Cavs Triumph Over C’s at Home to Stay Atop East
First off, happy thanksgiving everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and sorry for the delay of posts, was spending time with my family. But we are back. Last night, the Boston Celtics traveled to Cleveland to face off in a 1 Vs. 2 matchup against the Cavaliers. A rematch from a couple weeks ago, but this time for the Celtics no Jaylen Brown and no Derrick White. Two huge pieces for the Celtics win against the Cavs earlier this season.
With no JB and no DWhite, the Celtics looked for one man to propel the offense: Jayson Tatum. And he did just that. JT scored 33 points, going 4/9 from 3, while also grabbing 8 boards and dishing out 4 assists. Kristaps Porzingis continues to show his value with 21 points and 8 rebounds, as well as 3 steals. And Payton Pritchard continues to show his 6th Man of the Year campaign is legit with a 24 point, 7 rebound and 3 assist performance. Sam Hauser also provided 13 points of his own on 62% shooting from the field. But Drew Peterson played a career high 24 minutes off the bench, providing 8 points, and multiple timely 3’s to help ease the Cleveland crowd.
The Celtics were able to maintain a lead deep into the 4th, until Cleveland went on a 12-0 run to bring the game back to even. And that run was propelled by the shooting from Donovan Mitchell. The man known as “Spida” went 6/6 from the field in the 4th, making all 4 of his 3 point attempts, and scoring 20 points to help propel the Cavs to take the lead and maintain it for the rest of the game. Darius Garland also had a bounce back performance against the C’s, scoring 22 points, corralling 5 rebounds and getting 8 assists.
The Cavs continue to prove they are one of, if not the, biggest threat to the Celtics in the East, and across the entire league as well. The tandem of Mitchell and Garland are always deadly, and the size of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley are always going to be a threat. For the Celtics, the play of Jrue Holiday has been concerning as of late. The value he brings on the defensive side of the ball is incredibly important, and shows just how good of a player he is. But he has had multiple games this season of shooting 30% or less, missing easy layups at the hoop, and/or wide open 3’s. I know Jrue will turn it around, but right now I am being nit picky with the issues of the Celtics.
The Celtics next game is tonight against the Miami Heat, and for the Cavs they play on Tuesday against the Wizards.
