POST GAME - CLEVLAND - HOME

Rapid Reaction: Celtics 103, Cavs 86

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com

BOSTON -- Rapid reaction after the Boston Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 103-86 on Friday night at TD Garden:

THE NITTY GRITTY
In danger of posting the longest home losing streak since the pre-Big Three era, the Celtics feasted on the disheveled Cavaliers, scoring 18 of the game's first 20 points and leading by as much as 25 en route to a breezy (Big Three-like) triumph that snapped a four-game TD Garden losing streak. Jeff Green scored a season-high 31 points (10-of-19 FG, 9-of-13 FT), Avery Bradley added 21 on super-efficient 9-of-11 shooting (3-of-4 beyond the 3-point arc), and Jordan Crawford registered his third career triple double (11 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists). Dion Waiters paced Cleveland with a team-high 21 points off the bench.

GINO TIME!
For the first time this season, the Celtics enjoyed Gino Time when the popular American Bandstand clip rolled with Boston on top 101-80 with 1:56 to play. Even without Kevin Garnett to raise his fist with each appearance of smooth-grooving Gino, the fans roared throughout the clip.

TURNING POINT
The Celtics opened the game on an 18-2 run, culminating with a pair of alley-oops from Jordan Crawford (the first of which was an emphatic throwdown by Jeff Green before a less graceful layup by Brandon Bass). Avery Bradley scored a team-high eight points in the frame, while Crawford had four points, four rebounds and three assists as Boston led by as much as 18 (22-4 with 2:38 to go). Boston, which had struggled in first quarters, shot 61.1 percent (11-of-18), while the Cavs missed 15 of the 19 shots (21.1 percent) they took.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
Jared Sullinger picked up his first technical foul of the season while barking at an official after picking up his third foul of the first half. Sullinger was being taken out of the game when he appeared to offer an unsolicited review of the calls against him. It was Boston's fourth technical foul of the season.

3-POINTER FOR BASS?!
This about sums up the night for Boston: On the final possession of the third quarter, Brandon Bass banked in the first 3-pointer of his NBA career. Bass had been 0-for-16 over the first eight-plus seasons of his career. It was only the fourth 3-point attempt of Bass' two-plus seasons in Boston. Not to be outdone by a fellow big man, Sullinger registered four 3-pointers on the night.

LOOSE BALLS
Keith Bogans, who had appeared in only two games this season, got extended floor time, checking in late in the third quarter with Boston up 20. He played seven scoreless minutes. ... MarShon Brooks played the final two minutes with the game in hand. He had been a healthy DNP the last five games. ... All five Boston starters finished in double figures and Boston shot 50 percent overall. Cleveland had one starter in double figures (Kyrie Irving, 17 points) and shot 37.2 percent.

WHAT IT MEANS
The Celtics wrap up this brutal November schedule with the tail end of a back-to-back on Saturday in Milwaukee. After that, Boston will have played 19 games over the first 31 days of the 2013-14 season. The schedule eases up in December with only 12 games in 31 days, including only three on the road (two of which are in New York, while the other is in Indiana with a five-day Christmas break following it).
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


JEFF GREEN, AVERY BRADLEY HELP HALT CELTICS’ HOME LOSING SKID

By WEEI

Jeff Green — and the Cleveland Cavaliers — were going to make sure the Celtics didn’t lose their fifth straight game at the TD Garden.

Green led a Celtics attack that saw Brad Stevens’ team shoot 50 percent from the floor on the way to a 103-86 win over the struggling Cavs. The Celts’ forward netted 31 points.

The win marked the first time in 10 games the Celts scored at least 100 points.

It was Cleveland’s fifth straight loss, and eighth in its last nine games.

The Celtics, who improve to 7-11, jumped out to a 28-10 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. By the time halftime rolled around the hosts had a 55-39 advantage.

Besides Green, the Celtics also got stellar performances from Avery Bradley (9-of-11 from the floor, 21 points) and Brandon Bass, who netted 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting fro the field.

