POST GAME CLEVELAND - HOME - CLE 103, BOS 125 Final

Celtics Wrap: Boston Wins Five Straight With 125-103 Victory Vs. Cavaliers

NESN by Lauren Campbell on Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 9:40PM

BOSTON — Make it five in a row for the Celtics.

Boston tallied 26 points from Terry Rozier, including a perfect 100 percent shooting in the first half, en route to a 125-103 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at TD Garden.

Rozier led all shooters in points, while Jaylen Brown (23), Gordon Hayward (18), Jayson Tatum (15), Marcus Morris (11) and Brad Wanamaker (11) also reached double digits. Cedi Osman paced the Cavs with 25 points, with Ante Zizic just behind him with 19. Boston held rookie stud Collin Sexton to 16 points.

The game was close for much of the first half, but the C’s broke it wide open in the third before running away with the victory.

With the win, the Celtics climbed, to 30-18, while the Cavs slipped to 9-40.

Here’s how it all went down:

STARTING FIVE
PG: Terry Rozier
SG: Marcus Smart
SF: Jayson Tatum
PF: Marcus Morris
C: Aron Baynes

NOTHING BUT TERRY
Cleveland began the quarter on a 4-0 run before Rozier went on an absolute tear, draining the Celtics’ first eight points.

He began it with a 3-point shot to get the C’s on the board with 9:50 left in the opening quarter. He made a layup, drew an and-one and drained it to put Boston up 6-4.

Cleveland tied it 6-6 on a Sexton jumper before Rozier drained yet another bucket. Tatum finally scored points of his own with 6:56 left in the first.

It remained close in the opening 12 minutes thanks in large part to Rozier nailing down 16 of Boston’s 27 points, but it was Cleveland that took a slim 30-27 lead into the second quarter.

Rozier led all shooters with 16 points, including 11 in his first six minutes on the floor. Jordan Clarkson led the Cavs with eight buckets.

ROZIER CAN’T BE STOPPED
The game remained close as it did in the first, but Boston went on a 12-2 run thanks in part to Smart setting up a fast-break that resulted in a Brad Wanamaker three to make it 41-36.

Cleveland finally snapped the run, but Boston started a new 10-0 one over a span of three-plus minutes. Smart hit a three of his own and Morris continued to build the home team’s edge with a jumper that caused the Cavs to call a timeout with 5:54 remaining in the half. Ante Zizic broke Cleveland’s scoreless run with a dunk.

Boston was up 11 with two minutes left in the half and extended its lead to 14 after some beautifully executed ball movement resulted in a Rozier three.

Boston closed out the second quarter with another Rozier shot from distance to give the C’s a 65-50 heading into the break.

Rozier continued to lead all scorers with 22 points and remained perfect on the floor, shooting 8-for-8 from the field and 4-for4 from beyond the arc. Zizic led the Cavs with 14 points.

STRONG OFFENSE, DEFENSE CONTINUES
The C’s couldn’t find the rim in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the third until Morris drained one from distance. He added two more on the next play to extend Boston’s lead to 70-52.

Cleveland tried to chip away at the lead, but the Celtics were just too much as Tatum finished off a steal with a dunk.

Fans at TD Garden also saw their first Robert Williams block of the night after draining his first points in the third.

The Cavs came within 13 with under two minutes left in the period, but Rozier continued his dominance by dropping another two points to bring the lead back to 15. Cleveland chipped its deficit down to 12 to close out the third quarter, 92-80.

C’s CLOSE IT OUT
The Celtics would not let the Cavaliers get close. Brown hit a fadeaway jumper before the Cavs were forced to call a timeout just 1:56 into the final 12 minutes when Boston went up 99-80.

Boston upped its lead to 21 with less than five minutes left in the game while Rozier continued to up his point total. Hayward made it 118-99 with 2:43 to go before Cleveland called another timeout.

Cleveland cracked the triple-digit, but it was much too late by that point, as Boston took home the 125-103 win.

PLAY OF THE GAME
Scary Terry being Scary Terry.

UP NEXT
The Celtics continue their homestand Saturday when they welcome the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors to TD Garden. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.

112288

I know Terry kept them in the game for the first half, but I was impressed with the play of Jaylen Brown tonight. He is really rounding into form and becoming the Jaylen of last year. This is a good sign for the Celtics. Even Hayward had a good game, I just wish his outside shooting would become more consistent but he drove to the basket several times and that is a good sign.

I know it was only Cleveland but they are beating the teams they should. Saturday ‘s game will be a big test to see just how far they have come.

On another side, that injury to Olodipo looks really bad, it looked like his knee was out of joint or something as the trainer put a towel over his leg immediately. This is too bad, he was playing at such a high level. Inidy will definitely be hurt by this loss

Wanamaker had another solid game despite being an infrequent member of the rotation.

