Celtics-Cavaliers player grades: Brown & Tatum lead way, Pritchard & Scheierman clutch

Jayson Tatum scored 20 and Jaylen Brown 23 to lead the Celtics past the Cleveland Cavaliers and sweep all three games between the two East rivals. Payton Pritchard and Baylor Scheierman combined for 34 off the bench to support the cause in a 109-98 win.

Box Score

Game Flow

The Cavs stormed out to an 11-3 lead with Evan Mobley dominating on both ends, but Sam Hauser started a three-point barrage that tied the game back up. Tatum played a long stint in the first quarter, scoring 12 points on 4-6 shooting, and Boston’s offense got going to put up 35 points and lead by nine.

The Celtics defense, and some cold Cavs shooting, allowed the Celtics to win five minutes of play in the second quarter without Tatum or Brown. Neither team shot well, but Cleveland’s quarter was awful. Boston won the quarter 21-10 and went into halftime up 20.

The Cavs offense got going in the third, starting on a 14-6 run to cut the lead back down to 12, but Brown’s mid-range shots started to fall and another batch of three-pointers pushed the lead out to 26 at one point. The Cavs closed the third on an 8-0 run, making it 86-69 Boston heading into the fourth.

The run extended to 20-5 early in the fourth, making it a 10-point game once again. After some back-and-forth, it got down to eight. Scheierman and Pritchard hit some big buckets, Tatum hit a dagger three-pointer, and the Celtics held on for the win.

Here are four reasons they won

They got something from everyone

You can pick almost anyone and find some important contributions.

Tatum started hot and set a tone
Sam Hauser hit huge three-pointers after Cavs runs in the first and third quarters to change momentum.
Scheierman hit important baskets in the second and fourth quarters
Brown had a monster third quarter
Pritchard led the team in the fourth
Queta was big on the boards
Derrick White attacked and created open looks for teammates.

It was a good team win.

They rebounded well

Especially in the second quarter when the Cavs went ice cold. While some of the misses were because of Boston’s defensive pressure, some were flat-out misses. What the Celtics did really well was prevent a lot of second chance opportunities so they could capitalize on those misses. Cleveland only had 11 second chance points in this game.

They won the bench battle

Pritchard and Scheierman each out-scored the Cavs bench on their own. Cleveland’s reserves only managed 13 points while Boston’s combined for 41. That puts too much pressure on the Cavs starters to come through with monster nights.

The Cavs cratered in the second quarter

They were awful. AWFUL! They shot 4-25 and 0-14 from three. Boston scored just 21 points on 5-20 shooting and 1-9 from three and they not only added to their lead, they won the quarter by 11.

Player Grades

Baylor Scheierman: A (16 points, 10 rebounds)

He hit timely shots, especially in the second half. Not only did he notch his fourth double-double of the season, he shot 4-6 from three.

Jaylen Brown: A- (23 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists)

He carried the C’s through stretches, got to the line nine times (hitting eight), all while playing good defense. He gets dinged for a 7-17 shooting night and four turnovers. Still, he made several big plays when the C’s were fighting off Cavs runs.

Payton Pritchard: A- (18 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists)

He went to his signature shot in the fourth, driving, spinning, and tossing in 14 foot fadeaways. He also fought to keep possession on a play that was nearly a turnover, but turned into a Tatum dagger three.

Sam Hauser: A- (15 points, 4 rebounds)

The Cavs early run was stopped by a couple Hauser triples. Then he stopped another run in the third in a similar way. He hit some shots that I’d define as clutch, even though they came in the first and third quarters, because they kept things from getting out of hand.

Jayson Tatum: B+ (20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists)

His first quarter was very much the Tatum we remember. He tailed off after that, partly because he was on a minutes restriction and partly, I assume, because of some of the fatigue from nearly nine minutes in the opening quarter. That will all come with time.

Neemias Queta: B+ (4 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist)

He’s the one who made the pass to Tatum in the fourth quarter, making a very nice read on the pass. He got caught in a couple of tough, late-clock situations that forced some shots he wouldn’t normally take.

Derrick White: B- (6 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists)

He didn’t do much offensively, but he did have a nice cut for a dunk, exploiting space created by Tatum’s return to action. He also made some very nice defensive plays that didn’t appear on the stat sheet. Still would have liked to see some more scoring. He’ll figure it out.

Hugo Gonzalez/Luka Garza: C

Garza scored 7 points but got into foul trouble and only played 11:39. Gonzalez played seven minutes and had a couple of nice defensive moments, but mostly struggled with the James Harden matchup.