Jordan Crawford also notched his third career triple-double, scoring 11 points while coming away with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

Kyrie Irving starred for the Cavaliers, finishing with 17 points.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Celtics take care of struggling Cavs, 103-86

CSNE

A. SHERROD BLAKLEY

BOSTON — And in keeping with the Black Friday tradition of getting quality goods on the cheap, the Boston Celtics got maximum value in their 103-86 win over a Cleveland club that's making a strong case for being the league's worst team this season.

The victory snapped a four-game losing skid at home for Boston, the longest home drought since the Celtics dropped four in a row Jan. 6-16, 2012.

It also extended the misery that this season has become for the Cavaliers (4-12), losers of five straight and eight of their last nine games.

"Right now as a team we're trying to find ourselves," said Cavs head coach Mike Brown. "Trying to find an identity of how to play the game."

Cleveland forward Tristan Thompson, who had two points and seven rebounds, echoed similar sentiments.

"With all the changes, new coach, new system, a few new players, we're still trying to figure it all out," he told CSNNE.com.

Meanwhile, the Celtics turned in the kind of performance that provides hope that this whole rebuilding process in Boston won't be like the Big Dig-like struggles the Cavaliers have had since LeBron James took his talents - and apparently any hopes that the Cavs had of being a decent, playoff-caliber team - to South Beach three years ago.

Jeff Green was extremely aggressive from the very outset, finishing with a game-high 31 points.

Jordan Crawford was in triple-double mode with his scoring, rebounding and as usual, dime-dropping. He would finish with 11 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists - the first triple-double by a Celtics player this season.

Cleveland became the latest team to practically dare Avery Bradley to pull up for mid-range jumpers.

And once again he made a team pay dearly, connecting on 9-of-11 shooting for 21 points.

Despite being in control the entire night, the Celtics were not about to give the Cavs any hopes of a four quarter comeback.

That's why despite having a lead that teetered over and under the 20-point mark most of the fourth, key starters like Green, Bradley and Crawford played most of the fourth quarter.

But with 1:56 to play, Crawford was the lone starter still on the floor.

112288

Glad the C's got out of their home funk and got a win....even if it was against lonely Cleveland. You don't want a total washout on a holiday week.

Got to give Bass a lot of credit. He must of put a lot of work in this off season on his game. He is driving more to the basket and has some nice moves by showing his athleticism. He is also crashing the offensive boards more then the last several years. Good for him, could never understand why he never did it in the past.

112288

Nice win.  Almost through the November gauntlet.  With only three road games and a much reduced frequency of games in December, there should be lots of welcome practice time.  Wouldn't it be great if the five consecutive days off around Christmas brought a gift in the form of a Rajon Rondo return?

Interesting to see Humphries quietly making some inroads.

Way to go, Jordan.  Ignore any "buts" and keep the good times rolling.

Sam

If only we could play Cleveland every night!

It seems to me that these guys really like each other. I saw a lot of talking on the floor and lots of assists.
Many people were worried that Humphries would be a disruptive influence. Nothing could be further from the truth. Crawford, Bradley and many others were giving Humphries high 5's (and he also congratulating them) on hustle plays.
These group of guys are really coming together. It's a beautiful sight.

One more thing, if Crawford can keep it up we have two legitimate points guards - maybe 2 and 1/2 if Pressey develops.
We're only a muscular center away from contention.
Go Celtics!

Finally. They actually get a blowout victory!

Boston was basically in control from the start, going on a 19-3 run before finishing the 1st quarter 28-10. What was most telling about this game was how Boston started. They were determined to not allow another slow start to hinder there chances at coming out on top in a very winnable game. In the 2nd quarter, Boston added another 27 points, thus completing one of the most productive first halves of the season. Boston finished 38-76 for 50% FG and were 11-23 from 3.

Defensively, Boston looked very sharp. Cleveland never was given the opportunity to mount a decent run and was held at bay all game long. Cleveland finished 32-86 for 37.2% FG, and 4-18 from 3. The most impressive aspect of their defense was not allowing Kyrie Irving to run wild against them. He was 7-16 for 17 points, which isn't a bad night but it's safe to say he was contained.

Boston won the rebounding battle 47-43, as well as 26-13 in assists, 8-6 in steals, and 7-2 in blocks. Cleveland held the point in the paint advantage 38-30, and Boston only had a slim margin in fast break points 12-10.

