That game 1 was maybe the strangest NBA game I've ever seen. Thoughts:
1. The Hayward injury was nothing less than heartbreaking. Thank God the early reports are optimistic, if you can call "almost certainly done for the season" optimistic.
2. The Celtics, save Jaylen, were understandably in a funk throughout the rest of the first half. Down 16 after being up 3 when Hayward went down.
3. Jaylen Brown, with 10 first half points, was almost the only Celtic who did anythign at all in the first half after the injury. Looked strong in the second half, too. Lebron abused him at the end of the half, but that's to be expected. Ended playing 40 minutes and scoring a team leading 25 points, albeit on an ugly overall stat line. Still, I give him high marks under the circumstances.
4. Kyrie. Would have loved to see him hit that typing three at the end. Nice game with 22 and 10, and 3 steals. For this game he was more a PG than a ballhogging volume scorer, though they also had success when Smart came in and Kyrie moved off ball some. Looks like someone who will fit nicely into Stevens' plans.
5. Tatum. Missed everything in the first half, kind of like the first preseason game, but still contributed some rebounding. Early in the second half, Kyrie hit him with a nice lob for a dunk and that seemed to get him going, scored in a variety of nice smooth plays, even picking up an and 1 after Lebron fouled him on his way to the hoop. Double double with 14 and 10, leading team in rebounds. Very polished player, skill wise, and underrated athleticism. He's a guy you want to have the ball in his hands in transition.
6. Rozier. I put him here because he is the the anti-Tatum. Great athleticism and potential to be a decent shooter. But beyond rebounding, where he is terrific for a guard (especially one of his height), he is less than the sum of his skills and athleticism. This is a mind-numbingly bad player with the ball in his hands in transition. Almost the best that you can hope for is that he gets fouled, because, like Antoine Walker before him, he can neither finish a break at the rim nor make the right pass. Good bench player, but lack of feel for the game limits his upside severely.
7. Smart. This game was a tale of 2 Marcus Smarts. He entered the game for Hayward and proceeded to spend the next 24 minutes or so of game time playing as hard but out of controla s he ever gets. It was like he was out of phase with the game, and all of his hard work was going for naught. Was 2-11 from the field at one point. Brad put him back in late in the third and he was fully in phase and domainated the game for a short stretch during which the C's took the lead. Almost a double-double with 12 and 9. Abused Kyle Korver in the post and successfully posted up other guys they tried to put on him.
8. Horford. Not much of an impact on the stat sheet in this one. 9-7-5. Yet he led the Celtics in +/-.
9. Baynes. Mixed bag. Good on the boards and shooting, but picked up 5 fouls in 19 minutes and had a terrible stretch midway through the third where he made bad plays on D, then on O, then back on D.
All in all, I'm calling what happened in this game, aside from the Hayward injury, a moral victory. They lost one of their stars 5 minutes into game 1 with a horrific looking injury, played out the rest of the half in a fog, had to toss all of their planned rotations, etc, into the trash, and still battled back into the game and nearly knocked off the Cavs. That shows some character and talent.
Going forward without Hayward, the biggest concerns (not necessarily in this order) will be perimeter shooting, team defense, and overall depth. But we are still looking at a talented team.
Getting Marcus Morris back will help some. Semi Ojeleye played some, but most if not all of his minutes were in the first half and it is hard to read too much into that given the state of the team. But, FWIW, he didn't look anywhere near ready.