Game Thread: Cavaliers (15-0) @ Celtics (11-3) 7PM EST on TNT (11/19/24)

[Meticode]

Who you got?

[Full Court]

This is the big test for the Cavs.

Celtics should win at home. Hoping for the Cavs to pull it off though.

[Meticode]

This is the big test for the Cavs.

Celtics should win at home. Hoping for the Cavs to pull it off though.

Couple things to note. The Celtics will have two days of rest, Cavs only one, but Mitchell rested his game against the Hornets. He'll have like 3-4 days of rest.

Holiday sat out the last Celtics game with a knee issue. Mazzula said it isn't an issue.

Also at the end of the Hornets @ Cavs game Wade sprained his ankle. Not a huge loss offensively, but he is a solid big body defender on the wing. I don't expect him to play.

[Manny98]

Putting money on the Cavs, Celtics have been hit with injuries and the Cavs are going in with something to prove and will treat this game like a playoff game

[Meticode]

Wade, Okoro and LeVert are listed on the injury report.

Wade is ruled out.

Okoro is questionable, left ankle sprain.

LeVert had knee inflammation and is the same knee that caused him to sit out the Boston series last year and took the whole offseason to feel better apparently.

[Street Hunger]

Biggest game of the season so far.

We'll be discussing in here like it's a playoff game

[Real Men Wear Green]

The Celtics edge is that they put all-Defense guards on the Cavs biggest scorers whereas Cleveland will have to put one of their two bigs into a mismatch. Cleveland's edge is they have better bigs, should protect the basket and rebound better. Need to have one of Tatum and Brown's good shooting games from three. And when the Celtics match size up front Brown should abuse Garland or Mitchell with the short jumper.

[highwhey]

great matchup, i bet a playoffs series between these 2 (fully healthy) team would be a sick 6/7 game series that has you at the edge of your seat.

[Neal Romer]

Couple things to note. The Celtics will have two days of rest, Cavs only one, but Mitchell rested his game against the Hornets. He'll have like 3-4 days of rest.

Holiday sat out the last Celtics game with a knee issue. Mazzula said it isn't an issue.

Also at the end of the Hornets @ Cavs game Wade sprained his ankle. Not a huge loss offensively, but he is a solid big body defender on the wing. I don't expect him to play.

I think once you get past one day of rest, particularly for guys still in their 20s, it doesnt really make a difference.

Unless he had some kind of injury (maybe he did? I dont know why he sat out) Mitchell is going to be the same guy on 1 day of rest as he would be on 3 or 4.

[Mask the Embiid]

Everyone knows the Cavs shrink in Level 5 games. Anytimes the pressure gets racheted up, the cavs will fold. Everyone except Mobley. He is the only one of the team built for these games. I dont call him Level 5 Evan for nothing

[highwhey]

Everyone knows the Cavs shrink in Level 5 games. Anytimes the pressure gets racheted up, the cavs will fold. Everyone except Mobley. He is the only one of the team built for these games. I dont call him Level 5 Mobley for nothing

at least they play :ohwell:

[Wally450]

Celtics have been torn apart by opposing bigs the last few games. I expect Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley to go off. Can't give the Cavs extra possessions.

[Full Court]

Everyone knows the Cavs shrink in Level 5 games. Anytimes the pressure gets racheted up, the cavs will fold. Everyone except Mobley. He is the only one of the team built for these games. I dont call him Level 5 Evan for nothing

Nah, Jarrett Allen's the man. He's not the type to fold.


Mitchell.....the jury's still out. Sometimes he steps up, sometimes he chokes.

[Hey Yo]

Just an onslaught of 3PM and there's nothing you can do about it.

[Wally450]

Just an onslaught of 3PM and there's nothing you can do about it.

I didn't want to be cliche and say the Celtics need to hit their 3s and they'll win, but this is kind of what I had in mind. :banana:

[Im Still Ballin]

CLE are back in this.

[ArbitraryWater]

Garland 2/16, 5 pt game heading into 4th, Cavs won 3rd quarter by 12, not giving up their undefeated streak lightly.

