BOSTON — With 14 seconds left in the game and the Celtics up by 5, Jayson Tatum raced out to defend Donovan Mitchell on the perimeter. The Boston forward was trying to steal the ball from his Cavs counterpart, but the full force of Tatum’s 210-pound frame barrelled into Mitchell, sending the Cleveland star sprawling.
Mitchell stayed down for much of the timeout that followed and had a little blood in his mouth when he got up calmly and made two free throws.
That won’t likely be the last big collision between the Celtics and Cavaliers. The entirety of the Boston’s 120-117 win felt like a preview for the seemingly inevitable Eastern Conference playoff series between these two teams in the spring.
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From the Brad Daugherty-Mark Price crew that ended Larry Bird’s NBA career in 1992 to the LeBron James-led Cavs that tormented the early Tatum teams, Boston and Cleveland have had a great on-again, off-again basketball rivalry for over 30 years.
It’s clearly on again in 2024-25.
The Cavs are the Celtics’ biggest East rivals right now. The Heat have faded. The Sixers are more drama than talent. The Nets have gone back to being hapless and while the Knicks are trying really hard, they aren’t quite fighting in the same weight class as the contenders just yet.
In a year when the Celtics are the undisputed favorites to repeat as NBA Champs, the Cavaliers won their first 15 games to quickly establish themselves as the East’s No. 1 challenger. It all made Tuesday and the three matchups that will follow circle-’em-on-the-calendar games.
“Everybody knew that they were undefeated and coming into our building,” Derrick White said.
For a mid-November matchup, this game was about more than winning the NBA’s Intercontinental Championship belt or whatever silliness made them play on a court that looked like the Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day.
It was an NBA Cup tournament game, but that was an afterthought. No gimmicks were necessary to make this a big game.
“They’re a very good team, and they’ve just been playing really well,” Jayson Tatum said. “So you add all that with confidence, and they’ve had the best start to the season so far.”
The Cavs didn’t need to win to legitimize their huge start. They just needed to prove worthy and they did. They cut a 21-point Celtics third-quarter lead to two.
“They had playoff force and physicality. We had regular-season force and physicality (in the first half). In the second half. We turned it up a little,” Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson said. “Strategically you make adjustments. We’re going to have to put it in the bank for Game 2.”
Mitchell had 18 of his 35 points in a dominant fourth quarter It was a performance that had to make Cleveland fans wonder what might have happened against Boston in the Eastern Conference Semifinals if Mitchell had been healthy enough to play.
Even in defeat on Tuesday, he liked what he saw from his team.
“It was a test. A big test,” Mitchell said. “They’re the defending champs for a reason. We’ll continue to get better and be ready. … You can learn a lot from these matchups. It’s a measuring stick. You want to see where you’re at, but don’t put too much weight on it. At the end of the day, we’re not going to be the same team we are in April.”
Round One went to the champs. But the challengers proved capable.
The Dec. 1 rematch is less than two weeks away.
Follow MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
