The Celtics look like they may have finally caught the Cavaliers

Remember how tight the first game between the Celtics and Cavaliers was? It came down to the wire with Kyrie Irving in position to tie things up at the end, but falling short.

Well, the Celtics were having none of that tonight. They dominated the Cavaliers wire to wire in what was supposed to be the NBA’s marquee matchup on Wednesday night.

And the scariest part is they did it without a truly dominating performance from their best players. There were no spectacular moments from Kyrie Irving. Al Horford didn’t have the prettiest game, either. Jayson Tatum even looked like a normal rookie at times.

But it wasn’t the Celtics’ offense that did the trick tonight — instead, they ground the Cavaliers into dust on defense to prove their worth as the No. 1 seed in the East.

Love missed his first eight shots of the game and finished the night 1-11 from the field with two points in 21 minutes. He was an absolute nonfactor on both ends of the court. The Cavaliers depend on him to be their second option offensively. If he can’t do that, they’re in loads of trouble.

He missed looks he normally makes from areas he’s great at on the floor. Take a peek at his shot chart for tonight.

And look at how well he normally shoots from these areas.

A lot of those looks are makeable for him, but the Celtics made it tough and took him out of the game. Their switchability doesn’t allow him to swing open for easy looks on offense and the Cavaliers paid the price for it tonight.

Normally it’s LeBron James and company running it up against the Celtic’s lesser athletes. Tonight, it was the complete opposite. The Celtics were hustling, running and dunking all over Cleveland. Look at Al Horford as he beats everyone to this loose ball, earning a reverse for Jaylen Brown.

And look at how Kyrie Irving literally just dribbles around a double team to find Horford for a dunk.

And Brown was out here dribbling around dudes, too.

The Cavaliers looked like they just couldn’t keep up and that isn’t the norm for a James-led team. They’re not quite at full health yet with Thomas still being out and Tristan Thompson still recovering, but those two aren’t going to completely solve these issues.

Does this mean the Celtics are far and above the Cavaliers? Definitely not. We should still give the benefit of the doubt to James and company because, quite simply, they have one of the best players in the world and maybe this season’s MVP.

But this game shows us the gap isn’t as far apart as we may have thought it was and it’s closing with every game the Celtics play. Watch out, Cleveland.