[Street Hunger]

Step up, Darius Garland

[Wally450]

Tatum with the cool 30/11/5 right now

[Hey Yo]

That forced, awkward, left hand lay-up off the glass FTM was awful

[tontoz]

Tatum haters pretty quiet.

[bison]

Calves exposed as frauds just like I expected. Donovan is a chucker and Garland proving he is once again worthless trade bait. So glad my boys in green and Jayson GOATum brought these frauds back to reality :cheers:

[Proctor]

Mitchell acting to get some extra points. :lol

Edit: nvm, sure looked like it though.

[Meticode]

Mitchell acting to get some extra points. :lol

He was acting, but he did get clipped on the chin making him bleed. It wasn't like it as a Smart air born flop or something.

[Proctor]

He was acting, but he did get clipped on the chin. It wasn't like it as a Smart air born flop or something.
True. Obviously didn't feel good but looked like mostly an embellishment to me.

[Meticode]

I'll take that loss. Cavs fought back to make it interesting, Celtics had an answer everytime. Kudos to them.

* Garland shoots 3-21. One of if not the worse offensive performance of his professional career.

* Cavs cut the lead to 2 points five different times.

* Cavs were missing 4 rotation players in Okoro (who would've mainly guarded Tatum), Wade, LeVert and still no Strus (out the whole season so far to be fair).

* Boston outscored the Cavs by 34 points from the three point line.

[SouBeachTalents]

HUGE win for Boston, keeping their NBA cup hopes alive.

[Proctor]

Impressive for Cleveland considering the circumstances. Garland was awful and Okoro/Levert were a big loss.

Celtics are like watching paint dry.

[tontoz]

Nice to see a national game deliver on the hype.

Beating an undefeated team without KP is a nice win for the Cs.

I wouldn't say the Cavs are frauds. Boston was hot from 3 but the Cavs were still close.

[Meticode]

I'm glad the first loss is behind them honestly. Now they can focus on just playing good basketball and not having that winless record dangled everytime they play. Hopefully the Cavs go off on another 5-10 win run.

[Full Court]

Calves exposed as frauds just like I expected. Donovan is a chucker and Garland proving he is once again worthless trade bait. So glad my boys in green and Jayson GOATum brought these frauds back to reality :cheers:

This is a low IQ take.

Cavs showed that they can hang with the Celtics in Boston. Their second best player played like utter crap, and they still managed to take the game down to the wire.

[ArbitraryWater]

8 points on 21 shots has to be all time bad

[Meticode]

Also I like the adjustment Atkinson did at the second half. Obviously Allen out there wasn't working for them, he went with a smaller lineup who helped make that big run in the 3rd. So many coaches make that adjustment, then they get that run then he goes back to the lineup that wasn't working in the first place. He kept it the adjustments out there and it made it interesting.

[Hey Yo]

8 points on 21 shots has to be all time bad

Yet still overcame a 21pt deficit in the 2nd half and gave themselves a chance to win. Don't think many saw that coming.

[Axe]

There's no shame losing to the defending champs in their own floor. But cleveland would have gotten this if they had a better first half. Still great effort for keeping it close in the second.

[Meticode]

Damnit, I have to decide to watch Thunder @ Spurs with no Wemby jacking up 10+ threes a game.

[Hey Yo]

Damnit, I have to decide to watch Thunder @ Spurs with no Wemby jacking up 10+ threes a game.

Somebody forgot to tell Wemby that Chet's out

[Real Men Wear Green]

Celtics actually got a weakness exposed. Neemias Queta has shown some promise early on as a rebounder, rim protector and just general athlete. But he's got a lot to learn defensively and in the third quarter when Cleveland made the big run to get back into it Mitchell was abusing his inexperience. He's got some learning to do and it needs to be fast with guards like Brunson, Maxey. Haliburton and of course Mitchell out there to cause problems in a playoff series.

Ending the undefeated streak feels nice but the only importance is bringing the Cavs' record a little closer. If the Celtics had held the 20 point lead I would say a message had been sent but Cleveland could have won tonight.

[Meticode]

Somebody forgot to tell Wemby that Chet's out

Turned it off. The first four shots of the game were threes.

I almost turned off the Cavs game halfway through the second quarter because I was so bored of the Celtics making threes like crazy.

