Forget the one-game-at-a-time rhetoric. Friday night in Boston carries more significance than that.
“We want to be one of those teams,” All-Star center Jarrett Allen told cleveland.com following Friday morning’s shootaround at the TD Garden. “Got to beat those teams to get where we want to be. Tonight is the perfect example of that. They were in the Finals last year. You can measure yourselves against them. Can use it to see how we stack up against the top.
Beyond that, Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff continues to shuffle his lineups and rotations in Garland’s absence, trying to find the best groupings and combinations. As Bickerstaff has repeatedly said in the first week-plus, the Cavs remain a work in progress. Their goal is to continue on an upward trajectory, being at their best in March and April instead of October and November.
“You have to be realistic and understand that the only way you do get better is through time and experiences,” Bickerstaff explained. “When you’re bringing together a new group, you haven’t fully experienced all the ups and downs and situations that you’re going to have to face. You have to take those lumps and learn those lessons. Just being real with yourself and being real with your team.
“I don’t know any of us that were the best version of ourselves the first time we tried something. Evan missing a lot of training camp and preseason, then Darius missing the first three games and Ricky . We have to find the best combination and continuity. That’s going to take time. These older teams who have been through it, they can pretty quickly turn the page to the next year because they’ve seen those things together.
The Celtics included -- although they have their own issues. Center Robert Williams and defensive-minded forward Grant Williams won’t play Friday night. Interim coach Joe Mazzulla has just four games under his belt. Offseason addition Malcolm Brogdon is still finding his rhythm.“There’s always that curiosity,” Mitchell said. “If we want to be the championship team that we say we want to be, we have to go out there and win games and play well against these teams. It’s early in the season.