This season, the Celtics are not going to play around at TD Garden. The Cavaliers were defeated 116-107 on Thursday night, moving the C’s record to 12-0 at home to begin the season.
The Celtics have now opened their home schedule with twelve consecutive victories, matching the start of the 2007–08 Boston Celtics, for the fourth time in team history. And everyone remembers how Boston’s season ended.
These current Celtics have been playing at a different level on the TD Garden court, but we won’t draw any conclusions just yet. With an average point difference of plus-15.3 in Boston, the greatest home point differential in the NBA, they are not just defeating opponents but doing it very easily.
The Celtics have won seven of their 12 home games by double digits. That comprises three games with a winning margin of more than 23 points, and four games with a margin of at least 15 points. Boston defeated the Pacers by 51 points at TD Garden, their largest victory of the year.
Though it was never really in question, Thursday night was a bit closer. Despite the Cavaliers’ efforts to cut an 11-point halftime lead to just four points by the conclusion of the third quarter, the Celtics prevailed in the last 12 minutes behind some clutch baskets and stifling defense.
Against the Cavaliers, all five of the Celtics’ starting players scored in double digits, with Jayson Tatum topping the pack with 27 points and 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the year. With an injured ankle going into the game, Jaylen Brown was dubious, but he ended up with 22 points and a team-high five assists.
After the victory, Brown said that Cleveland should never have been able to make it a game in the second half and that he didn’t think the squad had its typical enthusiasm. This season, the third quarter has proven to be problematic, and on Thursday night, the C’s were outscored 33-25 in that period.
However, Brown claims that everyone is aware that when opponents enter TD Garden, they will give it their all. Brown isn’t going to let the C’s play down to opponents this year, even if they would have in previous years.
I’ve stressed that this year, you should not omit any measures. Because a season might sometimes get a little monotonous, I believe that this season has seen a significant improvement in our mentality. Things sort of grow repetitive as guys start to kind of go through the motions. Our goal is to keep ourselves as confined as much as possible, and I believe that our performance at home is indicative of our efforts to improve.”
Last year, the Celtics had a 32-9 home record throughout the regular season. However, they let home games slip away in the playoffs, which made their quest to make it back to the NBA Finals much more difficult. They foolishly extended the series by blowing a possible game-winning shot in the first round against the Hawks, and then they lost in Game 1 against the Sixers even though Joel Embiid was not present. They succumbed in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals after overcoming a 3-0 series deficit against the Miami Heat in the first two games.
Last postseason, the Celtics finished 5-6 at home, and in the 2021–2022 playoffs, they finished 6–6 at TD Garden. In light of this, the Celtics are committed to making the Garden a terrifying place for opposing teams for the whole campaign.
We haven’t played as well at home as we would have liked to play the previous year or two, particularly during the playoffs. We’ve had some difficult home losses,” Tatum said on Thursday evening.” And so far, we have been.”
The two top players on the squad are sending you exactly the message you want to hear.
There is still a long way to go before this Celtics team equals the franchise’s best-ever home start of 18 points, achieved by Bill Russell’s Celtics in 1957–58 at the Boston Garden to begin the season. Additionally, they will face a very difficult test on Friday night when the Orlando Magic visit the city for the second part of a back-to-back. The Celtics will try to get revenge on the Magic for a 113-96 road loss in Orlando last month. This is the first of two consecutive games between the two teams in Boston.
Don’t expect the Celtics to let up at TD Garden, however, as they place a greater priority on winning at home and in front of their home crowd.
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