5-game lead in the Eastern Conference standings at 18-5.

The Celtics got off to a hot start last year too and ran into plenty of roadblocks, so a lot can change quickly. Still, they have looked better this season – cohesive, collected, and experienced.

“I’ve emphasized we need to not skip any steps this year,” Jaylen Brown said after Thursday’s game. “Success is earned every single day, so that means every shootaround, every film session, every time we’re together, we need to be aware of what’s going on and aware of the mission in total.

“I think that our mindset has been a lot better in that regard this season than last, just because sometimes the season can get kind of mundane. Things kind of get go through the motions, things kind of get monotonous. I want to make sure we stay locked in as much as we possibly can.”

2. Jayson Tatum had just 15 points entering the fourth quarter, but he scored 12 in the final 12 minutes and grabbed six of his 11 rebounds. He sandwiched the quarter with a two and three to start, then threw down a pair of dunks that sealed the game in the final two minutes.

“I just try to find moments, find opportunities to be aggressive, and try to pick my spots in the best way I can,” Tatum said.

3. The Celtics are now 12-0, which is their best start at TD Garden since the 2007-08 season.

Joe Mazzulla pointed out that home court isn’t everything.

“You’ve got to think, two years we go to the Finals without home-court advantage, last year we don’t go,” he said.

But Tatum said the Celtics have lost some disappointing games at home over the last few years, which is a trend he wants to change.

“Just trying to get back to my first couple years when we were just electric at home, and we have been so far,” he said. “It’s a good test for us tomorrow.” 

4. Jaylen Brown finished with 22 points, and he knocked down a couple of tough turnaround jumpers including a pair over Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen out of the post.

“Post game is definitely something that allows me to be my true self,” Brown said. “I love playing in the post. It’s a part of my game that I haven’t highlighted as much over the years because the analytics kind of went away from it. But we re-emphasized it this year, and you’ll see me more and more try to take advantage of those matchups.”

The Celtics are crushing teams in the post: Per the NBA’s stat site, Tatum is scoring 1.30 points per possession (95th percentile), and Kristaps Porzingis is scoring a staggering 1.48 points per possession (99th percentile), while Brown is clocking in at a respectable 1.07 points per possession (67th percentile). The analytics no longer go away from the post, at least for the Celtics.

5. Despite Mazzulla’s protests on Tuesday that assists are a misleading stat, we should note that Brown recorded five of them after dishing out four in each of the Celtics’ last two games.

6. Lamar Stevens got off the bench for 8:32 with Luke Kornet sidelined due to an adductor injury. Stevens impressed Mazzulla, recording four points and a rebound while spending time guarding Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen.

“[The bench] guys probably have the toughest job in the league,” Mazzulla said. “They never know when they are going in. Those four or five that we have do a tremendous job coming in and working every single day, and so when it is their time, I trust them, and they are each going to get an opportunity to do so and bring a different dynamic to the game. Tonight we went with Lamar, and I thought he did a good job.”

Stevens’s versatility was presumably one of the primary reasons the Celtics kept him around after training camp – he can back up both forwards and centers competently, which will get a player from the end of the bench on the court more often.

“That’s been my role since I got to the league, just being able to guard multiple positions,” Stevens said. “I played Jarrett a lot when I was with the Cavs. So it was nothing that was super new to me.

7. Peeling back the fourth wall a bit: Sam Hauser feels like he has shot a blistering percentage over the last 10-ish games, so we went to the NBA’s stats site to pull his numbers and prove our point … only to find that Hauser is shooting 43.5 percent from three over his last 10 games, which actually a little bit behind his season average of 44.4 percent.

Hauser is shooting a blistering percentage just because he generally shoots a blistering percentage. He finished 3-for-3 on Thursday with nine points.

8. Tatum recorded three blocks, including this big one against Darius Garland.

Brown, meanwhile, notched two steals.

When asked if he believes he and Brown are on track to make All-Defense this year, Tatum said he has “no idea.” He did, however, highlight why the Celtics have the NBA’s fourth-best defense.

“You just try to do your job every single day, take pride [that] the best players on our team, we don’t hedge, we don’t show. We switch,” Tatum said. “We take pride in guarding whoever it is, and that’s big for our team, not having any weak links on defense. We all push each other on that end, and we all help each other.”

9. Jrue Holiday was asked postgame if he saw Giannis Antetokounmpo’s argument with the Pacers over the game ball following the Bucks’ win on Wednesday.

Holiday – who, of course, was Antetokounmpo’s teammate and helped the Bucks win a title – asked reporters what happened and claimed to have no knowledge of the situation, which seems somewhat unlikely.

Still, his explanation was relatable.

“I’ve got kids, y’all,” Holiday said (he’s a father of two).

10. The Celtics take on the Magic on Friday. After threatening to be Full-Stop Good last season, the Magic are there now – 16-7 and third in the Eastern Conference, with the NBA’s fifth-best point differential at +5.9. They also will be well rested: Their last game was Monday against (somewhat ironically) the Cavaliers.

Tatum praised second-year Magic forward Paolo Banchero, who also went to Duke and has shown similar star potential.

“It’s amazing to see how much better Paolo has gotten from college to his first year and even his second year,” Tatum said. “Somebody that I’m close with and I know pretty well. I’m just happy for him. Great person, works really, really hard to work on his craft.”

Friday’s game will be a fight. It tips off at 7:30 p.m.