Jaylen Brown prepared for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night. Derrick White took them down.
In the end, the Boston Celtics had too much firepower for a defeated Cavaliers team. The Celtics won 120-95 in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series.
Brown finished with 32 points, while White hit seven 3-pointers en route to a 25-point performance. Donovan Mitchell responded with 33 points, but it wasn’t enough for a Cleveland team to play its fourth straight game without center Jarrett Allen.
Led by Brown, the Celtics jumped out of the gates with a 40-34 lead after a first quarter in which they didn’t turn the ball over. Brown scored 15 points in the first quarter en route to a 20-point first half that the Celtics led 59-49.
The third quarter belonged to White, who scored 14 points in the stanza by hitting four 3-pointers. His seventh 3-pointer of the game increased Boston’s lead to 87-72. Boston led 92-77 en route to fourth place.
The Cavaliers had no answer. Mitchell scored 16 of his 33 points in the third quarter but did nothing to slow down an efficient Boston offense. The Celtics extended their lead at the beginning of the quarter and did not allow the Cavaliers to threaten their advantage. Cleveland waved off the white flag by pulling its starters with Boston leading 115-89 with 3:42 remaining
Boston thrives despite Jayson Tatum’s bad night
Boston extended its lead from 3-point range and secured the victory, despite a poor shooting night from NBA forward Jayson Tatum. Boston has multiple weapons that can attack on any given night and is one of the few teams in the NBA that can thrive against a quality opponent despite a bad night from its best player. Tuesday’s win over Cleveland was a prime example.
Brown finished with 32 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting 12 of 18 from the field and 4 of 6 from 3. White scored 25 points and five assists while shooting 9 of 16 from the field and 7 of 12 from long range. Tatum added 18 points while shooting 7 of 19 from the field and missing all five of his 3-point attempts.
As a team, the Celtics shot 48.9% from the field and 39.1% (18 of 46) from 3-point range. They scored 125 points on 92 field goal attempts. They secured the dominant victory without injured forward Kristaps Porzingis, who missed his second consecutive game with a calf injury suffered in the first round against the Miami Heat.
The Cavs countered with a 41.1% effort from the floor and a 26.2% (11-of-42) performance from long range. They needed 90 shot attempts to score 95 points. Mitchell scored 33 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting 12 of 25 from the field and 4 of 11 from 3-point range. Evan Mobley added 17 points and 13 rebounds as the only Cleveland starter to shoot better than 50% on 8-of-12 shooting from the field.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Saturday night in Boston.
