Celtics remind Cavaliers: The NBA’s East still runs through Boston

BOSTON – Everyone knew the deal. The Cleveland Cavaliers entered Tuesday’s game against the reigning champions with a 15-0 record, the second-best start to a season ever, and it was an NBA Cup game.

“We knew it,” Boston Celtics guard Derrick White said. “Everybody knew it.”

In front of a national television audience, the Celtics reminded the Cavaliers that the Eastern Conference still runs through Boston. They made five of their first eight 3-point attempts, took an 18-8 advantage midway through the opening quarter and never trailed again in a 120-117 victory. Cleveland never stopped.

Boston pushed its lead to 65-48 at halftime and made nine more 3-pointers on 11 attempts in the second quarter. We could call it a barrage if it wasn’t so expected. That’s what the Celtics do. Their 51.1 3-point attempts lead the league by nearly six per game. Even at a medium conversion rate, they’re dropping nearly 20 triples a night. Make it the 22nd on Tuesday. Better keep going if you ever want the math to work in your favor.

The Cavs couldn’t. They shot 10-for-29 from deep and climbed uphill all night as a result. This was a departure from their norm. They have played faster and with more freedom under new head coach Kenny Atkinson, who in his time with the Golden State Warriors learned to never hold the ball.

Except it did against Boston. “Not great,” Atkinson said of his team’s preparedness.

“The first thing we learned was the power and the physicality,” he added. “They had playoff strength and physicality; we had regular season strength and physicality. And that’s why we were down 17 at the half.”

They responded in the second half, trimming a 21-point deficit to 86-84 over seven minutes of the third quarter. Part of that was the Celtics settling for contested 3s instead of creating open ones. Most of it was the Cavaliers pounding the paint. Whether it was Donovan Mitchell taking Neemias Queta off the dribble or Cleveland’s bigs dispatching smaller defenders, the Cavs outscored Boston on the interior 60-36.

Credit to Cleveland for not conceding the undefeated record, but the Celtics answered that call as well.

“It’s simple: We just locked down on defense,” said Boston’s Jayson Tatum, who finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. “We’ve been in that situation a million times where it’s time to win.”

So they did, which could be interpreted as a bad sign for the Cavaliers, who viewed this game as a measure of their seriousness as a contender. But Evan Mobley drew a different conclusion.

“From what I saw out there, we could beat anybody,” Cleveland’s rising star said.

Is that feeling different than last year, when Boston swept Cleveland in a second-round playoff series?

“Not really, honestly,” added Mobley (22 points, 11 rebounds). “Last year it felt the same way. We were right there. We lost the series, but most of the games we were right there with them the whole time.”

Can beat the Celtics and will beating the Celtics are two different things. For as much positivity as the Cavaliers drew from their first loss of the season, there’s this: Boston will soon reinstate All-Star center Kristaps Porzingis, opening up another dimension to a team that won a title largely without him.

The Celtics assigned Porzingis to their G League affiliate on Monday. Instead of sending him to Maine, they brought the entire development team to Porzingis so he could simulate serious game action for the first time since his surgery, sources told Yahoo Sports. The participants were satisfied with his performance, which a) can be expected of anyone passing on that information and b) better than the alternative.

Either way, Porzingis’ return is now a matter of weeks, not months, though he may not be available when these two teams meet again on Dec. 1. That is the next yardstick. This one fell short for the Cavs, who look different than last season, but are still below the fully healthy version of the reigning champions.