Cavs vs. Celtics: A defining showdown in Boston tonight

Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, the Cavs are eager to make a statement despite being the No. 1 seed in the East and having a significant 6.5-game lead over the defending champions.

They left with their first loss of the 2024-25 campaign – a 120-117 defeat in a game featuring an All-Star duel between Donovan Mitchell (35 pts) and Jayson Tatum (33).The time before that – on May 15, 2024 – the Cavs left Boston with their 2023-24 season ended in a 4-1 series loss in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

“We still have to prove we can beat them, beat them at their place,” said Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson. “I think we go in there, kind of guns blazing, go for the win, whatever it takes, throw everything at them.”

Similar to their last trip to TD Garden, the Cavs enter Friday’s marquee matchup on a hot streak – having won eight straight games and 12 of their last 13.

The only team to beat them in that span – the Celtics on Feb. 4 in Cleveland as Boston held the Cavs’ high-octane offense (122.9 ppg, 2nd in NBA) to its third-lowest output of the season in a 112-105 win.While the Cavs tout the NBA’s most efficient offense – their 122.2 offensive rating leads the NBA and exactly matches Boston’s mark from last season’s title run – the Celtics are the only team in the league to rank in the top five on both ends of the court (4th offense, 5th defense) this season.

Boston is one of only three teams to beat Cleveland multiple times this season and a win tonight – in their fourth and final matchup of the regular season – would clinch the season series (3-1).

While Boston saw its six-game win streak snapped by the red-hot Pistons on Wednesday, the Celtics enter tonight’s game having won 10 of their last 12 games, finding their way after going just 6-6 over a 12-game span for most of January.

As Boston prepares for its title defense in the postseason in April, clinching the season series against the team that has sat atop the conference since Oct. 30 would be a loud statement that the road to the title still goes through Boston.

On the other hand, a Cleveland win would only bolster their resume as title contenders and keep the Cavs on track for their most wins in a season in franchise history.

Cleveland’s .828 win percentage has them on pace for 68 wins, which would top the franchise record of 66-16 from the 2008-09 season when the Cavs reached the Eastern Conference Finals.Only six teams in NBA history have matched Cleveland’s current win percentage over a full season: the 1966-67 Sixers, 1971-72 Lakers, 1972-73 Celtics, 1995-96 and 1996-97 Bulls, and 2015-16 Warriors. Five of those six teams reached the NBA Finals, with four winning the title

There is still plenty of basketball to be played before any team makes a run to the Finals. But when it comes to regular-season games, tonight’s showdown in Boston between the top two teams in the East has all the ingredients to deliver a playoff atmosphere.