The brand new Cavs crushed the Celtics on Paul Pierce’s night, and 8 other things from Sunday

The Cleveland Cavaliers took three quarters to destroy the Boston Celtics, 121-99, on the road just minutes before Paul Pierce’s jersey was retired. This was a big win for a nearly unrecognizable Cavs team that traded six players just four days ago.

The new additions were on fire on Sunday. Jordan Clarkson had 17 points, Rodney Hood had 15, George Hill had 12, and Larry Nance added five. The new-look Cavs had LeBron James beaming with energy from the bench as he sat for the entire fourth quarter:

It was just one game for Cleveland, but the last month has been so brutal that the Cavs should bask in this joy for a minute. It’s been too long.

They’ll play the Thunder on Tuesday before the All-Star break, where they hope to gain some chemistry after a few practices. The win on Sunday was a good start to the post-Isaiah Thomas Cavs.

Don’t look now, but the Celtics aren’t leading the Eastern Conference anymore for the first time this season since early November. The Celtics have struggled against some of their top competition in the conference over the last week.

Over their last four games, they’ve faced the Raptors, Wizards, Pacers and Cavaliers. In that stretch they’re 1-3 with their only win coming in an overtime game against the Wizards where they were bailed out by boneheaded fouls from Markieff Morris. Keep in mind that there was no John Wall in that game.

They were blown out by both the Raptors and Cavaliers and were down by as many as 26 against the Pacers. The Celtics are looking as human as ever right now, and it isn’t great.

It’s only February and championships aren’t won here, so nothing should be considered definitive. But if the Celtics still have some problems, they need to figure them out if they want to break out of the conference.

He had a terrific game with 30 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, and six steals in 39 minutes. But that stat line is nothing compared to his string of insane dunks against the Knicks.

First, he dribbled through the defense for this fierce slam:

Then he yammed over Kyle O’Quinn:

Then, he brought out the 360. SERIOUSLY:

I am officially excited for Saturday’s dunk contest.

Seriously. Look at him stealing this interview away from his dad:

THIS. FACE. OMG:

Prince Pierce wins tonight, y’all. Just chalk it up.

But we ain’t buying that you didn’t mean this, Blake. And by we, I mean this referee. Because he got a technical right after for it:

That’s BIG disrespectful from Griffin...but still pretty funny. And trying to play it off is even funnier because of his tech. I’m here for Petty Pistons Blake Griffin.

Raptors 123, Hornets 103 (Raptors HQ recap | At the Hive recap)

Hawks 118, Pistons 115 (Peachtree Hoops recap | Detroit Bad Boys recap)

Cavaliers 121, Celtics 99 (Fear the Sword recap | Celtics Blog recap)

Pacers 121, Knicks 113 (Indy Cornrows recap | Posting and Toasting recap)

Rockets 104, Mavericks 97 (The Dream Shake recap | Mavs Moneyblog recap)

Timberwolves 111, Kings 106 (Canis Hoopus recap | Sactown Royalty recap)

Thunder 110, Grizzlies 92 (WTLC recap | Grizzly Bear Blues recap)

Jazz 115, Trail Blazers 96 (SLC Dunk recap | Blazers Edge recap)