Cavs learn lessons from win over Celtics, Donovan Mitchell scores 40
CLEVELAND — It perhaps wasn’t the kind of measuring stick game it could have been if not for a few injuries. And given the circumstances, it certainly wasn’t their best performance of the season — far from it.
But the Cavaliers were able to take away four lessons from Monday’s wild, comeback win over the Boston Celtics. And for an inexperienced team hoping to prepare for a playoff run against the East’s best, that is, perhaps, just as valuable as adding that game to the win column.
The Cavs trailed by double digits for most of the night but opened the fourth quarter with a flurry. Donovan Mitchell’s highlight reel spin on his way to the hoop finally gave the Cavs the lead with 24.7 seconds left, and after the Celtics failed to end the game — thanks to some gamesmanship from Mitchell with Grant Williams on the free-throw line — Cleveland pulled away in overtime.
The Celtics were shorthanded with Jayson Tatum and Al Horford out and were on the second night of a back-to-back in which Boston’s Monday night game also went into overtime. So for the Cavs to come out flat and trail by double digits for most of the first three quarters, it was a disappointing start.
But that leads to the first of the Cavs’ four lessons from Monday night.
The Cavs can flip the switch in the second half, but they know they can’t simply rely on that in the playoffs
The Cavs have been among the best teams in the NBA in terms of their ability to come back from large deficits and win games, particularly at home, with the win over Boston a perfect example. But beginning games by opening up those deficits isn’t exactly a recipe for success against the NBA’s best teams in the playoffs, either. And the Cavs know it.
They’ve been able to flip that switch enough in the second halves of games to pull off some improbable comebacks. But even in the glow of Monday’s win, the frustrations of recent first-half struggles have become something for the Cavs to address.
“I don’t know, but it drives me crazy, to be honest with you,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said with a smile. “I mean, it’s something that we have to learn. You cannot afford [to do that while] playing against the caliber of teams we’re playing [considering] what our hopes and aspirations are as a team. You can’t have halves like that and expect to always be able to come back. We just weren’t tough enough in that first half.”