We’re halfway through Tuesday’s NBA Cup matchup between the Boston Celtics and the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers and things are going excellent. The Celtics are up 17 and could be en route to a key group-stage win.
Are we sure this team is the undefeated one we’ve heard about for weeks???
Now, get ready for some Halftime Hot Takes, buddy.
7 p.m. Start times might not be the best for Celtics fans
This game is one of the most intriguing matchups of the season so far. Yet, there were still a ton of empty seats in The Garden after tip-off.
It felt like a Miami Heat game in here for a while.
I get it. The NBA wants to make the Cup feel special and start all of the early-slate games at the same time in an effort to increase viewership. That’s great and all, but the product really suffers when people don’t have enough time to get to their seats due to traffic or busy T lines.
By the first TV timeout, things had filled out a bit and the building had some juice, but man was the energy low to start off such a highly-anticipated matchup.
The Slow-Start Celtics might be dead
Over the past week or so, the Celtics have become infamous for sleepwalking out of the gates. In that span, they fell behind early against the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets (twice), Milwaukee Bucks, and Atlanta Hawks.
Tuesday’s start truly made it #DifferentHere.
Boston jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead before the first TV break, then continued to push to get it up to 20-8.
Jayson Tatum was a huge part of the team’s strong start.
He had his fingerprints all over the game with eight points, five rebounds, and three assists all in the opening frame.
Tatum’s dominance continued for the remainder of the half, where he finished with 17 points, eight boards, four assists, and a pair of steals. He wants this one.
As a whole, they did a great job of moving the ball and getting Cleveland’s defense out of position. Seven of their ten first-quarter makes were off of assists and five came from beyond the arc.
The effort on the defensive end felt different as well. The Cs allowed just 20 points in the opening frame. There were a few lapses, but overall they rotated well, kept the ball in front of them, and made the visitors have to earn their looks.
I can’t tell if the Celtics should be up by more or not
Usually, when you’re watching a basketball game, there’s a feel to how things are going. For example, you might look up at the scoreboard and be surprised that it’s only a five-point game, despite your favorite team playing horribly.
There are other nights that they can’t seem to pull away even though it feels like everything is going right.
This first half was a bit of a mix.
The aforementioned strong start was great, but the Cs were only up by six at the end of the first quarter. Then there were stretches where we saw a Jaylen Brown and the boys lineup out there, seemingly having to struggle for every bucket, but somehow Boston didn’t lose much ground.
Toward the end of the second, they really hit their stride and pulled away from the lossless Cavs. Tatum’s 17th point of the half brought Boston’s lead to just as many, right before the break.
Considering that the Cs shot 14-22 from deep and held Cleveland to just 43.2% shooting, that number is appropriate, right?
Should they be up more?
With the way that everything seemed to work out, maybe they should be. This isn’t me complaining. But, if they go cold here, be prepared for a bit of a scare.
