Jim Ingraham: It's only one game but it already doesn't look good for Cavs

If it's any consolation, the Cavs lost Tuesday night to a team that has won 17 NBA championships, while the Cavs, in their history, have won a grand total of ... um, let's see here ... oh yeah, there it is ... one. Tuesday night in Massachusetts, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics were the Celtics and the Cavs were one Donovan Mitchell short. Maybe two. Not even the unstoppable, indefatigable Spida could put the brakes on a rested and ready Celtics team that looks fully capable of adding championship No. 18 to their swollen trophy case. The final score was 120-95, and it wasn't that close. Unfortunately it was as ugly as we feared, which is not unusual in a playoff series that began on the home court of the team with the best record in the league in the regular season. The other team was the Cavs. Unfortunately, Mitchell isn't going to be able to score 50 points in every game, or 89 in every two games. Given Tuesday night's evidence, that might be what it would take from the wondrous Mitchell for the Cavs to avoid being sent home by the Celtics in three more games. Unfortunately, Jarret Allen is still not healthy enough to play. Unfortunately, the Celtics are still the Celtics. The Cavs, and the Cavs' logically thinking fans knew this was going to be a tall order, and nothing that happened in Game 1 made it look like there is much hope for the Lads from the Land. They might steal a game at home, but win four of the next six? Not going to happen. The rested and ready Celtics were too much for the Cavs in Game 1, and the same will likely be true in Thursday's Game 2. In Game 1, the Cavs gave up too much of everything and took away nothing from the uber-talented Green Team, which toyed with the conquerors of the Orlando Magic, and did so without much help from Celtics scoring machine Jayson Tatum. The Celtics' best player scored a quiet 18 points, with a quieter 11 rebounds, while missing all five of his 3-point attempts. Big deal. It didn't matter at all because Celtics guards Jaylen Brown and Derrick White combined for 57 points in a game in which the Cavs missed the injured Allen more than ever. The Celtics are missing one of their big men as well, Kristaps Porzingis. Let's just say that the Cavs missed Allen way more than the Celtics missed Porzingis. The Green Wave forced Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff to go deep into his bench probably much earlier than he preferred. But there they were: Sam Merrill, Tristan Thompson and Marcus Morris Sr., all entering the game much earlier than they would have if the Cavs were playing the Detroit Pistons. After a dismal first half, the Cavs tried to regroup at halftime, then quickly became ungrouped and were forced to call a timeout just three minutes into the third quarter. That's not to be confused with a second-quarter drought when the Cavs failed to score a point in the quarter's first five minutes. That's what makes playing the Celtics so hard: on both offense and defense, they do what they want to do and prevent you from doing what you want to do. The difference between playing Orlando and Boston is that Orlando couldn't take full advantage of the Cavs' weaknesses. The Celtics could ... and did. The Cavs shot a dismal 26 percent on 3-pointers, missing all but 11 of their 42 attempts. Merrill could barely get any of his five shots off, much less make them. Morris missed an uncontested layup which was nothing in the big picture, but telling when considering the gap between these teams. Nobody misses Allen more than Evan Mobley, whose numbers (13 rebounds and 17 points) were decent, but whose impact on the game was negligible in the face of the Celtics' swarming defense. The third quarter ended with Celtics backup point guard Peyton Pritchard drilling a 3-pointer from Bunker Hill. The fourth quarter was nothing but a glorified 12-minute shootaround. One game into this series and it's obvious that for the Cavs to have any chance at all, Mitchell is going to have to continue to do his Kobe Bryant impersonation. He's the one Cavs player who never seems intimidated by the moment or incapable of rising to the occasion. It would be nice if he didn't have to do all the heavy lifting himself, but in Tuesday's Game 1, Mitchell wasn't getting much help, and, one suspects, that may be the case in however many games this series goes. Mitchell's surrounding cast tried, but failed, to rise to the occasion, and the Celtics, in their gym, feed off overwhelmed opponents. Thursday's Game 2 might look a lot like Game 1. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com and follow him @Jim_Ingraham on X.