COJ: The more things change, the more they stay the same


Yesterday I wrote that the Celtics' first meeting with the Cleveland Cavaliers would serve as an interesting progress point. It'd help us learn more about where this team is compared to where it ended last season; specifically, to see if we had made the leap from good story to an actually good team.

The result was a relative failure. The feeling of deja vu was omnipresent. From the failures to hit open shots (32% for the game, 26% in the second half) to the sick feeling each time the Cavaliers batted away the slightest bit of Celtics momentum. Even worse, the eye test - Whereas the Cavaliers seemed to score at will, the few shots the Celtics hit felt like flukes. Emotions that Celtics fans have become too familiar with.

Not that one game is a 'be-all, end-all' check on where a team is, but it does force the team and fans alike to wonder. Specifically, wondering if this game was just a fluke - a weird night where open shots just didn't seem to fail - or if this was something worse. Confirmation that while the Celtics can be a fun team, they lack the talent to go toe to toe with a legitimate title contender when they're as focused as the Cavaliers were during last night's game.

Start Your Morning Off With... Karl Anthony Towns makin' ya look