The Celtics are halfway through their second of two games against the Cavaliers and things are going swimmingly. At the break, Boston has opened up a 65-54 lead over Cleveland and have been on a tear offensively, knocking down 56% of their shots from the field.
Now, get ready for some halftime hot takes, buddy.
The Celtics had no interest in repeating Tuesday’s cold start
After stumbling out of the gates in Tuesday’s win over the Cavs, the Cs wasted no time tonight and were firing early.
Within the first seven minutes of the game, they forced Cleveland to burn two timeouts while building up a nine-point lead. The Celtics did so efficiently. They drilled nine of their first 13 attempts from the floor, after making just three in the same amount of tries on Tuesday night.
Not to mention that Jaylen Brown quickly ignited for nine first-quarter points, and event set his buddy Kristaps Porzingis up for a super-cool alley-oop.
As for the Celtics, they finished the quarter with 33 points, 12 more than they had after Tuesday’s opening period.
Brown was able to build off of his strong start and currently has 18 points at the break.
Joe Mazzulla wanted to see Lamar Stevens play, the officials did not
With both Luke Kornet and Neemias Queta unavailable tonight, Lamar Stevens saw his first minutes since the Nov. 28 win over the Chicago Bulls. Stevens checked in with just over four minutes to play in the first quarter and headed back to the bench shortly after.
In just three minutes of play, No. 77 was whistled for three quick fouls — two of which were a bit controversial.
First, he was called for a blocking foul after Donovan Mitchell bumped into him and fell down on the perimeter. It was one of those calls where the officials saw Mitchell go down and decided there had to be something, so they hit Stevens with the block.
Later, he contested Isaac Okoro on a drive, knocked the ball loose, but was whistled for a shooting foul.
It was tough to see Stevens pick up so many fouls so quickly, but this is likely why he finds himself glued to the bench. It’s tough for Mazzulla to justify playing him if he isn’t able to stay on the court.
Sam Hauser is officially one of the “if he shoots it, I think it’s going in” guys
Sam Hauser drilled both of his three-point attempts in the first half tonight. It’s become one of those things that I feel is just a given. Every time he shoots the ball, it’s going to find the bottom of the net.
The two looks he had tonight weren’t easy by any means. He fended off a tough closeout on his first attempt, then fired up his second look after moving without the ball and creating space for himself by relocating.
If I could find videos of either make I’d share them here, but unfortunately, you’re just going to have to take my word for it.
In 22 appearances for the Cs so far, Hauser has drilled 44.4% of his shots from beyond the arc. To add even more context, he’s been firing up just over six attempts in each game.
Donovan Mitchell might make us all sweat it out tonight
Though the Celtics have built themselves a decent lead at the break, Donovan Mitchell has done literally everything possible to keep his Cavs in it.
Mitchell already has 21 points through the first 24 minutes of this one and he’s done it efficiently.
Fortunately, no one else has really been all that impactful for the Cavs, so the Cs aren’t hurting too bad from Mitchell’s daggers.
What’d you think of tonight’s first half? Comment your halftime hot takes below in the replies!
