It will be fair to say that the Cleveland Cavaliers did not have a good shooting night against the Boston Celtics, and that is on the basis of their performance in the first half alone. Led by Donovan Mitchell and Evan Mobley, the Cavs converted just two of their 22 three-pointers in the first half, at one point missing 16 in a row.
And well, Shaquille O’Neal and Richard Jefferson made the most of it on NBA on ESPN, with the latter challenging Shaq to make at least one of 20 shots in the studio.
“I would guarantee that if we had Shaq take 20 3s, he would make it at least one of them as well. A 100%,” Jefferson initially said, showing confidence in the Lakers legend, per a post on X by NBA on ESPN.
O’Neal, who was historically one of the poorest shot-takers from beyond the arc, took the statement as a straight up challenge, immediately taking off his jacket to try his luck.
“That’s only one, we got 15 more to go,” Jefferson said after Shaq missed the first attempt he took. But O’Neal immediately took another shot and ended up making it this time.
The Cavs eventually managed to save face on shooting from beyond the arc. However, the first-half display effectively cost them the game as they lost 109-98, going just 28.9%(13-28) from the three-point zone overall.
In comparison, the Celtics were almost 40%, converting 15 of their 38 attempts. Jaylen Brown top-scored for Boston with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, while Jayson Tatum had 20 points and three rebounds.
Payton Pritchard added 18 while Baylor Scheierman added 16 off the bench. For the Cavs, it was Donovan Mitchell once again who starred with 30 points, going 9-18 from the field.
James Harden had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds while Evan Mobley finished with 24 points and eight rebounds. The game, however, was lost in the first half, from which the Cavs returned with a 20-point deficit.