Before his Cavaliers put their perfect 15-0 start to the season to the test Tuesday night at TD Garden against the defending NBA champion Celtics, coach Kenny Atkinson was asked what he hoped to get out of the game.
“We want feedback,” Atkinson said. “More feedback. Hopefully, we’ll see this team down the road — and down the road in an important game. On the other hand, I don’t want to blow this game out of proportion. It’s that balance, but it’s more anxious to see where we are.”
Atkinson got his wish. The result? Boston, despite a stellar push from Cleveland after halftime, had enough to hold off the Cavaliers 120-117 and end their unblemished start.
“I’m happy how we fought back,” said Cavs forward Evan Mobley, who finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds and 6 assists. “That was the main thing that I can be happy about. I feel like we didn’t start the best. That was the main thing that really shot us in our foot. But overall, I feel like we played a pretty good game.
“I think it was a good test, and from what I saw out there, we could beat anybody.”
Cleveland didn’t, however, beat Boston on this night. As a result, after spending almost an entire month with a zero in the loss column, the Cavaliers now are 15-1 thanks to a 33-point, 12-rebound, 7-assist effort from Jayson Tatum, one of six Celtics to score in double figures.
Boston was red-hot from behind the 3-point arc, going 22-for-41.
That included 14-for-22 from deep in the first half, the best single half of 3-point shooting by the Celtics over the past 25 seasons (minimum of 20 attempts), according to ESPN Research.
And while Cleveland mounted a furious second-half comeback to cut a 21-point deficit down to two in the fourth quarter, the Celtics (12-3) eventually hung on.
“Yeah, we knew,” Celtics guard Derrick White said when asked if there was extra excitement given Cleveland’s unbeaten mark and Boston’s desire to bounce back from losing its NBA Cup opener last week.
“Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming to our building. And also, it’s an NBA Cup game, and we already lost one game. So, it was a really big game in that aspect. So, we were all aware.”
