The Boston Celtics received humbled on Friday evening.
Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have been speaking smack to the crew after one quarter.
Then, the Cleveland Cavaliers stormed proper again from a 22-point deficit to get maybe their greatest win of the season.
That’s why, after the sport, coach Joe Mazzulla may solely tip his hat to them.
Speaking to the media, he acknowledged that it was very tough to beat a terrific crew three or 4 instances (by way of Tom Carroll).
Right here’s Joe Mazzulla pregame when requested for a takeaway from his crew’s disappointing loss to Cleveland on Friday:
“When two nice groups are going in opposition to one another, it’s onerous to win a sport 3 or 4 instances…”@WEEI #Celtics pic.twitter.com/yyrUxfkbEJ
— Tom Carroll (@yaboiTCfresh) March 2, 2025
The Celtics have been on the verge of going 3-1 vs. the Cavs this season.
That might’ve despatched a powerful message forward of a possible matchup within the Jap Convention Finals.
As an alternative, they’ve now cut up the regular-season sequence, and all of the video games have been fairly shut.
The Cavaliers might have added the piece they wanted to match up with them by buying De’Andre Hunter, and signing Javonte Inexperienced offers them one other bodily wing and defensive participant to trouble Brown and Tatum.
After all, the Celtics are nonetheless the odds-on favorites to come back out of the East, despite the fact that the Cavs have had the very best file within the league for many of the NBA season.
There’s nonetheless loads of basketball left within the common season, and the Celtics are battle-tested within the postseason.
That’s the place the Cavs should show that they’re for actual and that their robust common season wasn’t a fluke.
And similar to Coach Mazzulla stated, it gained’t be straightforward getting previous one other championship contender three or 4 instances.
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