Recap: Celtics 119, Cavs 113 (Or, Kevin Love Is The Best Player On The Team, Ok!)

.@RealTristan13's 6th double-double helped the @cavs fight their way back!

No quit. #BeTheFight pic.twitter.com/2OctqzQA5N

— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) November 6, 2019

Gordon Hayward had 39 points going 17-20 from the floor tonight. He hit just one 3-pointer, had seven rebounds, and handed out eight assists. He lived in the paint off of quick cuts, Cavalier defense that was a half-second slow, and general luck. He was a huge contributor to the Celtics 60 points in the paint. Kemba Walker also had a decent night contributing 25 points of his own going 6-8 from deep on semi-contested 3s. Yet, the Cavs only lost by six and the game came down to the final two minutes, despite no one player having a mind blowing performance for them.

Kevin Love gave the Wine & Gold 17 points, nine boards, and three assists while going 1-5 from deep. Tristan Thompson put up 19 points and 13 boards along with four assists. Collin Sexton had 21 points, while Larry Nance put up 15 points on 5-6 shooting.

The night started off with the Cavs getting crushed in the first quarter. Gordon Hayward lit the Cavs up for 16 points off a variety of actions. He was running off of screens and catching the ball on his way to the hoop with his man on his hip or driving and stopping to send his defender flying past him. Cedi Osman was the main defender on Gordon, and he seemed as if he was just a tad late to where he needed to be the whole game.

2️⃣0️⃣ controlled the first 💪 https://t.co/YktazOJAf1

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 6, 2019

Tristan kept the Cavs from getting eliminated from the game early on with his overall grit. He had three offensive boards, which led to three of his seven points. LNJ provided a little kick when he checked into the game and drilled a 3-pointer, put down a Delly lob, and handed out an assist for a 3-ball to Alfonzo McKinnie. The Cavs offense looked anything but dynamic, as they pretty much passed the ball once and took a shot, or went at the Celtics solo. The Cavs had just four assists to the Celtics’ eight in the first and trailed 32-24.

The second quarter didn’t go much better for Cleveland. Brad Wanamaker opened the action using a Daniel Theis screen to penetrate and toss the rock to Marcus Smart beyond the arc for an easy 3-ball to extend the Boston lead to 11. The Cavs followed up by getting the ball down low to Love who was able to find Nance even lower for an easy reverse layup against the much smaller Jayson Tatum, who had a fairly quiet night getting 18 points while missing all five of his attempts from deep. Unfortunately, the Cavs didn’t keep feeding the ball to their bigs. The offense consisted of a lot of zero pass or one pass and shoot possessions with Darius Garland and Jordan Clarkson combining for a 5-14 performance in the second with zero of their shots being assisted on. The Celtics weren’t much better though and Cleveland hung around before ending the final two minutes on the wrong side of an 11-4 run to go into the locker room down, 61-52.

The good guys opened the third quarter lifeless. Tatum stole the ball off a Tristan pass to go the length of the course for a dunk on Cleveland’s first possession of the third. A few possessions later Hayward sprinted the court in transition and caught an oop from Walker to put the Celts up 11. Walker hit two 3s in the quarter, and Hayward added eight points.

Boston extended their lead to 13 with 7:01 to go, but Love made sure the game didn’t get out of hand scoring six straight for Cleveland using deep post position to his advantage, as the Celtics kept putting smaller defenders like Tatum and Marcus Smart on him. LNJ dropped two 3s in his three minutes at the end of the quarter to pull the Cavs within six, 89-83.

The Celtics maintained a solid lead until around the five minute mark in the fourth. Hayward still couldn’t miss and Carsen Edwards added two 3s. With 4:51 left, Garland found Love in the post who hit a turnaround hook over Smart to bring the game within nine. Kemba responded with a walk up 3, but Love came back and hit a turnaround jumper from the right block over Smart. The next play Collin drove and found Cedi Osman for a 3-pointer to make it a seven point game. Theis followed up for the Celtics getting an offensive foul and Cleveland made good use of the turnover.

In what is probably one of their only multiple pass plays of the game, Love received the ball from Cedi on the block and founding a cutting TT to make it a five point game with 2:10 left to play. With 43 seconds left to play Love missed a turnaround jumper over Smart with the game within three points, but Sexton wrestled for the rebound with Kemba to force a jump ball. The Celts recovered the ball and Kemba missed a 3-point attempt. Unfortunately, the Cavs lost track of Hayward who soared into the paint to grab the offensive board and seal the game for the Celts with a layup.

.@gordonhayward comes up BIG for tonight's @jetblue play of the game to secure our fifth consecutive win 🔥 pic.twitter.com/mTXdCQ2gyv

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) November 6, 2019

Gripes

1. The offense just didn’t move the ball at all. It was too many one pass and heave it up possessions. Jordan Clarkson, Garland, and Osman went a combined 13-37. They weren’t putting shots up off of movement at all. John Beilein needs to figure something out with the offense. He comes from the college game, so I’m somewhat surprised the offense isn’t a bit more scripted considering how much of college ball involves just passing the ball around aimlessly for fifteen seconds at a time. I’d settle for mindless passes around the perimeter at this point. That’d be better than nothing. The team had just 22 assists tonight.

2. Or, if Beilein isn’t willing to do that, he could at least insist that Love and TT get the majority of the offensive touches. Love went 7-14 and TT went 7-15. Those two could easily take 20 shots a night, and the team would look much better offensively. News flash, great teams get their best players the most shots. The big reason the Cavs were able to make the game tight in the fourth was because Love and TT finally started getting touches down low. Love found TT on one of his touches and scored on two of his other ones for four points. TT had six points tipping in a Love miss, finishing a Delly pass, and cutting for a layup from Love. He added in six more points for the Cavs by just moving the ball to open shooters for two 3s.

3. Simply put, the Cavs must get the ball to their two big men vets. They are the best players on the team and know where the ball needs to go.

4. Defensively, the team didn’t look that bad, outside of Cedi. Cedi couldn’t slow Hayward at all. Osman knows where he needs to go on defense, but I’m not sure he’s physically talented enough to get their all the time. Hayward was a half-second ahead of him all evening. The Celts ended the evening going 56.5% from the floor, which is rarely going to result in a loss for any team.

5. Garland went 2-11 for four points. He had two turnovers and one assists. And, he’s not helping himself. Just two of his 11 attempts came after a pass. The rest of his attempts were after he brought the ball up the floor and looked off the rest of the team. He might need to stop hanging out with Jordan Clarkson.

Hypes

1. Despite Hayward’s massive game, the Cavs didn’t get blown out. The overall defensive scheme is working. The guys are switching pretty fluidly. They aren’t giving up a ton of uncontested 3s. Kemba hit six 3-balls, but they were mostly contested tough shots. The Cavs allowed just 12 3-balls to drop and most weren’t wide open.

2. Kevin still has it. If there is a smaller defender on him, he can do damage. He punished Smart when he was actually given a chance too.

3. The Cavs really protected the ball tonight turning it over just nine times.

4. Larry Nance might be a stretch four? He went 3-3 from deep tonight. I’m not sure he should be playing that far from the basket, but he was 5-6 for 15 points. That’s a good line for a big coming off the bench.

5. Sexton put up a team high 21 points on 6-15 shooting and went 7-7 from the line. He holds his own when it actually matters. Kemba hit a 3-pointer with 1:49 to go in the fourth putting the Celtics up six, and Sexton responded with a deep ball. He even tied up Kemba to force a jump ball at the end of the game. Sexton can’t lead a team yet, but he’s performing when it matters most; that’s a great sign for his future.

6. The Cavs play the Wizards Friday. See you then.