Overall, it was a great win for Boston. I'll take it with a grain of salt though because Cleveland is a team that really doesn't have any semblance of an identity as a team. Boston should beat teams like Cleveland handily.




KJ

There are usually more lessons to be learned from losses than from wins. But, in games like this one, it could not escape the players' notice how much easier the game is when you get a great start—especially in contrast to what has been happening when they have poor first periods.

That lesson is particularly important because a great start is the number one way to have a shot against better teams, some of which can be surprised, some of which may be taking the Celtics too lightly, etc. Since most games are a series of runs, getting the first run often sets the tone for the other team (no matter how good they are) to have to play catch up, which is far more tiring than being a front-runner.

It works even better if the pace is up-tempo because one of the most demoralizing things that can happen on a basketball court is to work your butt off for a basket only to see the other team score seven seconds later. Of course, it's also important to take advantage of any opponent fatigue in closing out games too.

One thing the Celtics can throw at anyone is a lot of fresh, young legs to sustain up-tempo pressure. In this regard, it should be of immeasurable help to get Rondo back. Barring another player acquisition or sudden spurt in Pressey's scoring, it's likely that Crawford will become the backup PG (and occasional SG) after Rondo returns. And one advantage of Crawford's then playing fewer minutes should be that he won't have to pace himself and will hopefully be able to sustain an up-tempo pace set by Rondo (especially against second-line opposition).

This last paragraph (in fact, this entire post) is just one tiny example of how and why I'm reluctant to evaluate progress in terms of individual players because I prefer to focus on how individuals are influencing the organic whole of the team.

It's all about the context of the team! Go Celtics!

Sam

I was under the mindset that if Boston had come out flat again that Stevens really would have been beyond livid. I also thought that would be his reaction if Boston turned in another game of poor defensive play.

Last night's game certainly turned out not to be the case. I give him credit for having his guys prepared to play a full game. But I have to give the players a lot of credit for their execution. All starters were in double-figures, and Humphries chipped in with 9 off the bench.

Green: I really felt like Green was the one who set the tone for this game. He came out aggressive and on fire. He had around 20 points in the 1st quarter and was getting to wherever he wanted on the floor. I feel that the rest of the team followed his lead in that regard.

Stat line: 31 PTS, 10-19 FGs, 2-4 3P FG, 9-13 FT, 5 REB, 2 AST.

Bradley: Bradley's shooting was lethal at 9-11, which included 3-4 from 3. He looks to be getting more and more comfortable with his shooting as the season progresses. His defense was also key in limiting the Cavs chances at breaking down Boston's defense for easy looks. Kyrie also was held to 17 pts, unable to dominate Boston. The worst aspect of Sullinger's night happened to be his 4 TOs.

Stat line: 21 PTS, 9-11 FG, 3-4 3P FG, 3 REB, 3 AST, 2 STL.

Sullinger: Offensively, he started out slow. But he was also working hard in the low post. He was more than a handful for Cleveland and they clearly weren't up to the task of contending with him. He ended up getting into foul trouble early, but luckily that didn't affect Boston's early momentum. His offense picked up in the second half, including some backbreaking threes to crush the Cavs' chances of putting a dent in the lead.

Stat line: 12 PTS, 4-9 FG, 4-5 3P FG, 4 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK.

Bass: It's easy to see that Bass has worked a lot on his game. His shooting, ball handling, and passing are all much improved.  He was physically dominant against the Cavs. I think he should get around 10 shots a game as he knows his spots and is highly effective in mid range.

Stat line: 12 PTS, 5-8 FG, 1-1 3P FG, 8 REB, 4 AST, 1 STL, 2 BLK.

Crawford: He had a great night, registering the team's only triple double. He didn't have a great offensive showing but he did enough in other areas for the team to be successful. I've said before that he has to play well for this team to win on a regular basis. Cleveland did some trapping against him and he was forced into some TOs. He had some hero shots but not as many as we've seen him take before. I thought he did a better job of pushing the pace instead of walking the ball up. He also was effective at breaking down the defense to get his guys easy baskets. Congratulations to him for his milestone, he earned it.

