Jaylen Brown set the Cleveland Cavaliers up Tuesday night. Derrick White knocked them down.
In the end, the Boston Celtics had too much firepower for an outmatched Cavaliers team. The Celtics rolled to a 120-95 win in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Brown finished with 32 points, while White hit seven 3-pointers en route to a 25-point peformance. Donovan Mitchell countered with 33 points, but it wasn’t nearly enough for a Cleveland team playing a fourth straight game without starting center Jarrett Allen.
Led by Brown, the Celtics jumped out of the gates hot with a 40-34 lead after a first quarter where they didn’t turn the ball over. Brown scored 15 points in the opening quarter en route to a 20-point first half the Celtics led, 59-49.
The third quarter belonged to White, who scored 14 points in the stanza while connecting on four 3-pointers. His seventh 3-pointer of the game extended Boston’s lead to 87-72. Boston led 92-77 lead heading into the fourth.
The Cavaliers had no response. Mitchell scored 16 of his 33 points in the third quarter, but it did nothing to slow the onslaught from an efficient Boston offense. The Celtics extended their lead early in the fourth and didn’t allow the Cavaliers to threaten their advantage. Cleveland waived the white flag by pulling its starters with Boston leading 115-89 with 3:42 remaining
Boston thrives despite poor night from Jayson Tatum
Boston flexed its advantage from 3-point distance and secured the blowout win despite a poor shooting night from All-NBA forward Jayson Tatum. Boston boasts multiple weapons that can carry the offense on any given night and is one of the few teams in the NBA that can thrive against a quality opponent in spite of an off night from its best player. Tuesday’s win over Cleveland was a prime example.
Brown finished with 32 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting 12 of 18 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3. White tallied 25 points and five assists while shooting 9 of 16 from the field and 7 of 12 from long distance. Tatum added 18 points while shooting 7 of 19 from the field and missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
As a team, the Celtics shot 48.9% from the field and 39.1% (18 of 46) from 3-point distance. They scored 125 points on 92 field-goal attempts. They secured the dominant win without injured forward Kristaps Porzingis, who missed his second straight game with a calf injury sustained in Round 1 against the Miami Heat.
The Cavs countered with a 41.1% effort from the floor and a 26.2% (11 of 42) performance from long distance. They needed 90 field-goal attempts to scored 95 points. Mitchell tallied 33 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting 12 of 25 from the field and 4 of 11 from 3-point distance. Evan Mobley added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the only Cleveland starter to shoot better than 50% on an 8-of-12 effort from the field.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday night in Boston.
