The ‘Spider’, Donovan Mitchell, took a bite out of the Celtics. The semifinal round of the 2024 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs resumed on Thursday night, as the Cleveland Cavaliers went into TD Garden and embarrassed the Boston Celtics 118-94 to even up their best-of-seven series 1-1. Mitchell finished with a team-high 29 points. He put up 16 points in the third quarter alone and knocked down three consecutive baskets to start the fourth, including a 28-footer, which he called bank on.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” Mitchell said. “Shooters shoot.”
Jayson Tatum scored 25 for Boston, and Jaylen Brown added 19 points. Derrick White, up until this point has had a coming out party in these playoffs, whose 25 points in Game 1 helped the Celtics coast to a 120-95 win, came back down to earth, managing just 10 points, missing seven of his eight 3-point attempts.
The series moves to Northeast Ohio, Cleveland for Game 3 (Saturday) and Game 4 (Monday). The Celtics were victorious in two of their three games against the Cavaliers during the regular season, but Cleveland pulled out the only game it played at home.
“When we defend the way we defended and our shots fall, what we do travels,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “And we can win anywhere.”
The Celtics either live by the three or die by the three, on Thursday, it was the latter. The Celtics’ perimeter shooting is their most consistent offensive weapon, and they paced the league in makes (16.5) and attempts (42.5) per game during the regular season, and were second in percentage (38.8). But after connecting on 18 3s in their Game 1 win, the Celtics cooled off considerably and could not buy a basket on Thursday night. In fact, they went 8-of-35 to register their second-worst shooting game of the entire season.
Embed from Getty ImagesOn the other side, the Cavaliers found their shooting stroke had their best 3-point shooting game of the playoffs. They were red hot in the third quarter, when they went 7-of-10, and finished the game 13-of-28 despite a number of bad misses during mop up duty. Mitchell led the way with five 3-pointers, while Darius Garland added four, as they outscored the Celtics by 15 from behind the arc.
This game was eerily similar to Game 2 between the Celtics and Miami Heat in the opening round, when the Heat made a franchise-record 23 3s. While the Cavaliers did not match that volume, their shot making was tremendous. All seven of their 3s in the third quarter were off the dribble. Also, it came in a contest where the Celtics could not hit the broad side of a barn.
“I hadn’t shot much, trying to find ways to get guys involved early, and picking my spots. I was just continuing to find ways to apply pressure on them,” said Mitchell, who finished with eight assists and seven rebounds.
“In the second half it was scoring,” he said. “Sometimes it’s assists. Sometimes it’s rebounds. Whatever it takes. And when it was time to go, it’s time to go. I knew at some point I was going to have to start, obviously, shooting.”
With Jarrett Allen still on the shelf due to a rib contusion, the Cavaliers needed their young big man Evan Mobley, out of USC, to come up huge on both ends. He did just that with the best playoff game of his career: 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks on 9-of-15 from the field.
It was not a shocker that Mitchell started his post-game interview on the court with ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth, by giving Mobley a shoutout. He was excellent all night long and helped set the tone for the Cavaliers by being aggressive looking for his own shot, protecting the rim and controlling the glass.
These are the type of performances that the Cavaliers need more often from Mobley. He has all-world talent, but there are too many instances where he is a no-show on the offensive end. When he is locked in and focused like he was in Game 2, the Cavaliers are a much more dangerous team.
Tatum is a very good player and can influence the game in a variety of ways. He is leading the Celtics in three major categories, rebounding, assists and blocks during the playoffs, and the attention he draws from opponents makes life much easier for all of his teammates.
With that said, he is averaging 21.7 points on 40.7/26.8/81.7 shooting splits, and has shot 50% in just one game during the postseason. This is his lowest scoring average in the playoffs since 2019, and the least efficient postseason of his career so far.
His approach on offense has been terrific, and the answer is not for him to start forcing shots. He does, however, have to start making more of the ones he is taking. The Celtics will most likely still win this series, but it would be a lot easier for them to do so if their best player was not shooting 40% from the field.
