Rapid Recap is designed for the busiest of Celtics fans. Whether you can’t stay awake to read 10 paragraphs or your hangover is just too much, Rapid Recap tells the timeline of the game in only a minute or two.
Two days after a dominant win over the Raptors in which he played arguably the biggest role, Jaylen Brown decided to encore, albeit against far weaker competition. He dropped 34-9-2 on 65% shooting for his first set of consecutive 30-point games. Jayson Tatum wasn’t far behind with 30 of his own, plus 5 boards, 2 dimes and 2 blocks. That’s 64 of the Celtics’ points in a 129-117 win that wasn’t as close as that appears.
The Celtics on the whole played fairly well and never allowed this contest to morph into a trap game. Kemba Walker and Enes Kanter were the only other players to reach double figures (13 and 14, respectively), but lower scorers like Daniel Theis, Gordon Hayward, Brad Wanamaker and Grant Williams contributed through playmaking and defense.
Below clip serves as a reasonable microcosm of Q1. Watch how simple it is for the most basic screen and roll from Enes Kanter to Gordon Hayward to confound Cleveland:
MAKE WAY FOR GORDON 🔨 pic.twitter.com/vQK38CoCT2
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 27, 2019
The Cs weren’t always defending crisply themselves in that quarter, but it didn’t hurt much.
(Still potentially worrisome given that previous Boston games vs. Cleveland have been closer than they needed to be…but Lord almighty is this Cavs team disorganized. Darius Garland and Collin Sexton may be the league’s worst backcourt.)
Ergo, 33-22 Celtics after one. Furthermore:
through contact 💪
Vote for @KembaWalker: https://t.co/nvx9pYbkQP pic.twitter.com/nGn5sQAWZm
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 27, 2019
Boston broadened the gap between themselves and Cleveland further in Q2, and as the latter went for four-minute stretches without field goals and Tatum went on a tear of threes and layups, it pretty much was, to quote play-by-play legend Mike Gorman, “like the varsity squad playing against the JV.”
The Cavs should be relegated to the G League
— NBA Finals Trey (@TA1297) December 27, 2019
It would be safe to say the Celtics’ vibe in this game was…relaxed:
https://twitter.com/StoolGreenie/status/1210680809062985730
Jayson Tatum has 24 points with 4:05 left in the first half.
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) December 27, 2019
Which was also the approximate size of the lead the Celtics had over the Cavaliers at the quarter’s three-minute mark (20). Kevin Love did the best he could for the team he’s actively trying to leave with a little solo run…
JESUS CHRIST, SOMEONE STOP KEVIN LOVE
— Dart_Adams (@Dart_Adams) December 27, 2019
But it made little difference. The Cs led 62-47 at the half.
JB GOT 🆙
Do your job Celtics fans: https://t.co/bpLxUrXFhj pic.twitter.com/D5HEwaLgoO
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 27, 2019
Jaylen picked up where Jayson’s run left off…
Both Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have 20+ points for the 9th time this season. The Celtics are 8-0 in the previous 8 games.
For their careers, they have score 20+ in the same game 16 times. The Celtics are 12-4 in those games and have won 9 straight.— Max Lederman (@Max_Lederman) December 27, 2019
The Celtics could probably afford to sleepwalk, but didn’t risk it (always the wiser decision, IMO) and kept their effort up:
defense ➡️ offense pic.twitter.com/RRK2DZ5hbI
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 27, 2019
Good thing they did, because Love went on another mini-run that could’ve been far more devastating than it was. As it happened, it only brought the Cavs “almost within single digits”—92-81 at the end of three frames.
Then the fourth quarter came, and the Celtics pulled to another almost-20-point lead. What a surprise. The gap also led to fun experiments, like Theis taking/making triples and making sure GRANT got reps:
Theis is pleasant
— Handsome B. Wonderful (@JamPackard) December 27, 2019
Cavs had gotten away with Garland on Williams on a couple of previous trips. Stevens made the call from the sideline to make sure Williams got the post touch there.
— Keith Smith (@KeithSmithNBA) December 27, 2019
(He roasted Garland, in case you were wondering.)
JAYLEN BROWN 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥https://t.co/Luw4scmZpD pic.twitter.com/DD45r8abiP
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) December 27, 2019
Tonight marks the first time ever that Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have both reached the 30-point mark in the same game (includes postseason)
— Celtics Stats (@celtics_stats) December 27, 2019
Send those kisses to the haters. pic.twitter.com/sZShGFkkdh
— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) December 27, 2019
And that just about wrapped it up, except for Kevin Porter Jr.’s meaningless garbage points.
https://twitter.com/JJ_Boston_/status/1210698622368669697?s=20
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