3 Important lessons from the Cavaliers’ comeback win over the Celtics
What a victory
Whatever you believe about the Cleveland Cavaliers was likely proven true on Friday night.
If you think that they are a legitimate inner-circle title contender, that their regular-season dominance is a prelude to postseason dominance, then coming back from 22-down to defeat the defending champions on the road is all the validation that you need.
If you think that they are a “regular season team” that is not built, at least not yet, to take down the likes of Boston or Denver or Oklahoma City in the playoffs, then going down 25-3 to start the game against a short-handed Celtics team proves your point.
Whatever your opinion of the team, the comeback victory was certainly exciting and impressive. The Cavs battled back not once but twice, coming back to close the deficit at halftime before Boston blew things open again in the third quarter to build back a 17-point lead. Then Evan Mobley came alive, Donovan Mitchell carried the offense and Cleveland pulled off a 123-116 win.
What can we take away from the game? Here are three lessons we learned from the Cavs’ latest win, their ninth-straight and possibly the most impressive of the entire season.
Lesson No. 1: The Cavaliers have serious mental toughness
One of the ways that you can track a team’s mental fortitude is how they respond when they get knocked down. When you are down 25-3 to start a game the odds of winning are incredibly slim. Cleveland was 0-4 when trailing by 20 points in a game this season, and the Celtics’ win expectancy rose as high as 94.6 percent in the third quarter.
