What else is on?: Cavaliers at Celtics Behind the Box Score

Cleveland Cavaliers 78
Boston Celtics 117
Box Score

You’re forgiven if you elected not to watch this game after hearing that LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and J.R. Smith were all sitting out. It’s understandable if you chose to watch the Indians or the Masters instead. If you decided to spend the day outside, that was probably the best decision of all. It was a beautiful day, perhaps the best of 2015 to date. Better to spend it barbecuing or planting bulbs than watch a cut-rate game on the tube.

I watched this game, but I confess that my attention wandered from time to time. The Cavs missed their first seven shots and didn’t score for the game’s first four minutes. It was as bad as you’d expect. They rallied back, however, and even won the first quarter by a point. It was sort of refreshing to watch; since no one could go one-on-one like the four players sitting out, they had to run the offense and move the ball.

Seriously! Look at Joe Harris and Mike Miller work the give-and-go:

Joe Harris + Mike Miller = Sidney Deane + Billy Hoyle https://t.co/fzgZWV7W7h

— Will Gibson (@wjcgibson) April 12, 2015

The Cavs’ stars resting was also a gambit toward ensuring a first-round matchup with Boston, as the Cavs are thought to prefer facing them to the Brooklyn Nets, who have won 10 of their last 14.

There was another silver lining to resting the team’s four leading scorers: the garbage men got to be stars for a day. Timofey Mozgov, Tristan Thompson, and Iman Shumpert all have “dirty work” in their job descriptions. Mozgov is tasked with defending the paint. Thompson has turned into a sort of DeAndre Jordan Lite, rebounder and pick-and-roll finisher extrordinaire. Shumpert has taken well to his role as a 3-and-D wing, reserving most of his energy for defense and knocking down the occasional jumper.

Those guys earned the chance to run the show. And that was all well and good until the second quarter came around. Let’s let the numbers tell the tale.

34-9 – That was the margin by which the Cavaliers were outscored in the second period. They went into halftime trailing 55-32, and the game was already decided. The Cavs just couldn’t score. At all. They shot 2-of-16, and 0-of-5 on threes. They committed 8 turnovers, which became 15 Celtic points. Eight different Boston players scored in the quarter. It was really, really bad, and the ninth quarter in which the Cavs were outscored by 25 or more:¹

That was the 9th quarter with a -25 differential in Cavs franchise history: http://t.co/KqLSqleNUT. pic.twitter.com/H0f4ao4ZWY

— Jacob L. Rosen (@JacobLRosen) April 12, 2015

Also, Isaiah Thomas did this to the Cavs in the second period:

Isaiah Thomas is so much fun to watch http://t.co/76tNt2Rr5Z https://t.co/LcSQ0fIMYj

— SB Nation NBA (@SBNationNBA) April 12, 2015

20-1 – The game’s steal totals. Boston stole the ball from Cleveland 20 times. The Cavs returned the favor exactly once. This is historic stuff. There have been 16 games in which an NBA team has had 20-plus steals in the past 15 years, and only twice (since 1985-86) has a team recorded 15 or more steals when their opponent had just one.

Nine different Celtics had at least one steal. Marcus Smart and Evan Turner had four apiece. Boston’s starters registered 13, and the bench added 7 more. The Cavs committed 25 turnovers, and the Celtics 9. It was bad.

Celts with the 17th 20+ steal game of the past 15 years.

Third with 15+ steals when the opponents have 1 or 0. pic.twitter.com/mXnumBW369

— Will Gibson (@wjcgibson) April 12, 2015

.392/.136/.684 – The Cavs’ field goal, three-point, and free throw shooting figures. They attempted 22 three-point shots and made 3 of them. Mozgov shot 4-of-11, Shumpert shot 6-of-15, and Matthew Dellavedova was 3-of-12. The only looks the Cavs could consistent get were in the post, and those did not go very well.

.548/.417/.682 – The Celtics’ shooting numbers. They scored 50 points in the paint to the Cavs’ 30. They had 27 fast break points, and the Cavs had 3. Seven Celtics scored in double figures, and everybody who played scored.

44-38, 6-1 – The Cavs outrebounded the Celtics by six and had five more blocks. Those are about the only statistics to be in the Cavs’ favor Sunday.

2 – Two more regular season games for the Cavs, and then the playoffs are here. If the standings hold, Boston and Cleveland will meet in the first round. The Brooklyn Nets lost while the Celtics were having their way with the Cavs, and Boston is now a game up for the No. 7 seed and holds a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Nets.

Boston has two games left (TOR, @MIL), as does Brooklyn (CHI, ORL). Things could change, and the Nets could jump into the seven slot. Frankly, I don’t think it matters. The playoffs are close. The Cavs are in them. Let’s go.

1. I giggled at the Knicks and Magic scoring eight and seven points in the second quarter of their game Saturday night. It isn’t quite so funny when your favorite team does it. [↩]