The Celtics May Have Played Like Assholes But Ultimately Take A Commanding 3-1 Series Lead After Winning Both Games In Cleveland

EXHALE.

When we learned that Donovan Mitchell would be missing Game 4, 99% of the basketball world thought that meant an easy walk in the park type of win for the Celtics. That surely without their best player and the guy who had been carrying the Cavs offense this series that there would be no way for the Cavs to hang in this game.

Celtics fans? We ALL knew what this meant. We've been here countless times over the last few years, and we knew that what this really meant was that we were all about to grind though a war. We all knew that whenever a game like this happens, the games are never easy, they are never blowouts, and they almost always consist of a mix of hot opponent 3pt shooting, careless basketball, and way more stress than should ever exist in a situation like this.

I'd say that's exactly what we got. The Cavs made 11 3PM in the first half, mostly due to terrible Celtics transition defense, and they had 14 points off turnovers. Every single thing we as fans know gets the Celts in trouble in games like this, they were doing. Zero stops, sloppy transition defense, live ball turnover after live ball turnover, it was a script we've seen a thousand times before.

But at the end of the day, the playoffs are about wins. It's not so much how you get it, as long as you walk away with the W. All playoffs we've been hearing how the Celts needed some clutch time high pressure reps, well here ya go. They were faced with the challenge of executing in clutch time minutes to take a commanding 3-1 series lead, and that's what they did. It may not have always been pretty, they may have done things that make you want to rip your eyes out, but they found a way to win. That is what matters.

They Jays carried. That is what matters

You want to know why the Celts won both of these games in CLE? It starts there. With those two guys. They showed up in the biggest moments when it came time to shut the door and end the bullshit. Jaylen with huge buckets late

Tatum with huge rebounds and FTs late, and then another incredible Jrue Holiday performance for good measure

Everyone understands how different of a game this is without Mitchell, but once the game starts none of that matters. All that matters is finding a way to win. It sucks he's hurt and my guess is he also misses Game 5, but you still have to go out and earn your road win. With the Celts going with the patented clog the toilet offense over the final 6ish minutes once they got up 15 where they went around 4 minutes without a bucket, you could feel the momentum starting to shift. 

It's in those moments that late game execution is crucial, and that had always been the question for this team during the year and then again so far in the playoffs. For them to deliver they way they did in the biggest moments isn't insignificant, even without Mitchell on the court. 

Sure it would have been great if they blew doors off and won this game wire to wire, but grow up Peter Pan, Count Chocula. These are the Boston Celtics we're talking about here. When do they ever do what you expect? This being a competitive and high pressure game was the least surprising thing of all time, and while I'm sure they'll get dragged for it, I don't give a shit. It's the first to 4 wins by any means necessary, regardless of how it may look.

The job was to go to CLE and walk away with not just a split, but winning both games. The Celtics did that. 

Now it's time to close the deal Wednesday night at the Garden. Don't give them an ounce of live in this series. End it and rest up.

We'll dive in more tomorrow. For now, 3-1 is all that matters

7 down, 9 to go.