This was probably the most highly anticipated matchup of the new NBA season, as the 15-0 Cleveland Cavaliers headed into the Garden for an important Emirates NBA Cup game. The Cavaliers are no stranger to the Boston Celtics as Boston sent them out of the playoffs just this summer in five games. But since then, the Cavs have bounced back impressively, without any major additions to their roster they have tremendously improved under the leadership of their new head coach Kenny Atkinson. However, the champions stood in the way of their hope for a 16-0 start to the season and they had a point to prove. The Celtics led by as much as 21 points, but credit to Cleveland, they drove themselves back into the game, But Boston held on to win a thriller 120-117.
Both teams started slowly with just five points scored between the two sides in the opening three minutes of the opening period, until Al Horford hit Boston’s first three-pointer of the night. Afterwards the Celtics sprung into life and quickly warmed up from beyond the arc, by the time Horford made his second three Boston had a double-digit advantage and Cleveland were struggling. Darius Garland has had a fantastic start to the season for the Cavs, but he had an unusually poor game tonight. Garland shot just 3-21 from the field and 0-6 from three.
The second quarter can only be described as an absolute clinic in three-point shot making by the Celtics. They hit nine three-pointers in just this period and opened up a sizeable lead over their conference rivals. Jayson Tatum spearheaded the Celtics three-point barrage hitting three shots from beyond the arc himself. Tatum continued his MVP-like form in this one with 33 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists on 6-10 shooting from three.
Cleveland have shown consistently throughout their perfect start to the season that they will not back down from a fight, and in the third they dragged themselves back into the game. Boston was without both Luke Kornet and Kristaps Porzingis, meaning they were reliant on minutes from Neemias Queta off of the bench to provide some size to their backcourt. Unfortunately for Queta he was exposed on the defensive end, especially in the third quarter. The Cavaliers constantly attacked Queta off of switches and he was unable to stop them, as a result they put up 40 points in the period and brought a once 21-point lead down to just five.
It was going to be a battle down the stretch in the fourth quarter once again for the Celtics, Craig Porter – who had a nice performance off the bench for the Cavs – made a three with seven minutes to play for the Cavs which cut Boston’s lead to just two points. But once again the Celtics refused to be beaten, the biggest shot of the night was a Derrick White three after some miscommunication from the Cleveland defence that gave the Cs an eight-point advantage. In the end Boston closed out a huge NBA Cup victory 120-117.
By Will C
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