Even before Tuesday’s night matchup against the reigning champions, the Cavaliers were hoping to put themselves to the test while defending their impressive unbeaten run since the start of the 2024-25 campaign. This was perfectly summed up by their coach Kenny Atkinson, who was expecting to use this game as a thermometer.
“We want feedback,” he said before tip-off. “More feedback. Hopefully, we’ll see this team down the road — and down the road in an important game. On the other hand, I don’t want to blow this game out of proportion. It’s that balance, but it’s more anxious to see where we are.”
By the end of the match, it seems as if Cleveland got exactly what they were striving for, as Boston finally delivered them their first loss of the season with a tight 120-117 win last night.
UNDEFEATED NO MORE‼️
The Celtics pick up a HUGE #EmiratesNBACup win over the Cavaliers at home ☘️ pic.twitter.com/OtHMx0jKL6
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 20, 2024
Evan Mobley wasn’t uninspired after the match. “I’m happy how we fought back,” he expressed. “That was the main thing that I can be happy about. I feel like we didn’t start the best. That was the main thing that really shot us in our foot. But overall, I feel like we played a pretty good game. I think it was a good test, and from what I saw out there, we could beat anybody.”
The truth is, even though the Cavs made a powerful push after halftime, they weren’t enough against an inspired Jayson Tatum, who keeps making an MVP case with last night’s 33 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists. Also, six other Boston players scored double figures against the first seed in the East.
Nevertheless, the entire Cavs squad was impressed by Mobley’s performance, as he kept using his size to dominate the airwaves. The young forward finished the game with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists to his name.
“Man, big time,” Donovan Mitchell said about his teammates after leading his team with 35 points and 8 rebounds in 40 minutes. “[Mobley] set the tone for us. But when he’s in there and being able to create, dominate the way he did, that’s what he does.
“And it’s continuing to be aggressive, and that’s just part of the process, continuing to get better and better. We saw this against [Boston] in the series last year. He’s continuing just to grow and get better, and that’s who he is.”
Boston coach Joe Mazzulla was impressed by the way his offensive stars dealt with Cleveland’s physical strategy throughout the match
Joe Mazzulla can certainly be pleased after witnessing his players beating the team that is still sitting atop the Eastern Conference’s standings, but there was one thing that impressed him above all else. The Celtics tactician praised co-stars Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for enduring their rivals’ physicality.
“I thought both of them handled the pressure and the physicality well,” he expressed. “We played a little bit slower, but it was more important to get to the proper spacing. It was more important to get our drive-and-kick reads. And they did a great balance of handling the pressure, driving to attack, driving to get to the free throw line, driving to find guys. So I hope teams continue to be physical, because it just gets us reps, and I thought they handled it really well.”
On the other hand, the Cavaliers made a strong push at the start of the second half and were able to cut a 21-point deficit into just two points in the fourth quarter, but Boston hung on. “Yeah, we knew,” guard Derrick White had already anticipated what was to come.
“Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming to our building. And also, it’s an NBA Cup game, and we already lost one game. So it was a really big game in that aspect. So we were all aware,” added the Celtics player.
