The Boston Celtics earned what coach Brad Stevens depicted as a character-building win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday.
That’s the good news.
The bad news? The Celtics’ defense allowed another opposing player to put together a career performance against them.
Cavs guard Collin Sexton was the most recent example as he finished with a career-high 41 points on 17-for-30 from the floor in 45 minutes. The Celtics now have allowed an opposing player to score 35-plus points in four consecutive games.
Prior to Sexton, Nets guard Caris LeVert scored a career-high 51 points, including 37 in the fourth quarter and overtime, with Brooklyn defeating Boston on Tuesday. Rockets guard Russell Westbrook scored 41 points when Houston defeated the C’s on Saturday and Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell scored 37 points during Boston’s win over Utah last Wednesday.
Not great! pic.twitter.com/zn2hxzIZhl
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) March 5, 2020
“He’s (Sexton) a hard guy to guard. We’ve struggled with some of these guards this year,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said Wednesday, as seen on NBC Sports Boston’s postgame coverage. “And we switch a lot, that gives up few more points from the guards and takes away threes from others sometimes. You got to balance that… But you certainly have to consider that.”
It’s certainly one area the Celtics will need to focus on as they get ready for the postseason, especially since they could face other high-caliber guards like Indiana Pacers guard Victor Oladipo, Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons and Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry.
Fortunately for the Celtics, they will have a chance to end that streak against the player that started it (Mitchell) when they host the Jazz at TD Garden on Friday.
