– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BOSTON — There was a a lot of rest but certainly not a lot of rust for the Boston Celtics as it got off to the perfect start to start their latest series.
Jaylen Brown scored 15 of his 32 points in the first quarter — a period where the Celtics poured in 40 — to set the tone for top-seeded Boston, who defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-95 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals inside TD Garden on Tuesday evening. Derrick White went for 25 points while Jayson Tatum had 18 points and 11 rebounds as the Celtics have now won four of their give games in this year’s playoffs by least a 20-point margin.
“I had it rolling tonight,” Brown said. “You just want to come out and make the right plays, make the right reads. That’s all it is. Playing through your teammates and playing with confidence.”
Brown made sure the Celtics shook off any rust from a week layoff after closing out their first-round series against the Miami Heat pretty quickly, making five of his six shots from the field in the game’s first 12 minutes. A slight departure from their normally accurate three-point shooting, Boston did most of its damage inside of the arc in the frame, making 10 of their 14 shots from two-point range while attempting 11 free throws, making all of them from the charity stripe.
Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 33 points, with 16 coming in the third as the Cavaliers, who won their first-round series in seven game against the Orlando Magic, tried to make a run late in the third. Mitchell’s three-pointer with 1:21 remaining in the quarter cut the Celtics lead to 87-75, but his attempt from beyond the arc right before the end of the quarter led to Payton Pritchard racing down the other end for Boston and beating the third-quarter buzzer with a three, giving the Celtics a 92-77 lead going into the fourth. The lead did not fall below 15 at any point in the fourth, with Jayson Tatum’s three-point play with 3:42 remaining giving Boston its biggest lead at 115-89.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Erica Denhoff. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 40 pictures in total.
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