The one seed Boston Celtics proved they were a team to be reckoned with tonight as the Cavaliers’ defence couldn’t hold back the Celtics’ free-scoring Jaylen Brown.
Jarret Allen and Kristaps Porzingis were both absent, but it was clear that Cleveland would miss their Centre early on. Brown opened the game with an impressive three-pointer and the Celtics took a 34-40 lead at the end of Q1.
This would be the story for much of the game as anything Cleveland threw at Joe Mazzula’s Celtics they match and overcame, leading to a 49-39 lead at the half and a 10-point deficit between the two teams.
Cleveland knew they needed to put everything into the third quarter but they could find no offensive rhythm, as the Celtics extended their lead to 15; the score 77-92.
As the fourth quarter began, it was clear the Cavaliers and JB Bickerstaff knew that they were on the path to defeat. The Celtics raced into a 26 point lead, with 3:42 left on the clock, and as the buzzer sounded the score ended at 95-120.
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to bounce back and make home advantage count, as the Celtics travel to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse for game two on Friday.
Q1: After a tight game seven victory against the Orlando Magic, the Cleveland Cavaliers were less rested than their opponents and knew it was take a huge effort to overcome the one seeded Celtics. The game began with Boston firing early, draining three early three pointers and Jaylen Brown recording 15 points in the quarter, shooting 100% from the field. The Cavaliers attempted to mount a fight back, with Mitchell registering 14 points and Cleveland taking their only lead of the game with 5:32 left. Despite this, his efforts were futile as the Celtics asserted an early six-point advantage by the end of Q1.
Q2: One of the keys to winning this match up was for Cleveland to limit Boston’s three point shooting. Despite doing a much better job than in the first quarter (limiting Boston to 19 points), the reason the Cavs failed to compete was the fact they had a horrific showing in their offense. It took up until 7:17 left in Q2 for Cleveland to record their first points of the quarter, where Max Strus fired in a three.
A quick scoring run with four minutes to go brought the Cavs within nine but the second quarter would end with them down ten at 49-39. A key reason for this was the influence of Luke Kennard defensively, who recorded eight rebounds and two blocks from the Celtics’ bench.
Q3: The third quarter was nothing but the Derrick White show. With 1:15 left, White had made seven three pointers in the game and had notched up 25 points on the night. Donovan Mitchell also had a great showing in the third, shooting his fourth three of the night, and taking his points tally to 31.
However, without any offensive help and a lacklustre defensive effort, the Cavaliers ended the quarter down by 15 points, with no real hope of any recovery. A dagger in the hearts of Cleveland was when, with roughly one minute on the clock, Donovan Mitchell missed a three pointer. This gave possession back to Boston and Payton Pritchard’s buzzer beater three pointer signaled an impressive end to Q3.
Q4: Down 15 and with little to no hope of a recovery, any offensive rhythm the Cavaliers had been building completely subsided. The Boston Celtics went on an 8-0 run and were allowed to do as they pleased as Cleveland capitulated. No three pointers were made in the quarter by JB Bickerstaff’s team and the Celtics eased to victory in game one, with a 95-120 win and a winning margin of a massive 25 points.
Derrick White, Payton Pritchard or Jrue Holiday all could have easily won this accolade, however I’ve decided to go with the leading scorer for the Celtics Jaylen Brown. He terrorized the Cleveland defense and ended the night with 32 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and a block.
