Celtics Show Some Mettle In Opening Night Loss
By Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- It took only five minutes into the their opening game for all of that excitement to be sucked out of the new Celtics season.
Gordon Hayward's gruesome ankle injury knocked the wind out of everyone at Quicken Loans Arena on Tuesday, an ominous start to what was supposed to be dawn of something special for Boston. The scene that played out on the floor hit like a sack of bricks and left the Celtics shell-shocked, in a daze for their fallen teammate. The Cavaliers took advantage of their listless opponent and jumped out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter and a 16-point advantage at the half.
The Celtics were down and out heading into the locker room and had every excuse to pack it in. Tuesday night was one of 82, a contest that looked like a lost cause after the horror scene that played out in the opening minutes. Without Hayward, who you could pencil in for 20 points and six rebounds a night, there was no way these Celtics, with two kids under the legal drinking age now required to step into pivotal roles, could dig themselves out of that hole against the defending Eastern Conference champs.
We weren't expecting to learn much about the Celtics just one game into the season, and for every unknown that was partially answered, a few more questions were bound to pop up. But what we did learn is there's a lot to like about this team -- even without Hayward. Brad Stevens and the team's leaders must have had one inspiring message at the half, as Boston bounced back mentally and erased an 18-point deficit to not only make a game out of it, but take a late lead.
After putting up one heck of a fight for the last 24 minutes, these Celtics may still have a little something in them. We won't have to wait too long either; the C's get to ride Tuesday night's emotional roller coaster right into their home opener on Wednesday night.
Tuesday night's opener fit the NBA's dramatic script to a T. LeBron and Kyrie had their moments, both as friends (fake friends) and foes. We knew Kyrie would hit shots, and he's going to have to do that at an even higher clip than initially expected. He drained some big buckets in key moments late in Tuesday's contest, with his three-point binge in the middle of the fourth quarter putting Boston on top. Of course the game had to come down to a last second try by Cleveland's former star, one that didn't come close as he tried to force overtime, and the Cavs walked off with a 102-99 win.
Games will come down to Irving's silky jumper again, a script that is hopefully revisited in or against Cleveland. He'll probably drain the next one, too. Tuesday night just wasn't meant to be for the "kid," not in LeBron's house, where the King is allowed to take as many steps or spins as he want.
There really are no moral victories, the Celtics are 0-1, and they are dealing with a devastating injury to a player they had gigantic expectations for. The newly constructed team that needed time to gel now needs time to gel into something completely different. Responsibilities are getting bigger, and just about everything is changing.
It's now all about Kyrie and the kids. The good news is those kids, Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, whose combined age wouldn't qualify for AARP, grew up before our very eyes on Tuesday.
Jaylen took over with the poise of a vet, not a sophomore starting just his 21st game. He attacked the basket, fearless of James or anyone else that contested his attempts, finishing with a career-high 25 points. He did all of that while chasing around James for much of the evening.
Jayson, just 19, shed his training wheels and scored 14 points in the second half and finished the night with 10 rebounds. His layup with 2:03 left gave Boston a three-point lead, and over that last 24 minutes he looked like anything but a fresh-faced rookie making his NBA debut.
There were mistakes as well, and there will be a lot more from both of the youngsters. Tatum looked lost for the first half, and got a quick introduction to LeBron's patented block from behind. But both were a big part of the gritty bunch that erased an 18-point hole by getting tough, and neither looked too thrown off by the spotlight and emotions of the game in the fourth quarter.
The Cavs are still the Cavs and came through in the clutch, while the Celtics could not. But Boston didn't go down without a fight. That bodes well for the Celtics, even with Hayward lost for the foreseeable future. They weren't expected to win it all in their first year of this new-look squad, but we learned on Tuesday that much like Stevens' Celtics of the last few years, even without 85 percent of that roster, this bunch is still going to battle until the end.
There's a whole new set of questions surrounding the team now, but if Tuesday night showed us anything, it's that we're still going to have a lot of fun finding the answers.