Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue declined to use the word “rivalry” when discussing the Boston Celtics, but it’s clear these teams don’t like each other. Unfortunately for the Celtics, that animosity worked against them Saturday night.
After roaring out to a big early lead, the C’s lost their cool against the Eastern Conference’s top seed, committing a total of 22 fouls and picking up two technicals en route to a 120-103 loss at Quicken Loans Arena.
“Oh, most definitely,” Celtics forward Jared Sullinger said in a postgame interview on CSN New England when asked if he thought the officiating affected his team. “We didn’t keep our poise, and the refs got to us. We’ve just got to do a better job of controlling that.”
The wheels started falling off for Boston in the third quarter, where the Celtics committed nine fouls and sent Cleveland to the line 15 times. A few C’s players didn’t agree with some of the calls, especially Marcus Smart, whose hounding of the officials earned him a technical with four minutes remaining in the third.
“We feel like we deserve some of the calls that other teams get,” added Sullinger, who picked up Boston’s other technical late in the fourth quarter. “But we’re just going to move forward and understand that we’ve got to play. Regardless of how the officiating is going, we’ve got to play.”
Brad Stevens agreed that his team looked a little unhinged after winning its previous five games that included four comebacks from double-digit deficits. But for the Celtics coach, his squad’s issues went beyond their disagreements with the refs.
“I thought poise was a big factor,” Stevens said in a postgame interview on CSN New England. “I thought the biggest factor in the game was, the ball really didn’t move on offense. And then defensively, I thought that we took ourselves out of position, whether that’s a composure thing, whether that is an overgambling thing, whatever the case may be.”
Stevens has a point, as the run-and-gun style that helped Boston out-sprint the New York Knicks went by the wayside after the first quarter. The Celtics tallied just six fast-break points against the patient, deliberate Cavs, a far cry from their 30-point fast-break outburst Friday.
“We’re not going to turn them over being out of position,” Stevens said. “You’re going to give them dunks, and then they set their defense. And then we have 17 assists to 14 turnovers, and both of those numbers are bad for us, as far as having a chance to win a game like this.”
The C’s had to come back to Earth at some point after their recent hot play. But if they have aspirations of a deep playoff run, Saturday was a good lesson that they won’t do themselves any favors by losing their cool.
“You’ll have to ask them,” Stevens said when asked if the Celtics were paying too much attention to the officiating. “I think both sides were warned by the officials. But I don’t think we played with great poise as indicated by our play. And all the other stuff, hey, you’ve got to control what you can control.”
Thumbnail photo via Ken Blaze/USA TODAY Sports Images