Kind of f*cked up your favorite team plays the defending champs and you almost turn it off only down by 5 at the time because you're bored.

[bdonovan]

* Garland: 3 for 21. You can't win like that.

* Donovan Mitchell played way too much hero-ball down the stretch. Maybe he should have given up dishing to Garland, but his teammates were far more efficient than he was. Mitchell was a reasonable 13-29 but 3-11 from 3. In contrast:

Allen: 5 for 6
Mobley: 8 for 13
ty Jerome: 4 for 5
Niang: 5 for 8

When you move the ball you get results. Mitchell tried to win this by himself. Maybe too motivated to ISO based on Garland's ineptitude this game, but he gave up on the rest of the team which was contributing efficiently with ball movement.

* Celtics 22 for 41 from 3; shooting over 50%.

* The defensive effort was there by the Cavs, with the exception of perimeter defense. Impressed by Garland and others.

[Neal Romer]

* Garland: 3 for 21. You can't win like that.

* Donovan Mitchell played way too much hero-ball down the stretch. Maybe he should have given up dishing to Garland, but his teammates were far more efficient than he was. Mitchell was a reasonable 13-29 but 3-11 from 3. In contrast:

Allen: 5 for 6
Mobley: 8 for 13
ty Jerome: 4 for 5
Niang: 5 for 8

When you move the ball you get results. Mitchell tried to win this by himself. Maybe too motivated to ISO based on Garland's ineptitude this game, but he gave up on the rest of the team which was contributing efficiently with ball movement.

* Celtics 22 for 41 from 3; shooting over 50%.

* The defensive effort was there by the Cavs, with the exception of perimeter defense. Impressed by Garland and others.


Mitchell always does this. He has major tunnel vision and Ive told people this since he was in Utah. Xiao has said it too altho he's a literal insane person so his credibility was understandably limited.

Mitchell had some big games and made big shots in the playoffs last year against Boston, which people remember... but the Cavs had some equally close games that went down to the stretch while he was out. Which everyone ignores.

Mitchell is very Kobe-esque. The same thing he does that keeps his teams in the game can also keep them out of the game. His game just doesnt utilizes teammates very intentionally. As opposed to say Doncic, who altho he might put up a brickfest and take terrible shots, hes also gonna spray the ball around a bunch at the same time. Mitchell had three assists in 40 minutes tonight. And it aint because his teammates (besides Garland) were cold. He just knows how to play 1 on 1 mostly. Hes not a natural playmaker.

I dont think hes specifically being selfish per se... hes just a VERY tunnel visioned player. Like, seeing the court and processing quickly isnt a strength. When he gets the ball hes mainly only comfortable finding his shot. Not having to navigate the rest of the offense as well.

[Wally450]

Celtics actually got a weakness exposed. Neemias Queta has shown some promise early on as a rebounder, rim protector and just general athlete. But he's got a lot to learn defensively and in the third quarter when Cleveland made the big run to get back into it Mitchell was abusing his inexperience. He's got some learning to do and it needs to be fast with guards like Brunson, Maxey. Haliburton and of course Mitchell out there to cause problems in a playoff series.

Ending the undefeated streak feels nice but the only importance is bringing the Cavs' record a little closer. If the Celtics had held the 20 point lead I would say a message had been sent but Cleveland could have won tonight.

If Al, Porzingis or even Luke Kornet get hurt in the playoffs and we have to play Queta, he's is going to get hunted out there.

[Real Men Wear Green]

If Al, Porzingis or even Luke Kornet get hurt in the playoffs and we have to play Queta, he's is going to get hunted out there.
Unfortunately someone is going to get hurt. These days no one gets perfect health and a lot of becoming the champion is just having the team that is best able to withstand the injuries their players sustain. Of the potential starting centers Queta has the best health and we shouldn't be surprised to see him playing a lot of minutes going forward. I think it's better to throw him out there and potentially suffer a bit in the regular season in the hopes that he can do a decent job when he gets targeted in the playoffs. Because although he doesn't know what he's doing his athleticism and length to be a versatile defender is there. And the Cs should still have a shot at the 1 seed. Plus it's a good idea to keep KP's minutes down.