I like Wanamaker, wouldn’t mind seeing more, is it me or does it look like Tatums defense has picked up recently? Rozier finally got in a zone, he took some bad shots, but hit them. Jaylen looks like he’s finding his rhythm. Good practice game for upcoming big game, glad Al and Kyrie got some rest, hey Kawhi just missed 4 games in a row, Jimmy Butler comes and goes...??? I need a job like that....

...that’s got to be why Kawhi left. He said something like Coach when I come back, I need to pick my spots, to get some rest...

I can only imagine what Pop said....

That’s the new NBA, run by talented millionaire pussies calling their shots.

The line on the game, even after it was known Kyrie and Al weren't going to play, was the Celtics by 15.  As they say "good coaches win, great coaches beat the spread".

We beat the spread thanks to a career game by Scary Terry.  He started off 8-8 and didn't miss until the 3rd quarter.  8 rebounds, 6 assists and only 2 TOs.  He was excited to start, especially after being told the game was going to be on TV in his hometown of Cleveland.  I hope it was on TV in Nwalins too.

Baynes with a good rebounding night, 8 in 22 minutes.  Zizic had a career night, in part, because our perimeter defense was allowing penetration and when Baynes rotated Zizic crashed the offensive boards.  6 of Zizic's 8 rebounds were offensive that he got because Baynes was out of position because of poor perimeter defense by us.  When you see someone loose underneath it's usually either because of lousy perimeter defense or because a baseline defender took his eyes off his man and got backdoored.  Ante Zizic doing what we thought he'd do for us, but not much more.  A clever move or two on Baynes, but most of it was straight cleanup work.

The more I watch Colin Sexton the less impressed I am.  He's not that athletic, nor quick.  His shot mechanics are flawed, a long defender could easily disrupt his shot because his release point is so low.  He's not a particularly clever floor general although he's still young, so I'm going to give him another year or two to mature in that area.  It took Smart 4 years before he really became a good NBA point guard.  His defense last night was forgettable if for no other reason is that I can't remember any of it.  In the end, the trade for Kyrie netted Cleveland Nance, Clarkson, Hood, Zizic and Sexton.  The real talent in that group is in the players they got for our players (i.e. IT, Crowder, Zizic) and not in the draft pick we gave them.  Compare that to Danny giving up an aging Pierce, KG and Jason Terry for a couple of rentals and Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.  So, who has the better eye for future talent?  I'd say Danny.

The most dangerous of those Cleveland players is Jordan Clarkson.  He is a lights-out streak shooter when he's seeing the ball go through the net.  We did an excellent job of keeping him in check last night and I give a lot of that credit to Jaylen Brown.  It's hard to give credit to any one Celtic for overall defense on an individual player because we switch SO much on defense, but Jaylen covered Clarkson a lot on the wing and you didn't hear Clarkson's name being called out sequence after sequence after sequence like we have in the past.  Jaylen also had a great offensive game of his own, with 23 points on 8-12, 2-3 from 3 and 5-6 from the line (YES!!).  At this point he's condemned to coming off the bench because of Smart's undeniable chemistry with Kyrie, but he's playing well.  He's also saying his hand is feeling better.

Brad Wanamaker is making Terry Rozier expendable.  Terry elevated his trade value with this game and Wanamaker made trading Terry more doable with his play.  Wanamaker has done very well every time he has stepped on the court for us this year.  Solid, a pro's pro.  Doesn't rush, doesn't usually make bad decisions with the ball and, I'm sure to Brad Stevens' delight, is a dead-eye from 3.  3-4 from 3 last night and 50% from 3 for his entire, very limited season.

Hayward with one of his OG games.  And the chances of two in a row is?  Next game is Toronto.  This would be a good time to prove you're really back.


http://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=401071380





bob



.

Looks like this team is coming together. Everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing and defense is tight. They really disrupted a lot of CLE's offense last night.

Williams needs to spend some time with Russell before it's too late and learn how to tap the rebound to someone on his own team not to the opposing player standing wide open behind the 3-point line!

One Saturday's game, whoever did the scheduling did us all a huge favor on the timing of this game. We will know exactly how far we have come and how far we have to go to raise #18 come Saturday.

Possible Outcomes,just guessing

GSW Blowout - Not likely, but possible - 18%
GSW Close Win - More likely -39%
BOS Close Win - Possibly likely - 31%
BOS Blowout - Less Likely, but possible - 12%

Home Court gives us a slight edge, maybe bigger. Most of us still haven't shed/forgotten the first part of this season so we are still once bitten thinking that that team will show its ugly face again at the most inappropriate time and throw us into another tailspin.

But it's going to be fun to watch!!

Oladipo injury could be tragic. Looks like IND pulled the Buster Douglas move vs. TOR last night. If he's out for the season, IND has nowhere to go but south and in a hurry. Maybe out of the playoffs. Pop didn't help us any vs. PHI.

db

The game against a poor Cleveland team went just as it was supposed to go. The much better team (even with two stars sitting out) pounded the weaker team.

