Banner Town Breakdown: Celtics Take Their Week Out on Cavaliers
Bob DeChiara | USA TODAY Sports
The Celtics absolutely took their week out on the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning 141-103. Jaylen Brown led the way with 33 points in just 19 minutes (an NBA record in that amount of playing time). Kemba Walker continued to get comfortable after returning, as he scored an efficient 21 points, dished 4 assists, and even had 3 steals. Unofficial Captain, Marcus Smart, had a solid night as well. He had 12 points, 9 assists and 5 steals after Banner Town’s own, Jack Simone, said he doesn’t pass or play defense anymore.
Boston went into their matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday desperate for a win. They’d dropped their last three games, losing to the Knicks and then twice to the 76ers.
The C’s came out like a team that needed a win against the Cavs. They ripped off a quick 9-0 run after Cleveland scored the opening basket, putting them up 9-2 before the first timeout. After the break, Jaylen Brown netted another quick two, resulting in a five man substitution for the Cavs.
Unfortunately for them, that didn’t do much to slow the C’s down. Boston continued to grow their lead all the way to 25-10, including a 10-0 run before Cleveland burned their second timeout of the game with 4:33 to go in the first. The Celtics kept the pressure on for the remainder of the quarter, shooting 60% from the field. They found themselves up 38-21 at the end of the quarter, getting 25 points from Walker, Smart, and Brown alone.
Boston got some early second-quarter scoring from Carsen Edwards and Aaron Nesmith. The two nailed back to back threes to help respond to an earlier 8-0 Cavalier run. Walker continued to show that he’s feeling quite well after recovering from that pesky knee issue.
He scored seven quick points to help the C’s reach their highest-scoring half of the year with 68 points. Oh, and that was just before another Cleveland timeout with 2 minutes left in the half. They finished the half with a 73-51 lead. It’s crazy to think that just one week ago, they only scored 75 in the entire game against New York.
The Celtics continued their onslaught to start off the third behind Jaylen Brown. He scored three times in a row down the floor to put Boston up 81-56, leading to a Cavs timeout.
The timeout didn’t help at all, though, as the C’s were able to balloon the lead to 30 points by the 7:40 mark. Brown continued to cook, drilling a sweet step back over Darius Garland.
He and the Celtics put together a 20-3 run after the aforementioned timeout and the lead was stretched to 41 points, and JB only got hotter from there. He knocked down back-to-back threes and seemed to just be toying with the helpless Cavs. Brown’s night was over with 2:33 left in the third, totaling just 19 minutes. After the third quarter, the Celtics found themselves up 114-78.
Both sides emptied their benches to start the fourth quarter. The Cavs took the early upper hand, stringing together nine straight points, but the Celtics responded and hung onto the lead for an easy 141-103 win over Cleveland.
“It’s a testament to our ability to bounce back,” said Marcus Smart after the game.
The Celtics are back at it Monday night at 9 p.m. when they take on the Bulls in Chicago.