Stat line: 11 PTS, 4-14 FG, 1-6 3P FG, 11 REB, 10 AST, 1 STL.


Humphries: This guy is almost always productive. He doesn't get a lot of minutes but he makes each one count. With Olynyk mending, it's given Boston a chance to play more physical. I like Olynyk and all and I think he'll be a solid player for years to come, but Humphries' effect on this team has been greater.

Stat line: 9 PTS, 4-6 FG, 4 REB, 1 AST, 1 BLK.


Other notes:

1. I was surprised that since Lee didn't play we didn't get to see a lot of Brooks. I think Stevens needs to play him so Boston can gauge his worth to this team. If they aren't going to keep him, they at least need to show he is a solid asset to another team.

2. Faverani was pretty physical in the post as usual. I just wish he'd knock down those easy tip-ins.

3. Wallace only managed 1 pt and had 3 TOs. He seemed a bit invisible out there compared to the others. But he did have 3 AST.

4. Pressey played for 15 min. Not too much done on the stat sheet but he did keep the energy flowing in the 1st half while Boston was building it's lead.

5. Bogans? He gets minutes and Brooks does not? Is Brooks in the doghouse or something?


KJ

Couple of other thoughts...........

And Cleveland thought they would pick on Sully last evening........

On the second Cleveland possession they went to the "obvious" mismatch with Bynum against Sully in the low block. Didn't work. They tried it again ..... and again ...... and later again. All the while Sully was in his shirt not letting him face the hoop and keeping him off the glass.

When they finally gave up on that experiment and subbed in Side Show Bob (AKA Anderson Varejao) 6:30 seconds later the score was 18-2 Celtics. Sully did not allow Bynum to breath let alone get a good look. He was a big part of Cleveland starting out 1 for 12 from the field with NO offensive rebounds allowed by the C's. No Sully didn't score any of those 18 points but he did have assists on the first 2 field goals made by the C's. To me set the tone for the entire game and getting teed up later to boot was a good sign to (IMHO) like the attitude that he isn't gonna take crap. And going 4 for 5 from three........... not sure I like it but if he's gonna take um he might as well make um.

Yeah Cleveland is bad 4 wins... all close too 4 point win over the Nets, 1 point win over Minn, and 2 OT wins against Philly and Wash. As KJ said this is a team we SHOULD beat. And we did, handily.

like any one game, it's hard to read trends other than we played hard and shot pretty well. As long as we do that we'll be a tough out for anyone.

beat

A lot of good thoughts have already been expressed, so I won't go into a long diatribe that just repeats them.

1.  Green.  Aggressive from the beginning, felt it from the beginning.  I think the solution for the "Jeff Green Conundrum" is now obvious.  You have to involve him early and you have to get him the ball when he's moving towards the hoop with no more than one dribble to get to his shot.  When he gets the ball in that "sweet spot" he is almost unstoppable.  If he gets backed off later in the game for jump shots, that's ok, because by that time his man will be sagging off him.  20 points at the half.

2.  Congrats to Crawford on his 3rd career triple-double.  It would have been even more impressive if he wasn't 4-14 and 1-6 from 3.  He is definitely the back up point guard when Rondo returns.  What is starting to intrigue me now is, will Rondo up his personal scoring output to keep up with Crawford's ability to create his own points.  Rondo is one competitive sonovabitch and I don't think he'd like to be 2nd fiddle in anything.  Either way, as long as Rondo doesn't become a complete Me-baller, an extremely unlikely outcome, I see this possibility as being all for the good.

3.  Bradley was lights out last night.  He really likes shooting from 1' inside the arc.  Of AB's 11fgas, 5 of them were 1' inside the 3pt arc.  I find that interesting since almost every coach will tell him to take one step back.  I guess his range is 20' and in, no matter where on the floor it is.

