Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers fans had an early taste of a potential Eastern Conference Finals matchup on Friday. Celtics guard Jaylen Brown was like everyone else. He was eagerly anticipating the matchup. However, despite jumping out to a 25-3 lead, the Cavs pulled off a 22-point upset. As a result, Celtics fans were in shambles following the loss.
However, Brown wasn’t the least bit worried. He’s hoping they get to square off again soon.
“Looking forward to the next time we see them,” Brown said via Jay King of The Athletic.
“I think it was a good fight,” Brown said. “I think, give credit to Cleveland, they played well. They shot the ball incredibly well, made timely baskets and they climbed back into the game on the road. That’s tough to do. So you’ve gotta give them credit. Do I think we had enough to win the game (even without the injured Jrue Holiday and sick Kristaps Porziņģis)?
Overall, the Celtics got out to a whopping lead before squandering it away. However, it’s important to note that the Cavs did a fantastic job getting back into the game. The team is second in points per game and first in offensive rating. Even having to play from behind didn’t seem to phase them.
Jaylen Brown wants a Celtics vs Cavs matchup soon
Luckily for Brown, plenty of NBA fans are marking the Celtics and Cavs to be the Eastern Conference Finals matchup. The series alone has the talent, skill, and team dynamics to be an NBA Finals matchup. Regardless of that, this game was a good test. Despite Celtics star Jayson Tatum scoring 46 points, it proved that the Cavs are championship contenders again.
Either way, Brown sees this as a learning opportunity moving forward and foreshadowing to a potential playoff series.
“We’ll look at it on film and get better and see spots we can all improve on,” Brown said. “But regardless of who was sitting out, we should have won this game. It was definitely an intense game, a great atmosphere,” Brown said. “You could tell they wanted to beat us, and we came out swinging.”
“If we play them in a series, we’ll be ready.”
The Celtics and Cavs won’t play again this season. As Brown alluded to though, this could be a playoff matchup in the works. Both teams could honestly look forward solely to this matchup, as they’ve made quick work of other opponents in the east. If they square off, Brown will remember the lessons learned from this particular game.
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