Evan Mobley’s Biggest Moment for the Cleveland Cavaliers was Thursday Night

The Cleveland Cavaliers took advantage of a hot shooting night against the Boston Celtics on the road in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Thursday night to win 118-94. 

Here are five observations from Cleveland’s Game 2 win in Boston: 

Evan Mobley’s Moment

The first half on Thursday night was impressive for Cleveland for a number of reasons, but the biggest one was the play of Mobley. At half he had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He was moving offensively in a manner that can leave fans frustrated. Not because he wasn’t terrific, but because he’s capable of producing like this more frequently than he does. 

Everything was working for Mobley in the first half. He knocked down a 3-pointer, his first since Game 2 against Orlando; was efficient in transition; and capitalized when he found a mismatch near the basket. Part of the reason Mobley was more aggressive in Game 2 was because he was more frequently given the ball while in motion. It seems as if he’s able to get downhill towards the basket much easier when this is the case. 

In the second half, Mobley dealt with foul trouble, but wasn’t needed as much offensively due to the output from a few others. But in this game, the Cavs aren’t tied at halftime without Mobley playing the way he did. If that doesn’t happen, the second half may not have played out the same way. 

Donovan Mitchell, Still a Superstar

In the first half, Mitchell had just six points on 2 of 6 from the field. It was a rare instance during this postseason when he was on the floor and didn’t need to carry the Cavs offensively. It’s why Mobley’s play was so important. If a crystal ball showed before the game that Mitchell had just six points at half, the common prediction would’ve been that the Cavaliers were losing by double figures. 

In the third quarter, Mitchell again was able to carry the offense. In that quarter alone he had 16 points, made four 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater. After the Cavs started the quarter on a 10-3 run, it felt as if any time there was momentum for Boston to close that gap, Mitchell would make a play. That’s what superstars do, and that’s who Mitchell is. Having a night where he wasn’t forced to shoulder the team for the entire night, only parts of it, can be something that builds the rest of the team up. 

His 29 points mark the fifth-consecutive playoff game he’s crossed 25 points. The only other member of the Cavs that’s done that in franchise history is LeBron James. It’s not that Mitchell should be compared to James, because there’s not anyone that should be, but there’s also not any other player in franchise history that should be compared to Mitchell. James is clearly in his own tier in franchise (and NBA history), and Mitchell is below that, but there isn’t another player that’s in Mitchell’s tier, either. 

The Other Guys

At first glance, Darius Garland’s statline looks meager. He finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. That in itself is nothing to write home about. 

But there were stretches, primarily in the third quarter, when Garland helped propel the Cavaliers offense. He hit a trio of 3-pointers in the quarter and all three of them were aggressive attempts. A qualm with Garland’s game is that he doesn’t take enough 3-pointers, especially when he’s open. The Celtics want to play drop coverage (leave the big man below the level of the screen) when Garland initiates a pick and roll. This leaves him open attempts from the outside if he’s willing to take them. Making Boston pay for this coverage should they continue to deploy it will be very important for Cleveland’s offense. 

The other big performance came from Caris LeVert off the bench. After a rather pedestrian start to the postseason, LeVert had an important role in Cleveland’s Game 7 win over Orlando. On Thursday night against Boston he played even better. There have been times when the offense for the Cavs sputters to a halt when one of Mitchell or Garland leaves the floor. That didn’t happen in any meaningful way on Thursday thanks in large part due to LeVert. He played 13 first-half minutes and scored 12 of his 21 points.

While the Cavs will very rarely, if ever, have a moment pass when neither Garland or Mitchell is on the floor, it’s important for LeVert to be able to do some of the lifting when he’s on the floor. His play is often a barometer for the Cavs. When he’s good off the bench, Cleveland is very difficult to beat. 

Defensive Changes

Part of the reason the Boston Celtics are such an offensive juggernaut is their offensive efficiency. They attempt more 3-pointers on average than any team in basketball at 42.5 per game while making them at the second-best rate (more on that below). There are going to be nights where the Celtics are hot from outside. They’re certainly capable of making nearly half their attempts from 3-point range on any given night. In Game 1, the Celtics finished 18 of 46 on 3-point attempts, which is roughly an average night for them.

The key to surviving that isn’t always contesting 3-pointers as a defense. It’s about preventing them from happening. That’s the thing the Cavs did best defensively on Thursday night in Boston. Through three quarters in Game 2, the Celtics attempted 25 3-pointers, which paces out to 33 in a full game, nearly 10 below their season average. That’s a great sign for the Cavs defense. In this series, in which Boston lacks a traditional big man and is a stylistic shock compared to the previous matchup against the Orlando Magic, the Cavs have to scramble around the perimeter at a much higher rate. It clearly was a weak point in Game 1 on Tuesday. In Game 2 Cleveland did an outstanding job of this. The defense was much more connected and Cleveland's closeouts on shooters were significantly more aggressive, sometimes forcing Boston to pass up shots. Yes, Boston connected on only eight of its 35 3-point attempts, but the key number here is the attempts. 

The Celtics lost only 18 games this regular season. There were 29 games during the season in which they attempted 39 or fewer 3-pointers. Boston was 21-8 in those games. While that record is certainly still good, it’s not nearly as impressive as the 43-10 record the team had when attempting 40 or more shots from behind the arc. 

Keeping Boston below 40 attempts from the outside needs to be a top priority defensively for the Cavaliers for the remainder of this series. 

So How Repeatable is This?

Not everything can be repeated. Will the Cavs shoot nearly 50% from 3-point range on a regular basis? No. Will the Celtics, who shot 38.8% from 3-point range during the regular season, only make 23% of their 3-pointers from here on out? That’s pretty unlikely, too. Those two numbers are what’s called “shooting variance” in the NBA. It’s the same reason Boston lost a first-round game to the Miami Heat. Let’s face it, if those things happened all the time, the roles in this series would be reversed and the Cavs would be heavy favorites.

But there are some things that can be taken from this game and implemented for the Cavs in the remainder of this series. Limiting the 3-pointers is one of them and attacking the basket with Mobley is another one. The margin for error for the Cavs in this series is still pretty thin, but Game 2 showed that the Celtics aren’t some unbeatable superpower. These teams have now played five times this season. The Celtics have won three of those five games, but Thursday night was the first time all year the home team had lost in the five meetings.

There’s a long way to go for the Cavs to win this series, and while it still may be unlikely the Cavs beat Boston three more times, they may have found the proper blueprint to do so.