The Cavaliers are the favorites to finish atop the Eastern Conference standings. Most prognosticators view the depleted Celtics as a fringe playoff team at best.
Despite those radically different expectations, Boston was the better team Wednesday night at TD Garden, trucking a shorthanded Cleveland squad 125-105.
Jaylen Brown scored 30 points to lead the Celtics, who had eight players reach double figures in the lopsided win. One of those was fourth-year pro Josh Minott, who posted an 11-point, 14-rebound double-double with three steals and a block in his second career start.
Neemias Queta also recorded a double-double in his fifth game as Boston’s starting center (10 points, 13 rebounds, three steals) and was a game-best plus-25 in his 26 minutes. Derrick White added 19 points, Payton Pritchard dished out 10 assists, and Sam Hauser and Anfernee Simons combined for 35 points off the bench while shooting 11-for-19 from 3-point range.
All five Cavaliers starters scored in double figures, but none reached 20 points. Donovan Mitchell, a Celtics killer in many of their previous matchups, managed just two points on 1-for-8 shooting over the final three quarters.
The Cavs were playing without All-Star point guard Darius Garland and rotation players Max Strus and Sam Merrill.
It was the second straight 20-point victory for the Celtics, who have bounced back well after opening the season with three consecutive losses for the first time since 2013.
Boston will travel to Philadelphia on Friday for a rematch against the 76ers, who handed the Celtics a one-point home loss on opening night.
“Five games in; we’ve got 77 left,” head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “We’ve got to do it every night. … But there was a lot of minutes over the last two, three games where we’ve had, like, ‘This is who we have to be.’ ”
The Celtics started red-hot from 3-point range, drilling eight of their 14 attempts (57.1%) during a 40-point first quarter. Much of that long-range production came from Hauser (21 points, 7-for-13 from three), who sank three 3-pointers in his first 77 seconds of floor time and a fourth just over a minute later.
The veteran sharpshooter – who led the Celtics in 3-point shooting percentage last season and has never shot worse than 40% from deep in his career – went 5-for-6 on 3-pointers in the first quarter, with one coming after he grabbed an offensive rebound off his own miss. Simons also went 2-for-3 from beyond the arc in the opening 12 minutes.
But the Cavs were, somehow, even hotter during that same stretch. They attempted 12 first-quarter threes and made 10 of them – an incredible 83.3% clip – including a scorching 4-for-4 start from Mitchell, who was questionable for the game with a hamstring injury. The Celtics’ defense held up well in other areas, forcing four early turnovers and not an offensive rebound until midway through the second quarter, but Cleveland’s deluge of threes gave them a 42-40 lead after one.
The 18 combined made 3-pointers were one shy of the NBA record for any quarter. But both teams cooled down substantially as the evening wore on.
The game turned late in the second quarter, when Mazzulla called for a timeout with 3:54 to play in the half and his Celtics down 57-55. Brown drew a foul on the ensuing possession, and his two free throws kick-started a 20-3 Boston run featuring some of the smoothest, most efficient basketball the C’s have played since their offseason overhaul.
Brown was the catalyst for that surge, pouring in 13 points in the final four minutes before halftime. He closed the half by burying a 30-footer with 16.7 seconds remaining, then hitting an off-balance three over Dean Wade as time expired to put the Celtics ahead 75-60.
Brown’s first-half scoring line: 22 points, 8-for-10, 4-for-5 on 3-pointers, 2-for-2 from the foul line, with 18 of those points coming in the second quarter.
Boston’s second-quarter flurry also featured lob dunks by Queta and Minott on back-to-back possessions. The latter came after White poked the ball away from Mitchell from behind – a signature move for the two-time All-Defensive selection.
Minott, who was moved into the starting lineup Monday night in New Orleans, also had a few not-so-positive moments late in the first half. He turned the ball over on a drive after passing up an open corner three and later fouled Mobley in the backcourt on what should have been the final possession before halftime. A frustrated Mazzulla subbed Minott out after the foul, but Brown bailed the 22-year-old out with his halftime buzzer-beater.
“He’s done a good job,” Mazzulla said. “He just has an understanding of what the standard is, how he has to compete. Just his ability to make plays on both ends of the floor, his versatility. He still gave up some plays. (He has to) get better at that, so he’ll continue to work on it.”
Defensive rebounding – the Celtics’ main bugaboo in their three losses this season – became an issue in the third quarter, helping Cleveland stay within striking distance. The Cavs grabbed six offensive boards in the frame and turned them into 10 second-chance points. Boston, buoyed by two missed Mitchell free throws and a banked-in deep three by Simons, took a 98-85 lead into the final quarter.
Those problems persisted in the fourth, but the Celtics made the plays necessary to ensure their lead never dipped below double digits. Minott made two of those, hitting a 3-pointer from the corner and then pulling down an offensive rebound to set up a White three. Pritchard also did his part to keep the Cavs at bay, scoring a tough 13-footer and quickly following it up with a layup in traffic after Queta intercepted an errant Mitchell pass.
Despite wavering in the second half, the Celtics finished with an 18-11 edge in offensive rebounds and a defensive rebounding percentage of 81.0% — miles better than their flimsy performances against the New York Knicks (58.0%) and Detroit Pistons (57.8%). Minott and Queta each grabbed five offensive boards.
“I think we rebounded really well,” Brown said. “Our first-shot defense has been really good, but we rebounded at a really good rate. Josh and Neemi both on the glass were exceptional, and that’s what we’re going to need going forward. I think rebounding is probably one of the most obvious things in basketball, but it makes a huge difference. I think rebounding was great for us tonight.”
Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson accepted defeat with 2:47 remaining, sending in what was left of his shortened bench with the Celtics ahead 117-102.
“It’s just one game,” Brown said. “We’ve got a lot of basketball in front of us. We’re still learning, still figuring some stuff out. But we’re moving in the right direction. I’ve got full confidence in my teammates and the coaching staff, but we’re still growing and learning every single day. Today was a good night for us. We played well. We’ve just got to keep building on that.”
Other observations:
— Hugo Gonzalez spent three minutes guarding Mitchell during a first-quarter cameo, adding the Cavs star to a list of assignments that already included Jalen Brunson and Cade Cunningham. But those were the only minutes the rookie played before garbage time in this one.
— Boucher was the lone DNP-CD for Boston, and Jordan Walsh only checked in for mop-up duty. Walsh has hardly played this season (five total minutes), and Boucher has seen his minutes decline in all five games — a surprise after the veteran big man put together an encouraging preseason. Baylor Scheierman (eight minutes) and Xavier Tillman (three) had bit parts in the win as Mazzulla mostly stuck with an eight-man rotation.
