Los Cleveland Cavaliers They have taken the second game of the series against the Boston Celtics with a demonstration of character, quality and personality against the best team in the regular phase. Almost perfect match by the team led by JB Bickerstaff with which they manage to gain the court factor.
The first half began with both teams betting on the same offensive plan: attacking the zone. The casualties of Kristaps Porzingis in the Celtics and Jarrett Allen In the Cavaliers they changed everything and both teams forgot about the triples.
Jayson Tatum (25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists) y Jaylen Brown (19 points and 4 rebounds) It didn’t take long for them to show themselves in the paint, adding easily and adding a first important advantage for the locals at 14-5. They promised each other very happily at the TD Garden, but today’s Cavs were not the same as those of the first round. Taking advantage of that Donovan Mitchell I was still a little shy, Caris LeVert (21 points and 6 rebounds) He emerged as the offensive leader of the Cavs, who with the very important contribution of Evan Mobley, They were able to turn the score around at the end of the first quarter (24-30).
Although it is already known that one partial is answered with another. The visitors’ big minutes were immediately countered in the second quarter. The Celtics hit the table and transformed a 30-33 against them into a 40-35 in a flash. Derrick White (10 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists) omnipresent, Payton Pritchard (13 points and 4 assists) adding in silence and Al Horford (11 points with three triples) punishing from beyond the arc. The Mazzulla machine was working perfectly, but the Cavs managed to tie the game at 54 before halftime.
After passing through the locker room, what at first had to be a setback for the Cavs ended up being their best news. The problems of lack of Evan Mobley (21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists) They forced him to stay on the bench. The until then forgotten Tristan Thompson entered the scene but so did the Cavs’ exterior success, the differential factor in today’s game: The visitors scored a great 13/28, while the Celtics were 8/35.
After giving LeVert his minutes of glory and even overshadowing the great performance of Darius Garland (14 points with 4/5 in triples), Donovan Mitchell exploded in the third quarter and he was largely responsible for the Cavs surprising everyone with a 78-90 lead at the end of the third quarter, with a three-pointer at the buzzer as the perfect icing on the cake.
Stupefaction irremediably took over the TD Garden. For many minutes, the feeling was that if they put in a little effort, the Celtics would turn the game around without any problems, but without scoring a three-pointer it would be very difficult to stop them. Mitchell (29 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists) It seemed like an impossible mission.
The passing of the minutes did not benefit the locals and the advantage for the visitors reached 20 points at 87-107, but it was at 87-111 that it all ended. Jayson Tatum made a flagrant attack on Caris LeVert (his game was impressive) with which Mazzulla decided that he had had enough: substitutes to play and think about the third game, all with almost five minutes left.
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