– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — It was going to take a group effort for the new-look, not-as-domineering Boston Celtics to take out the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference one season ago, a team who aspires to be what the older version of the C’s were, NBA champions, just a couple of seasons ago. Boston literally took the “group effort” part seriously, as almost every single player up and down the active roster played an instrumental part in checking off the Celtics’ first win of the season at home.
Jaylen Brown led eight Celtics who scored in double figures with 30 points as Boston made 21 three-pointers on its way to a 125-105 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers inside TD Garden on Wednesday evening. Sam Hauser came off the bench to make seven of those Celtics’ three-pointers on his way to 21 points in 21 minutes.
Payton Pritchard, now in a starting role after being one of the top reserves in the league the past few seasons, finished with 10 points and 10 assists, while another Celtic tasked with a bigger role in the new campaign, Neemias Queta, had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
As far as the newest Celtics are concerned, Josh Minott was the third Boston player to record a double-double on the night with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while Anfernee Simons (14 points) and Luka Garza (10) each scored in double figures as reserves.
Evan Mobley had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for the Cavaliers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Donovan Mitchell scored 15 points, but was held scoreless in the second half as he attempted just four field goals — and missed them all — in the game’s final 24 minutes.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Wednesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 56 pictures in total.
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