BOSTON — There is an irony to the number zero. It conveys the absence of something. But when it sits in the loss column, it tells a much different story. One of makes, misses, strategic brilliance and dumb luck.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, the Boston Celtics, and the entire NBA universe stared at that 15-0 record all week, knowing that zero wouldn’t last forever.
Before the evening began, Donovan Mitchell was at peace with that inevitability. As much as he was excited to take on the defending champs on their glowing green floor with a trip to the NBA Cup Finals in Las Vegas in the mix, he was looking forward to learning whatever lessons this night had in store for him and his team.
He wanted to see how much they’ve grown since their season ended in the TD Garden in May, and they hired a new coach in Kenny Atkinson and reinvented the way they play offense. It felt like things had changed. Their record certainly hinted at it. This was the night to find out if it was true.
“At the end of the day, we’re not winning any championships today or tomorrow,” Mitchell said. “So we just use it as building blocks, but enjoy the ride too.”
Mitchell conceded their game plan used to be obvious. “It was myself, it was (Darius Garland), pick-and-roll, pick-and-roll, pick-and-roll.” They’re a different team under Atkinson. The principles consist of a litany of unconventional off-ball cuts based on a variety of factors, increased pace, and a smidge more 3-point volume. It takes bits and pieces from the Celtics, the Warriors, and many other teams in recent memory that have played with a sense of mystery.
“It’s not a fluke or anything,” Evan Mobley said of the Cavaliers’ 15-0 start. Mobley is shown defending the net against Jayson Tatum. (Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
The tide that has lifted Cleveland’s ships has been Evan Mobley, who is coming into his own on the offensive end in a variety of ways. The Cavs have looked like they were ready to make noise in the East in the past, then kept coming up short. As Mobley has ascended, he felt a matchup with the Celtics was a chance to make a real statement.
“That we’re a real contender. It’s not a fluke or anything,” Mobley said. “We’re coming out here to get wins and get better every day.”
The result has been the best offensive rating in the NBA, and, of course, being undefeated. Well, until now. That zero in the loss column is gone. The last look they got of it was on the back of Jayson Tatum’s jersey as he clinched the Celtics win on a free throw with 20 seconds left.
While the game finished close, it was a journey through the Cavs’ path from last spring to this fall. A woeful first half playing into Boston’s hands, a resounding response out of halftime, then ultimately coming up just short. Though they were missing a big chunk of their supporting cast in Caris LeVert, Isaac Okoro, and Dean Wade, Atkinson ended up getting 36 points out of his bench.
The problem was Cleveland didn’t quite play like their new selves early on as Boston pushed out to a 17-point halftime lead. The upside was that Cleveland held Boston to its lowest 3-point attempt rate of the season, as 41 of Boston’s 86 shots (47.6 percent) were from deep. While Atkinson is the kind of coach who is amenable to bumping up his team’s 3-point rate, he doesn’t want to push them out of their comfort zone.
“We gotta be ourselves,” Atkinson said. “We can’t all of a sudden say, ‘Hey guys, let’s shoot 60 3s this half.’ It’s just we play our style of ball.”
It’s hard to be themselves when Boston is playing its best, but you would expect more out of an undefeated team walking into the building where their prior season ended. It’s not as simple as letting the Celtics have their way. Even an undefeated team doesn’t have that level of cache with the basketball Gods. The Celtics just reminded the Cavs of what it looks like when you flip a switch.
“They had playoff force and physicality,” Atkinson said. “We had regular season force and physicality.”
The Cavs fixated on isolations and pick-and-roll, an ironic approach considering everything Mitchell said before the game about how losing to the Celtics in the playoffs helped them move away from that style.
“We were just looking for mismatch hunting too much, too often,” Mobley said. “In the second half, we started doing more random basketball and more our brand of basketball. That’s why we came back.”
The Cavs came out of the locker room leaning into the unpredictability of their cutting system that makes them such a tricky offense to contain. That freed up Mobley to go into attack mode, targeting cross-matches in the post only when they came his way organically. He ended up with a season-high six assists along with 22 points on 8-for-13 shooting.
That was a much different story than the postseason, where Mobley’s success was often the byproduct of Joe Mazzulla’s game plan. The Celtics coach put the defensive pressure on Cleveland’s guards to get the ball out of their hands, giving Mobley free rolls at the rim to ensure he took twos while Boston took threes.
Mobley spent the summer reshaping his game to be more versatile, becoming an occasional point guard of sorts for the Cavs and learning to create all over the floor. He didn’t know what to expect when Atkinson took over, but Mobley praised the coach for catering the offense to his growing skillset.
After the loss Tuesday, Atkinson said that he made a strategic mistake not leaning into Mobley’s post skills on Celtics guards in the first half to keep the game closer.
“(Mobley) could punish switches, so we gotta keep looking at that,” Atkinson said. “That’s gonna be the playoffs, teams switching on to him.”
Darius Garland drives against Derrick White in the third quarter. Garland had an off night against Boston, going 3-for-21 from the field and 0-for-6 from deep. (Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
It was a novel moment for a Cavs franchise that has been predicated on Mitchell and Garland running the offense. While they leaned into that too much early on, they were burned by the fact that Garland just didn’t have it in this game.
While the Celtics play just two games this week and have had plenty of time for rest, the Cavs haven’t enjoyed consecutive days off since the season started almost a month ago. Racking up all those wins, somebody was bound to have an off night. That ended up being Garland, who shot a woeful 3-for-21 from the field and 0-for-6 from deep. Only Sam Merrill — who played the fewest minutes on the Cavs — scored less than Garland.
“I think he hit a wall tonight,” Atkinson said. “He won’t say that. I’ll say it. It’s part of the NBA. It’s too bad it happened tonight.”
Garland chalked it up to just missing shots and wouldn’t play the fatigue card, but this Celtics backcourt led by Jrue Holiday and Derrick White has had his number since the May playoff series. Their contrasting blends of physicality, discipline on hesitation moves, and ability to alter shots without fouling give the Celtics an answer for every facet of Garland’s game.
A lot of Cavs players learned a lot of lessons Tuesday night, but Garland will need to go back to the drawing board for the rematch in two weeks.
“They obviously do some different things to put you in tough positions,” Atkinson said. “So we’re just going to have to put it in the bank and try to make adjustments to our game too.”
The Cavs can forget about being undefeated now. It was never something they took for granted anyway. Mitchell said that win, lose, or draw (well, you can’t draw), this game was going to be a lesson for the future, not a judgment on who they are now.
Mitchell never foresaw being 15-0. Why would he? Why would anyone? He just saw glimpses of what the team could become, of what they are now. They’re a team that can run through the league, but there are roadblocks ahead of them. Now it’s time to clear the first one.
“We’re just looking at this as another test. No championship is being won tonight,” Mitchell said. “The biggest thing is how can we continue to get better?”
(Top photo of Jayson Tatum looking to pass against Donovan Mitchell: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)