The Boston Celtics picked up in the second round of these 2024 NBA playoffs where they left off in the first round: with a blowout win. The top-seeded Celtics ran away from the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night for a 120-95 victory at TD Garden in Game 1 of their second-round series. Jaylen Brown scored a team-high 32 points, Derrick White added 25 and the Celtics notched their fourth win by 20+ points in this postseason.
The Celtics eliminated the Miami Heat in Round 1. They lost Game 2 of that series but won the other four games by an average of 22 points. Boston scored 40 points in the first quarter on Tuesday, built a 10-point halftime lead and kept the Cavs at arm's length throughout the night. The Celtics got the comfortable win despite a quiet night from Jayson Tatum, who scored 18 points on 7-of-19 shooting and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
Donovan Mitchell, who scored 89 points in the Cavs' final two games of the first round against the Orlando Magic, had a game-high 33 points on 12-for-25 shooting. Cleveland, which was without starting center Jarrett Allen once again due to a rib contusion, shot just 26.2% from 3-point range, however, and made only six of its final 34 attempts.
Here are the biggest takeaways from Boston's Game 1 victory:
1. Donovan Mitchell needs more help
Donovan Mitchell is second in the entire postseason field with 234 points in Cleveland's eight playoff games thus far. The problem the Cavaliers are facing right now is that nobody else on the roster can score consistently. In fact, Mitchell has essentially doubled up his entire roster. Darius Garland is Cleveland's second-leading scorer in the postseason with 118 points. The expensive trio of Garland, Max Strus and Caris LeVert, Cleveland's three other theoretical shot-creators, gave the Cavaliers just 23 points in Game 1.
This disparity is felt most severely when Mitchell goes to the bench. Cleveland lost those minutes by 14 points in Game 1. In the Orlando series, they scored a pathetic 95.1 points per 100 possessions whenever he rested. This isn't rocket science. The Celtics are the deepest team in the NBA when it comes to high-end players. Right now, it looks like Cleveland only has one of them. If this series is going to be at all competitive, somebody besides Mitchell has to be able to score. If that wasn't going to happen against the Magic, it doesn't seem likely to happen against Boston.
2. Derrick White is making a championship leap
Think about every championship team in recent memory. They all have certain similarities. There's always at least one superstar, for example. But lately, there's also been at least one significant win through free agency, a player that a team acquired at a relatively low cost only for him to grow exponentially more valuable in a new setting.
For the Nuggets last year, it was Aaron Gordon. The basketball world didn't know what a devastating off-ball mover he could be because he had no reason to cultivate that skill in Orlando's bland offense. For the 2022 Warriors, it was Andrew Wiggins, who finally embraced defense in a way that he never had in Minnesota. For the 2021 Bucks, it was Brook Lopez going from a defensive negative to a high-end rim-protector. Each of these players were starters before arriving on their championship team, but they all developed in at least one significant way upon arriving, and that turned them into key cogs on a champion.
Well, think about Derrick White before he arrived in Boston. We knew he could defend. His playmaking wasn't quite where it is now, but he could always pass. But in five seasons with the Spurs, he shot just 34.4% from 3-point range on relatively low volume. In Boston, he's up to 38% on reasonable volume. He currently leads the entire playoff field with 28 made 3-pointers in six games, and that shooting has opened up so much more for him offensively. White's pick-and-roll game has become one of Boston's offensive staples. He's capable of leading this offense for stretches, even games at a time.
If Boston does indeed win the championship this season, White is clearly going to wind up being their version of Gordon, Wiggins and Lopez. They got him for one first-round pick and a swap deep in the future. Now? He's basically a max player, the sort of star-in-his-role guard that practically never becomes available on the trade market. Brad Stevens has gotten almost everything right since he took over Boston's front office. White is his greatest victory.
3. Boston's frontcourt depth is holding up
Boston entered the postseason as heavy favorites to win the Eastern Conference, but as we all know, all it takes to turn a favorite into an underdog is a single injury. When Kristaps Porzingis got hurt against the Miami Heat, the window seemingly creaked open very slightly for the rest of the conference. Al Horford is 37. The rest of Boston's front court is unproven on the playoff stage. It looked like someone with the right personnel could take advantage of Boston's bigs.
Well... so much for that. Horford more than held up in his minutes, but the big revelation in Game 1 was that Luke Kornet did as well. Boston won his minutes by 12 points, and he finished the game with 10 rebounds and two blocks. Throw in a brief but effective Xavier Tillman stretch and Boston looked just fine without Porzingis.
Can Boston win the title like this? Probably not. But that isn't the goal here. The Celtics just need to last long enough to get him back, and all reports indicate that is happening sooner rather than later. For now, Boston's trio of healthy bigs look more than capable of the task at hand. All three bring different traits to the table. Horford's shooting, passing and basketball IQ have allowed him to remain viable far beyond a typical NBA center's lifespan. Kornet is so long that he can contest practically anything near the rim. Tillman guarded LeBron James for the majority of a series last postseason. He can get out on the perimeter and switch when the matchup dictates it. Few teams have this kind of versatility in their front-court rotations. Fewer have it when their best big man is out.