Too bad the Cs have not been able to handle some of the other teams who happen to be much more like Cleveland than Golden State this season in the same manner.

wideclyde,

Fortunately, we don't play those teams in the playoffs!!

db

dbrown4 wrote:Looks like this team is coming together.  Everyone is doing what they are supposed to be doing and defense is tight.  They really disrupted a lot of CLE's offense last night.  

Williams needs to spend some time with Russell before it's too late and learn how to tap the rebound to someone on his own team not to the opposing player standing wide open behind the 3-point line!

One Saturday's game, whoever did the scheduling did us all a huge favor on the timing of this game.  We will know exactly how far we have come and how far we have to go to raise #18 come Saturday.

Possible Outcomes,just guessing

GSW Blowout - Not likely, but possible - 18%
GSW Close Win - More likely -39%
BOS Close Win - Possibly likely - 31%
BOS Blowout - Less Likely, but possible  - 12%

Home Court gives us a slight edge, maybe bigger.  Most of us still haven't shed/forgotten the first part of this season so we are still once bitten thinking that that team will show its ugly face again at the most inappropriate time and throw us into another tailspin.  

But it's going to be fun to watch!!

Oladipo injury could be tragic.  Looks like IND pulled the Buster Douglas move vs. TOR last night.   If he's out for the season, IND has nowhere to go but south and in a hurry.  Maybe out of the playoffs.  Pop didn't help us any vs. PHI.  

db    

dbrown,

Excellent point. I forgot about Williams. 3 blocks in 13 minutes. He is now tied with Jaren Jackson Jr. of Memphis for 14th with 1.5 blocks/game.

Jackson is averaging 25.7mpg while Williams is only averaging 9mpg.

Nobody is as efficient, blocks/minute of play, as Robert Williams. Not Embiid (2.0 in 33.5mpg), not Whiteside (2.4 in 25.9mpg), not Davis (2.4 in 37mpg).

I love Williams' nickname. I think The Time Lord is one of the coolest nicknames in sports history, but Scal has turned it into a caricature. He's making me uncomfortable using it. What makes his abuse of it even more awful is that when Danny told him to use 'Lob' Williams he threw himself into that and then when Danny backed off Scal went WAY overboard the other way.

Another note on Williams: he had zero turnovers in those 13 minutes. It is common for rookies who don't get a lot of playing time to turn the ball over more than players who are veterans or who are getting more game reps. I didn't see him force anything last night, and that's a very positive thing. It means he can be trusted to not blow a lead just through poor decision making.

He does seem to be a bit slow on rotating back, though. He rotates to pick up a penetrator but is slow to turn around and contest the shot when the penetrator lays it down for the man he left. Also, he jumps at EVERYTHING. I know that's a rookie thing, but he'll have to learn to be a bit more patient. On the other hand, 1.5 blocks in 9 mpg suggests that I should shut up and enjoy whatever he's doing.



bob


.

BobH,

Don't get me wrong. I like Williams a lot, too. His heart is in the right place. If Russ could get him for about 30 minutes, it would change his world.

Tee that up, Danny!!

I do like the T I M E L O R D name as well. It is very cool. Maybe Scal will take a chillpill on it soon enough, especially if the rest of the league catches on!

db

dbrown4 wrote:BobH,

Don't get me wrong.  I like Williams a lot, too.  His heart is in the right place. If Russ could get him for about 30 minutes, it would change his world.  

Tee that up, Danny!!

I do like the T I M E L O R D name as well.  It is very cool.  Maybe Scal will take a chillpill on it soon enough, especially if the rest of the league catches on!

db

For a brief moment, Time Stood Still for Ante Zizic.  Williams' elbow is above the rim.




bob


.

That's ridiculous! He ain't goin' ANYWHERE!! Kid's got hops, that's for sure!

db

dbrown4 wrote:That's ridiculous!  He ain't goin' ANYWHERE!!  Kid's got hops, that's for sure!

db

He should be playing a lot more, get him in game experience now!!! Play him with Al or Theis, if he misses one rotation, keep him on the floor, if Brad can’t develop this kid, he’s not who we think he is....

His development is key to us having a historic shutdown defense for the next decade that can be compared to any great defense of any era, the other pieces are already in place, fuckin Barkley is an idiot!!!

dbrown4 wrote:That's ridiculous!  He ain't goin' ANYWHERE!!  Kid's got hops, that's for sure!

db

If he needs to be included in an Anthony Davis trade, then he's gone.  Otherwise, no.  You have to be ready to surrender talent, especially raw underdeveloped talent, for the best big in the game who is also only 25 years old.

His elbow is at or above the rim and his fingertips are above the freaking box!


bob


.

And his head is touching the backboard or at least really, really close!! "That's ridiculous, Gus!"

db