Sweatin' the Small Stuff
The Cavaliers brought the fight to the Celtics on Monday, putting 102 points without their scorching-hot scoring star Donovan Mitchell, who missed the game with a calf injury. The margin for error was small for Cleveland, now down two of their Big Four, but they fought Boston, foul trouble, and their own demons to keep the game close, even taking small leads in the second half. But short-handed and size-limited proved to be too much to overcome for a Cavs team now on the brink of elimination, down 3-1, as the series returns to Boston. While there were big moments that could have gone better for the Cavs, the real issues overall in this game were the little things.
The Cavs had problems in the first round against the Magic with their size and physicality inside, but down Jarrett Allen for the entire matchup thus far against Boston has exacerbated an issue on the boards. The Cavs were outrebounded, 48-32, and it didn’t feel that close. Evan Mobley led the team with 9 total, but many of those fell to him due to his position as the only true big to play meaningful minutes tonight. He had some issues with the size of Luke Kornet inside and multiple times had smaller Boston players slapping the rebound out of his hands. Mobley has never been known as an instinctive board chaser, but Max Strus looked to have better hands and nose for the rebound in this game. Mobley needs to get thicker and stronger to take the next step, but improving his rebounding might be just as important to the Cavs.
At least Mobley also led the Cavs in free throw attempts…with 3. Cleveland was 5-of-7 from the line as a team, compared to TWENTY-ONE-OF-TWENTY-FOUR for Boston. ((The all-caps was, in fact, angry yelling that time)) The Cavs shot a lot of jumpers, but for a free-throw disparity that wide, it takes a lot of bad luck to go along with a lack of inside shots. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each outshot the Cavs from the line with nine attempts a piece, making 16 total. While the Celtics star duo made their presence known in the paint, they also reaped the benefits of a whistle that kept Boston scoring in the lean shooting moments of this game. Those kinds of star calls on players much larger than the Cavs’ wings and guards made them nearly impossible to stop.
The Cavs made their bones this game not at the line or in the paint, but from beyond the 3-point line. They put up 48 threes, clearly finding catching fire from beyond the arc to be the best game plan to speak out offense against Boston without Mitchell. While they made 15 threes to Boston’s 12, Cleveland got inefficient shooting from Darius Garland, Caris LeVert, and Sam Merrill, going 4-13, 1-8, and 2-7, respectively, from deep. It was good to see Garland get up more shots, as someone needed to fill the Mitchell void, but he found most of his scoring success inside the arc rather than beyond. The Cavs keep generating open looks in this series, but not enough have fallen to make up for their other shortcomings.
Cleveland is still in it, and we all celebrate 3-1 Day for a reason in this town, but Boston has the position of a team like the 2015 Warriors, where an intersection of talent and opportunity is lining them up perfectly for a title run. This game will either be the one that the Cavs found a little more juice to keep fighting or the one that showed a little bit of everything that led to their demise. No matter what, it’s all about growth, and maybe getting Allen and Mitchell back. If the Cavs want to extend their season and make the Celtics earn the series win, they’re going to need to make the small stuff the big stuff and win in the margins. Or, maybe hit a growth spurt and turn the 2K 3pt shooting slider up to 100.