CLEVELAND — In the Boston Celtics locker room late Tuesday night, Derrick White walked toward Jayson Tatum and delivered a boast.
“That’s how to get it done efficiently,” White said.
White was simply talking about his postgame media duties, which took less than half the time of Tatum’s interview. He would have needed a different term to describe the way the Celtics closed out their three-game trip. They finished it by beating the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road 112-105 in what Tatum called a “nasty” win.
The Celtics led by 13 points after the first quarter despite shooting just 34.5 percent. They led for double digits much of the game despite shooting 40.8 percent from the field overall, including 35.4 percent on 3-point attempts. After Cleveland pulled within 4 points midway through the fourth quarter, White responded with 8 points over the next 2:30 to put his team back ahead by 10. The Celtics offense didn’t always flow well, but in a big game against the top-seeded Cavaliers, Joe Mazzulla’s team showed up with its edge.
“We had really good looks; we just weren’t making them (early), and then the game was not a super-efficient game because of the defense on both sides,” Kristaps Porziņģis said. “But yeah, we did just enough to get the win.”
The Celtics won with defense. They won with a first half full of offensive rebounds. They won by responding every time Cleveland made a run. White’s fourth-quarter flurry stood out because it all but sealed the game, but several of his teammates made key plays to keep the Cavaliers from ever getting too close.
The Celtics subbed out Jaylen Brown five minutes into the third quarter after a Cavaliers challenge resulted in his fourth foul. Then, from the bench, he earned a technical foul for complaining about the call reversal that went against him. Shortly afterward, Cleveland forced a Boston timeout by cutting a double-digit halftime margin to 66-60.
It could have been trouble time for the Celtics. Instead, they righted themselves. Payton Pritchard drained a 3-pointer after the timeout. Tatum followed with a tough floater. Porziņģis faked a dribble handoff and drove past Jarrett Allen for a dunk. Pritchard fought through a screen to steal the ball from Mitchell before feeding Tatum for a fast-break slam. The Celtics pushed the lead back to 15 points before the end of the quarter.
“It’s all about making sure we don’t turn the ball over, get back on defense, limit them to one shot, try not to give up any more and-1s and things like that,” Tatum said. “It’s the NBA — they are going to go on a run. They have the best home record, so expect that to happen and be ready to answer the call.”
The Boston defense, sharp all game, allowed the team to withstand some offensive droughts.
“I just thought we had really good ball pressure,” Mazzulla said. “I thought they missed some shots. A 15-point quarter isn’t normal for them, but I thought we did a good job just taking away some of the margins, some of the easy baskets they’re able to create because of the type of players they have and the offense they run. So we were able to take those away for some of the game, and I thought our guys defended well.”
The Celtics’ defense carried them early. They couldn’t find their shot early in the first quarter but defended from the start. Porziņģis swatted two early Cavaliers attempts at the rim and altered others. Jrue Holiday used physicality and positioning to cut off Donovan Mitchell in transition. Boston forced four turnovers in the first quarter while holding Cleveland’s top-ranked offense to a 6-for-26 shooting start.
Outside of Brown, who scored the Celtics’ first 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting, the rest of Boston’s roster combined to miss its first 11 combined shots. Still, the Celtics pushed ahead 28-15 by the end of the first quarter.
“I thought even with some of the foul trouble (Brown encountered), I thought he did a good job in the first half at keeping us involved with his execution and some of his defense,” Mazzulla said. “He took on the challenge of Mitchell throughout the game, and then when he kind of went into foul trouble, we just kind of executed really well.”
Was it a statement win? Tatum didn’t want to call it that. He said it was “just another day of work.” Still, the Celtics know the Cavaliers top the Eastern Conference standings and will be tough to catch over the rest of the season. Porziņģis said it’s easier for his team to find motivation when matched up against an opponent like Cleveland.
“They had a hot start to the season, and some people I think thought it was a little bit lucky, but no, they’re the real deal,” Porziņģis said. “And they’re a really good team. And tonight was a good challenge for us.”
After a long stretch of inconsistent play, the Celtics have finally built some momentum. En route to a 3-0 trip, they won on a Tatum game winner against the New Orleans Pelicans and had their biggest comeback of the year at the Philadelphia 76ers before knocking off the top-seeded Cavaliers on the road. After all that, the Celtics have won four straight for the first time since November.
Porziņģis emphasized they want to continue their strong play into the All-Star break and beyond. He said he’s “very happy” about the winning streak because it has been a “tough, tough stretch.” The level of competition before Tuesday might not have been great, but Porziņģis pointed out that around this time of year, many teams stagger into the All-Star break. He wants the Celtics to surge instead.
“It’s important for us to finish strong, go into the All-Star break, get some rest and then have that very good home stretch of the regular season to peak at the right moment,” Porziņģis said. “So I like where we’re headed. We just need to finish strong this small (stretch before the break).”
Porziņģis wasn’t surprised by the Celtics’ performance Tuesday. He said they need to continue working to bring such sharp play every game.
“I think we know we’re capable of this,” Porziņģis said. “I think we know that on any night we can beat anybody, but also, if we don’t bring our game that we need, then we can lose also or we can have teams hang around and maybe steal one from us. So of course, for us, it’s easier to show up to these kinds of games and play hard and all this. But we’re working on having that intensity every night and sometimes just running through teams and not letting them hang around.”
(Photo of Jayson Tatum shooting over Darius Garland: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
