The Boston Celtics opened the 2025-26 season with expectations lower than they have been in a long time. The expectation is that Jayson Tatum will miss most of, if not the entire season, with the Achilles injury he suffered in the playoffs. They traded away most of the talent from last year’s team.
And after an 0-3 beginning to this year, it seemed the Celtics weren’t looking too sharp. They were able to rattle off a big run to dominate the New Orleans Pelicans. And the following night, a battle with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Well, it would appear there would be no problems there. A 20-point win against the reigning regular season conference champions now gives them plenty to celebrate.
The Boston Celtics Just Let It Fly All Night Long
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The Boston Celtics were a team that won a title two years ago by just taking a whole lot of three-pointers. Well, a lot more than just that. Derrick White was making them. Jaylen Brown was sinking them. Tatum was absolutely knocking them down. Sam Hauser would come off the bench with Payton Pritchard, and the same would be true.
In their game with the Cavaliers on Wednesday night, they attempted 57 three-pointers. No that is not a typo. And no, they did not care how many they missed. And that actually played a huge part in how they got the 125-105 victory. They were able to grab a lot of offensive rebounds off their misses, and continue to win on the glass as a result.
There was a stretch in the first quarter where Boston made a three-pointer on five consecutive possessions. And Hauser himself was responsible for four of them. They paid him the big bucks to be a shooter, and during that stretch of the game, he could not miss. Anfernee Simons came off the bench too, adding four more triples.
All of their shooters, combined with Brown’s 30 points were able to get them the offense they needed. With contributions all over the board, they were hard to contain. This was on a night when Pritchard and White combined to make just 4 of their 19 triple attempts. The rest of the team shot 17-38 from distance.
Holding the Cavs to 1-12 from three-point land in the final quarter, and Donovan Mitchell without a single point over the final half will do wonders for your victory chances, it appears.
The Celtics Dominated The Glass
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The Celtics traded Kristaps Porzingis to the Hawks. They let both Luke Kornet and Al Horford walk. So what did that leave? Neemias Queta spent the previous two years with the team in a limited role. They brought in Luka Garza after a few years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Xavier Tillman is still here after being acquired at the trade deadline a few seasons ago.
Facing a Cavaliers team that starts two bigs, they still had no problems on the glass. Boston grabbed 17 offensive rebounds to Cleveland’s 11. Garza and Queta had 10 of those. They got an additional five O boards from second-year man Josh Minott.
The most impressive part of the job done by these Celtics, was that they were out-rebounding guys far more established than they were. And it was the pure energy that they were bringing that was getting them there.
Queta out-rebounded both Jarrett Allen, and Evan Mobley — two seven-footers that have accrued All-Star selections while playing for the Cavs. He’s earning his minutes in Beantown.
Collectively, Boston held their opponents to 40% shooting from the floor, and just 7-40 from beyond the arc over the final three quarters. This is a win to celebrate, and one that took the whole team to get it done.
Jaylen Brown’s hair may be disappearing, but Boston’s season is just getting started. Watch out.
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