We’re midway by means of Tuesday’s NBA Cup matchup between the Boston Celtics and the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers and issues are going glorious. The Celtics are up 17 and may very well be en path to a key group-stage win.
Are we positive this staff is the undefeated one we’ve heard about for weeks???
Now, prepare for some Halftime Sizzling Takes, buddy.
7 p.m. Begin instances won’t be the most effective for Celtics followers
This recreation is likely one of the most intriguing matchups of the season to this point. But, there have been nonetheless a ton of empty seats in The Backyard after tip-off.
It felt like a Miami Warmth recreation in right here for some time.
I get it. The NBA needs to make the Cup really feel particular and begin all the early-slate video games on the identical time in an effort to extend viewership. That’s nice and all, however the product actually suffers when individuals don’t have sufficient time to get to their seats resulting from site visitors or busy T traces.
By the primary TV timeout, issues had crammed out a bit and the constructing had some juice, however man was the power low to start out off such a highly-anticipated matchup.
The Gradual-Begin Celtics is perhaps lifeless
Over the previous week or so, the Celtics have develop into notorious for sleepwalking out of the gates. In that span, they fell behind early in opposition to the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets (twice), Milwaukee Bucks, and Atlanta Hawks.
Tuesday’s begin actually made it #DifferentHere.
Boston jumped out to a fast 12-4 lead earlier than the primary TV break, then continued to push to get it as much as 20-8.
Jayson Tatum was an enormous a part of the staff’s robust begin.
He had his fingerprints everywhere in the recreation with eight factors, 5 rebounds, and three assists all within the opening body.
Tatum’s dominance continued for the rest of the half, the place he completed with 17 factors, eight boards, 4 assists, and a pair of steals. He needs this one.
As an entire, they did an awesome job of shifting the ball and getting Cleveland’s protection out of place. Seven of their ten first-quarter makes had been off of assists and 5 got here from past the arc.
The trouble on the defensive finish felt totally different as properly. The Cs allowed simply 20 factors within the opening body. There have been a couple of lapses, however general they rotated properly, saved the ball in entrance of them, and made the guests should earn their appears.
I can’t inform if the Celtics ought to be up by extra or not
Normally, whenever you’re watching a basketball recreation, there’s a really feel to how issues are going. For instance, you would possibly lookup on the scoreboard and be stunned that it’s solely a five-point recreation, regardless of your favourite staff enjoying horribly.
There are different nights that they will’t appear to drag away regardless that it looks like all the things goes proper.
This primary half was a little bit of a mixture.
The aforementioned robust begin was nice, however the Cs had been solely up by six on the finish of the primary quarter. Then there have been stretches the place we noticed a Jaylen Brown and the boys lineup on the market, seemingly having to battle for each bucket, however in some way Boston didn’t lose a lot floor.
Towards the tip of the second, they actually hit their stride and pulled away from the lossless Cavs. Tatum’s seventeenth level of the half introduced Boston’s result in simply as many, proper earlier than the break.
Contemplating that the Cs shot 14-22 from deep and held Cleveland to only 43.2% capturing, that quantity is acceptable, proper?
Ought to they be up extra?
With the way in which that all the things appeared to work out, possibly they need to be. This isn’t me complaining. However, in the event that they go chilly right here, be ready for a little bit of a scare.
