There wasn't much to dislike, if anything at all, about the Boston Celtics' preseason victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite resting their best players, Boston not only kept up with the team that made the Eastern Conference Finals, but they even showed what exactly Joe Mazzulla is going for this season.
Mazzulla Ball has become the Celtics' trademark for some time now, but that especially became the case once the team traded Jaylen Brown. There are various aspects of Mazzulla's strategy that certainly stand out - the most obvious one being three-point shooting - but one that stood out front and center was offensive rebounding.
Boston actually had a pretty rough shooting night against Cleveland, shooting 41.4% from the field, and yet, there was never any time in which it felt like the Cavaliers truly had the edge. In fact, throughout the game, it felt like the Celtics had said edge even while tied or while they were trailing.
And the primary reason why was the offensive rebounding. Ironically in a game in which they gave Mazzulla the night off, Boston's presence on the boards was as obvious as it was spectacular. The Celtics had 21 offensive rebounds to the Cavaliers six. Spearheaded by the likes of Luka Garza, Chris Cenac Jr., and Dillon Mitchell, Boston's offensive rebouding kept Cleveland at an arm's length.
Still unconvinced? Check out the second chance points differential: Boston had 27 to Cleveland's eight in a game the former won by 11.
It's preseason sure, but this is a glimpse of precisely what Mazzulla and co. want to do. During in nights in which their shots aren't falling, the offensive rebounding is their failsafe when that happens. One way or the other, they're going to score, whether by getting the most points possible (threes) or by creating the most possessions possible (offensive rebounds), the Celtics will score by any means necessary.
They did this without their two best bigs
Keep in mind: the two bigs they are going to feature the most this season are going to be Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson, two big men who are also quite exceptional at getting offensive rebounds. The fact that Garza is their third center proves an embarassmant of riches for the bigs Mazzulla wants.
The fact that Boston was that dominant without their two best offensive rebounders - in case we haven't said it enough, Garza makes that argument legitimately debateable - shows that they are going to be a terror in that department. Good luck trying to stop it.
A wise man would advise not to read too much into preseason, but games like last night can prove to be the exception because it shows Boston wants to execute their strategy from the jump. It's not that being the league's best offensive rebounding team will make them the team to beat.
It's that being the league's best offensive rebound team will make the Celtics the one squad no one wants to face.
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