BOSTON — It’s been rare for the Boston Celtics to see adversity at TD Garden this season, but it arrived on Tuesday night in the early going.
Boston fell behind by the Cleveland Cavaliers by 15 points halfway through the first quarter, which quickly brought doubts about whether the team would be able to extend its 10-game winning streak at home. Those doubts were quieted, as Boston erased nearly the entire deficit by intermission. Cleveland made more runs in the second half, but the Celtics’ counters were stronger. When crunch time arrived, Cleveland was ready to throw up the white flag down just seven with 31 seconds left on the clock.
Boston’s offense was just too good, the Cavs had run out of gas, and the Celtics extended their home winning streak to 11 games with a 120-113 win. They have a plus-16.3 net rating at TD Garden to go along with a 125.7 offensive rating, which is also first in the league.
While wins have come relatively easy at home, the fact is that Boston has responded to adversity with great urgency when the things aren’t going well. Both times the Celtics have fallen behind by double digits at home this year (against Miami and Cleveland), they’ve erased the deficit by halftime. The win over the Cavs on Tuesday night was the biggest comeback win since February 2023, a rarity throughout last year’s impressive campaign.
So while the Celtics have nearly an identical record through 22 games during the past two seasons, wins like Tuesday are why this group feels different. The Cavs did not back down, shooting a red-hot 47 percent from the field and 42 percent on 3-pointers. Instead, Boston fought back and took the game from them with some useful adjustments mixed in.
“They came out very aggressive and we came out a little bit not as aggressive,” Kristaps Porzingis said. “They punched first and we took the punch on the chin and started to bring ourselves back in the game. And then, yeah, by halftime we were close, but second half I felt like we really turned it on. But they kept fighting throughout the game. They really did. They were aggressive, they had a good game plan, they were physical, we were good and were able to win these games. I really liked our second half, our mental strength and ability to execute under pressure was good tonight. So I think we made a step forward, for sure.”
While the Celtics still have yet to prove they can show that same mental strength on the road in tight games, their dominance at home is worth taking note. No matter who the Celtics are facing, they are playing a much more composed and versatile game on both ends, which bodes quite well for the big picture.
“There’s a lot of really good teams,” Coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I thought tonight was a good example of, like, we didn’t fall into that expectation. For me, we have to be grateful for games like this because it’s an opportunity in Game 22 to have to play playoff basketball without an In-Season Tournament court. I said it in the huddle a few times: We have to be grateful for this. This is a great opportunity. And we have to get rid of the expectation of, like, eh, it’s a tough matchup. Yeah, it’s the NBA, they’re all hard matchups. And if we can accept that, that’s going to help us.”
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