4.  You really realize how big Bynum is when you see him playing against Sully.  Sully's chin was buried in Bynum's shoulder blades on defense.  Bynum says his knees still hurt him.  He can't jump, can't run without pain.  Maybe he should build up the muscles around the knee by doing quadricep exercises using Playboy bunnies.  Oh, that didn't work that well the last time either.  His knees are 26 going on 46 (or maybe even 66).  He looks older than dirt the way he moves.  National monuments could beat him down court.  How do you beat Cleveland when Bynum is on the floor?  Just get your bigs to run and he'll have to sit and ice his knees.  You've heard of "the bee's knees"?  Bynum's knees aren't bees, they're not even cees or dees, they're effs, as in "fail" or "finished".  First, the legs go, then the money goes, then the Playboy bunnies go. That's what Willie Pep might have said if he hung out with Hef at the Playboy Mansion. (in a side note, a couple other funny things Willie Pep said were "My ex-wives were great housekeepers.  When we got divorced they kept the house" and, when his last wife claimed he had developed Alzheimer's from boxing he told her "But Honey, I never got hit!").

5.  A little unsung praise heading Vitor's way.  There were at least 2 breaks that I saw where he was the trailer.  He never touched the ball, it went in by someone else's hand, but he ran.  He was there for the clean up, if any, or for the trailing dunk (which we know he loves to do).  He's big, he's strong and he runs.  There's a lot to be said for that.  If you notice his picks are getting a little more tactile (as in "they actually touch someone").  What's next in his development, aside from holding those picks for a bit longer, is to step out on the ball on defensive picks and not just fall back and give the shooter a good look at the basket.  One step at a time, I guess.  He's still a good prospect who will get better as his game adapts to the NBA. He still had 9 rebounds and 2 blocks last night in only 22 minutes.

6.  Sergey Karasev was Cleveland's 1st round pick this year and he was billed as another "lights out Russian gunner" in the Alexis Shved mold.  He was invisible last night.  The player whose place he took in the starting lineup, Dion Waiters, has been the subject of trade rumors.  I don't know if Cleveland wants anybody we'd be willing to give up, but I'd sure like to have Waiters.  He has a nice smooth offensive game.  He had 21 points on 7-18, 2-2 from 3.

7.  I have never understood what people see in Tristan Thompson.  I suppose I could compare him to Paul Silas, but Silas was a winner.  In fact, I don't understand the Cav's starting lineup, in general.  Bynum is a shadow of himself and has little to no future and damn little present due to his knees.  They have Tyler Zeller, whom they need to develop, but only played him 6 minutes.  Dion Waiters has had a pretty good career, so far, but they start Karasev even though he's shooting 32% for November (he also has that ridiculous hair style you see sometimes where they mousse their hair up into this faux hawk that I hate).  Alonzo Gee has speed but Earl Clark is MUCH bigger.  A front court of Bynum, Thompson (or Varajao) and Clark would be as big as any frontcourt in the NBA except for Indy's, and even then it would only be Hibbert that would make that one the clearly bigger one.  I don't get it.  Oh, wait a second, got it.   Mike Brown.  Dan Gilbert is taking the whole "I'm going to show we don't miss LeBron" thing to a whole new, somewhat obsessive, level.

8.  He's 31, coming off of knee surgery and a blood clot in his lungs (scary!), is still the NBA's poster child for The Energizer Bunny.  At the half, he had 10 rebounds, 5 of them offensive in 17 minutes.  He also had a very nice block on Vitor (an all-Brazilian Block Party.  How do you say "Get that s--t outta here" in Portuguese?).  He's on the back 9, has had a couple of injuries and other medical issues, but man oh man he plays with enough energy to power a small town.  The talk was that he'd be on the block if Anthony Bennett plays well in the early season.  The way Bennett's playing Varajao is going to not only retire in Cleveland they're going to put him out there like "Weekend at Bernies" after he's dead.  Bennett looks fat and slow and completely totally unconfident and unsure of what he's supposed to be doing out there.  Sometimes one might be inclined to question Danny's draft picks.  It could be worse, a lot worse, our GM could be Chris Grant (or Michael Jordan).  How about Dion Waiters and Varajao for Hump's expiring contract (Varajao has a team option $9.8M next year and Waiters has one more year, then a team option, then a qualifying offer year)?  I'll throw in Marshon Brooks as lagniappe.

