Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell did it all in Game 2, combining for 50 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists.
Boston – They couldn’t win a playoff game on the road – until they did. They couldn’t get 100 points, until they did too. The Cleveland Cavaliers looked ready to get some sweet parting gifts before their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Celtics began, and their 25-point loss in Game 1 had a lot of people pointing them in the door. Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?
However, the Cavaliers had the audacity to stay in Game 2 Thursday night at TD Garden (the NBA makes that kind of mandatory, by the way). And wouldn’t you know it, they completely flipped the script with a 118-94 victory to tie the series at 1-1.
Here are five takeaways as the series moves to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday:
1. Pick a spot, pick its halves
Midway through Game 2, Cleveland might have considered itself lucky to tie the game at 54-54. Donovan Mitchell, a reliable and dynamic scorer, took just six shots and contributed just six points.
There were two things at work. The Celtics were giving him different looks defensively, which is reasonable considering the 33 points he scored against them in Game 1. Mitchell used this learning opportunity to ensure some of his teammates were involved on a deeper level.
At the halfway point, Evan Mobley, Isaac Okoro and sixth man Caris LeVert combined for 35 points — averaging 25.4 over Cleveland’s first eight playoff games. Mitchell had five assists and was plus-11 anyway.
However, duty called. “When it was time to go, it was time to go,” Mitchell later said. “I knew at some point I was going to have to start shooting.”
This came in the third quarter. He started and ended that 36-point stretch for the Cavaliers with 3-pointers and had 10 points between them. He added seven more goals in the fourth period before taking his first breath after the end of the first half.
With 29 points, he joined LeBron James as the only Cavaliers to compile at least five games with more than 25 points. So far in the series, his team is 27 points better when Mitchell is on the floor, and 28 worse when he is sitting.
2. Mobley stayed warm for 48 hours
Cleveland’s third-year forward, admired for his defense and touted for his potential, has been hearing criticism lately for what appears to be a settled offensive game. Through his first 13 postseason games the past two seasons, Mobley has had more games in which he scored in single digits (three) than with 17 or more points (two).
After more than three quarters of the series, Mobley had just seven points as the Cavaliers headed toward their double-digit loss. Then something happened midway through the fourth Tuesday: Mobley scored a jump stop. Then turn it over in a bucket. He passed Luke Kornet for a layup. And he continued.
By the time he was done, Mobley had strung together five straight baskets on a 10-0 Cavaliers run. It gave him some rhythm and some confidence, and he continued on Thursday. He scored eight points on an early drive that tied it 19-19 and even hit the fourth 3-pointer of his career before the first quarter was over.
Mobley was key as Cleveland scored 22 points in the first 12 minutes and dominated 60-44 overall in Game 2. Credit goes to Mobley’s cinematic work, starting with the Game 1 boom, and to his Cavs teammates who recognized the mismatches and blotches. To get the ball to him.
3. Celtics is not ready for the ring
It’s a Michael Corleone thing in reverse. Every time Boston and the rest of the league are ready to engage, the Celtics turn them away again. They stumbled in Game 2 of the first round against a struggling Miami team. Now they’ve done it again against a Cavaliers team that until Thursday was viewed as nothing more than a speed bump.
They have overstepped. They excelled, both from distance and at the rim. None of their starters made even half of their shots, and the Celtics’ entire lineup lacked urgency.
The crowd was wise to the dreary work. They started up the stairs for the night with 4:58 remaining and Boston down 111-87. One loud critic said: “Hey Tatum, we’ll be here when you’re ready! Wake up!”
“When you lose a game like this, it can be a combination of tactics, a combination of effort, a combination of all of those things sometimes,” coach Joe Mazzola said.
Boston’s Jaylen Brown called it an “unacceptable performance.”
4. LeVert feels comfortable again in the Garden
Two of Caris LeVert’s most exciting games ever appeared on the parquet floor in Boston. He scored a career-high 51 points against the Celtics while with Brooklyn in March 2020. Then in October 2022, by then with Cleveland, he scored 41 points. He only has two other 40-point games against anyone else, in all other buildings. .
LeVert, who is wrapping up his eighth season in the NBA, has started 229 games in his career across the regular season and playoffs. But just 53 have come with the Cavaliers since he arrived in a February 2022 trade from Indiana.
Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff praised LeVert’s willingness to sacrifice for the group. He had a forgettable four points in the first game but was essential to the win in the second game. His 21 points in 27 minutes was the best score off the bench so far by either team, and LeVert did it without any threes, mostly cut-and-rolls.
“He’s got this unusual wobble that’s hard to stay in front of,” Bickerstaff said. “He is also dangerous because he can often make late passes that defenses are not ready for.”
“We heard all the last couple of days that Donovan wasn’t getting any help,” LeVert said. “So we wanted to show up for him and for our team, and we’ll continue to do that.
5. “Winning is the priority”
Before tip-off, Bickerstaff paid the Celtics a huge compliment, and was so glowing that he seemed fit for a waiver speech rather than evaluating a one-game series.
“Just watching this team as a whole, winning is the top priority,” he said. “You watch the way they play the game, how unselfish they are. They have really talented players all over their lineup, but they all understand their roles. As you sit and watch film and study them, you don’t see people stepping outside of who they are in a way that would impact other people. … From the outside it doesn’t seem like it’s about “me” at all.
By the end of the evening, the coach had paid nearly identical praise to the Cavaliers themselves.
“I thought our guys executed the game plan perfectly,” Bickerstaff said. “When we defend the way we did and the shots start falling, what we do travels and we can win anywhere.”
Next place: Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, where Cavs fans get a series instead of a mismatch. Game 3 is set for Saturday (8:30 ET, ABC).
“Nothing else matters,” Bickerstaff said. “There is no other agenda. We have play-offs ahead of us that we have to win, and the players are sacrificing and are willing to do whatever it takes to win, because they do not want to disappoint each other.
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Steve Ashburner has written about the NBA since 1980. You can email him here, find his archive here and Follow him on X.
The opinions expressed on this page do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the NBA, its clubs, or Warner Bros. Discovery.