What was the secret of the Cavs victory in Boston? – Terry Plutos scribbles

3. That was ATKINSON’s way to praise his star, who scored 41 points in Boston. His star was 13 out of 26 shootings and had five templates and three rebounds. He played the entire fourth quarter, but was still only 35 minutes on the pitch.

4. In 20 career games against Boston, Mitchell scored an average of 30.8 points, this season it is 35.5 to the Celtics. Mitchell has passed Michael Jordan at the highest career value against Boston. Yes, this is part of why I say he is the second best all -time player of the Cavs (behind LeBron James). For what it is worth, I am old enough to see them all for the cavs.

5. Atkinson said the cavs “played the target game” with Mitchell. They set screens to create switches, often where Mitchell was defended by Bostons Sam Hauser. Boston did the same for Jayson Tatum and created a mismatch in which Darius Garland was forced to defend one of the best players in the NBA.

6. Liability exclusion No. 1: If Boston had his full squad, the defensive specialist Jrue Holiday (finger injury) would have started instead of Hauser. Nevertheless, Mitchell had one of the nights that reminded us of how he is the second best player in the history of this franchise behind LeBron.

7. More Atkinson on Mitchell: “He is never too high or too low. He even holds us … Even during this (early game) avalanche (Mitchell helped our boys) not to be annoying.”

8. Yes, Atkinson said “upset”. I am not sure if I have ever heard that from a trainer. On the other hand, the former Cavs trainer Lenny Wilken’s “discrombobulated” when the Cavs had a first quarter of what happened in Boston. They say, annoyed and I say discrumbed … Either way, I thought the cavs were in the middle of the first quarter.

9. Liability No. 2: Together with the missing holiday (one of my favorite players because of his defense and his clutch shot production), the Celtics were Kristpaps Porzingis even without a great man. The cavs were healthy.

10. That means when you are in Boston and are 25-3 down and the fans scream and your starter look as if they are thinking about mussel chowers after the game … you will be blown out. If you give up 74 points in Boston in the first half, you will be crushed. If you dropped 87-70 at the beginning of the third quarter, you will definitely lose. Only it didn’t happen.

11. Key point from Atkinson: “We played a lot of boys. We finally carried her down … our bank dug from a hole. “

12. None of this is to take Mabley, Mitchell etc. away from the Cavs, but the Cavs bank has exceeded Bostons 33-6. Two players started in Boston Bench, but this is still important. Take a look at the plus/minus statistics for the Key Bench -People of the Cavs: Ty Jerome (+34), Sam Merrill (+22), de’andre Hunter (+21), Dean Wade (+12). Among the starters was the only player with a plus Mabley (+2). Mitchell was 0. All others were exceeded.

13. The Cavs were exceeded in the first quarter. Then they owned the boards 37-23. They had a 44-40 lead for the game. You won nine in a row and won the back -up war in every game during the winning streak.

14. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla admitted that the Cavs injured his team with their offensive rebound. That was obvious in the fourth quarter when a relentless Mobley got one rebound after the other. The Cavs hammered Boston 46-34 with points in color. Mobley only had six points and four rebounds in the first three quarters. It looked like he was in a strange art basketball fog.

15. Atkinson on Mobley in the fourth quarter (11 points, 8 rebounds): “I thought he was deep in a hole. He didn’t feel it. This is a sign of a great player. You fight … you fight. And suddenly he changed the game. “

16. Mobleys 12 rebounds led the cavs. But next were Hunter (5), Max Strus (4), Jerome (4) and Jarrett Allen (4). The Cavs had an excellent team when they woke up.

17. Finally back to the bank. The CAVS are No. 6 in the NBA Bench rating (Boston is No. 26). They are also number 3 in minutes that boys played by the bank. This has made a big influence this season.

18. There is a temptation for a trainer to play only seven or eight players in a big game. Atkinson has opposed him and uses at least 10 boys every evening. In this game, Boston only scored 42 points in the second half – 18 in the last period. Atkinson’s deep depth (an old sentence from Baltimore Orioles Manager Earl Weaver) was a game changer.

Hear me talk

March 26: I will be the walls of books in the Shoppes in Parma to give a lecture and meet fans. It starts at 6 p.m. and is free.