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After easily topping the Nets in Brooklyn a night later, they were pushed to overtime by the league-worst Toronto Raptors. They are indeed everybody's Super Bowl and that's the chore of the defending champion, being pursued every night.
Yet in this situation Tuesday, the Cavaliers could be capable of taking the Celtics' spot in the Eastern Conference. Only four of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference have winning records -- Celtics, Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, and New York Knicks.
The Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, teams expected to push the Celtics, are a combined 6-19 entering Monday's games. The Knicks, who were drubbed by the Celtics on opening night, improved to 7-6 with consecutive wins over the Nets, but already have losses to the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, and Hawks.
It's a little early to say the East will come down to either the Celtics or Cavaliers, but they're the only two teams out of the predicted competitors that have met or exceeded expectation.
The Cavaliers, behind Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and the surprising Ty Jerome, are first in the NBA in 3-point percentage (41.9 percent), field goal percentage (52.4), and point differential. Cleveland didn't make significant roster additions; the key to its success has been the growth of their current core, such as Evan Mobley.
Jerome, a former first-round pick playing on his fourth team, is averaging 10.7 points per game and shooting 54.1 percent from the 3-point line (20 for 37) in 17 minutes per game. Jerome played in just two games last season because of injury.
Mitchell is scoring less and playing fewer minutes but is more offensively efficient and Mobley has taken the step forward offensively the organization desperately needed. He and Jarrett Allen should give the Celtics major issues in the paint as Boston has struggled defending legitimate centers, such as Toronto's Jakob Poeltl, who scored a career-high 35 points on 16-of-19 shooting and that was four days after the combination of Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu were a combined 15 for 22 in the Hawks' win.
Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla is not in the habit of lauding or even discussing the opposing team. His compliments for Cleveland were on the idiosyncrasies, the hard-to-notice improvements made under new coach Kenny Atkinson.
"They're crashing [to the rim] as a team," Mazzulla said. "They're cutting more as a team, opening up gaps for those guys to drive the ball. They're shooting the ball really well, all those guys. They're playing at a high level for sure and they've got a lot of talent. But I think some of the small tweaks that they made with their cutting and their crashing and their ability to shoot the ball and their defensive versatility."
Mazzulla freely admitted following Saturday's overtime win over the Raptors that rim protection was an issue. Without Kristaps Porzingis, who has made another stride in his recovery and will practice this week with G-League Maine, the Celtics have been soft in the paint.
Neemias Queta has enjoyed some positive moments this season with increased playing time but still has strides to make to become a quality defensive center. Luke Kornet has never been known as a rim protector and Xavier Tillman's playing time has decreased as the season has progressed.
The Celtics did not face Allen in last year's playoffs because he had a rib injury. The Celtics' two biggest issues will be the backcourt of Mitchell and Garland and center duo of Mobley and Allen. It will be their biggest challenge of the season.
"Obviously they're a really good team," guard Payton Pritchard said. "They've got a lot of good guards, good length. Their bigs are playing well. Their guards are All-Star level guards. It's going to be a good matchup. We're looking forward to it. It's going to be competitive and hopefully the Boston crowd comes out. It doesn't matter if they're 0-15, I'm going to come with the same mentality."