9.  The next step in Sully's evolution as a 3pt shooter (probably coming later this year as the scouting reports and game films are updated) will be for opposing coaches to put a PF on him  when he's outside to contest his 3pt fgas, allowing their center to stay in the paint and not have to go out to the 3pt line to cover him.  Brad will have to adapt by having Sully making the quick pass and then going down low with the PF on him and abuse him before the defense can rotate back and put the center on him.  I admit I'm a bit old-fashioned and have taken to the idea of "stretch 4s" like a duck takes to...asphalt, but it obviously can help when you have 3 bigs (Sully, KO and Vitor) who can hit 3s.  They like to take the hardest 3s, from straight away, but I suppose that's a blessing in disguise since they will then be in better position to get back on defense on misses and long rebounds.  3-4 for Sully from 3 last night.  That makes me smile, for some very different reasons.  Being reminded of the virtue of humility is a good thing.  The Mastodon Mamba was in full hustle last night with Sully dancing with Bynum.  Sully is the living example of that old saying "work hard, play hard, sleep hard".  He works and plays hard and, after matching up with bull elephants like Andrew Bynum, I guarantee he slept hard last night.

10.  Not only did he hit his first NBA 3pter last night, but "No-Pass Bass" also had 3 assists.  Man, when things are working they just work.  He must have heard angels singing when he ran off the court into the locker room after hitting the 3.  It was just one of those magical nights.

11.  Bogans played 7 minutes and Brooks was able to pick some of the splinters out of his ass.  It was a blow out.

12.  We had 47 rebounds.  We shot 50%.  We had 26 assists on 38fgm.  We had 7 blocks.  The only two areas we fell down on were TOs (17) and ft% (16-26 for 61%).  Other than those, Brad has a lot of good things to work and talk about today.


Unfortunately, Atlanta pulled out a 1 point victory at the wire against Dallas, otherwise this would have been a perfect night.  Brooklyn penciled in a loss before tip-off when it was announced Jason Kidd was to be denied access to fluids by the league office.

So much for my abbreviated diatribe...

bob


.

3-4 for Sully from 3 last night. That makes me smile, for some very different reasons. Being reminded of the virtue of humility is a good thing.

Bob don't shortchange him, he was 4 for 5 from three !!

beat

Sam - "Organic", "context" - you should be practicing traditional Chinese medicine!

beat wrote:Couple of other thoughts...........

And Cleveland thought they would pick on Sully last evening........

On the second Cleveland possession they went to the "obvious" mismatch with Bynum against Sully in the low block. Didn't work. They tried it again ..... and again ...... and later again. All the while Sully was in his shirt not letting him face the hoop and keeping him off the glass.

When they finally gave up on that experiment and subbed in Side Show Bob (AKA Anderson Varejao) 6:30 seconds later the score was 18-2 Celtics. Sully did not allow Bynum to breath let alone get a good look. He was a big part of Cleveland starting out 1 for 12 from the field with NO offensive rebounds allowed by the C's. No Sully didn't score any of those 18 points but he did have assists on the first 2 field goals made by the C's. To me set the tone for the entire game and getting teed up later to boot was a good sign to (IMHO) like the attitude that he isn't gonna take crap. And going 4 for 5 from three........... not sure I like it but if he's gonna take um he might as well make um.

Yeah Cleveland is bad 4 wins... all close too 4 point win over the Nets, 1 point win over Minn, and 2 OT wins against Philly and Wash.  As KJ said this is a team we SHOULD beat. And we did, handily.

like any one game, it's hard to read trends other than we played hard and shot pretty well. As long as we do that we'll be a tough out for anyone.

beat

beat glad you noticed what I noticed, Sully in a completely different defensive style did what Russell and Cowens used to do. His post defense is excellent as he has just went on a whos who list of all star level 5's and held everyone pretty much under their normal FG%. Sully has already exceeded my expectations very early in the season. Kid is a bull, love bob hecklers expression of hes winning the elephant dancing contest it seems night after night....and the kid is a natural 4 god damn it!!! His game is so diverse, power and touch and great hands and vision. Hes definitely showing NFL lineman type power, he can out sumo and bodyslam alot of these tall 7 footers and they definitely know it by now, I didn't see all this coming together so fast for Sully this year, what a steal at 21!!!