Jaylen Brown flipped a long pass from the right block out to Jayson Tatum early in Tuesday’s third quarter.

It was the kind of pass, high-arching and hopeful, that finds a home on a Tuesday night in the regular season, but rarely, if ever, in the second round of the playoffs.

Sure enough, there was Isaac Okoro, Cleveland’s sharpest defender, swatting Brown’s pass out of the air and into the backcourt. Okoro’s deflection triggered a two-man race, he and Tatum sprinting away from the action. Tatum won, tracking the ball down below the opposite foul line, but the Cavs had claimed a tiny victory forcing Boston to waste time while they remained within striking distance as heavy underdogs in a road playoff game.

Nine seconds hung on the shot clock as Tatum hurriedly flung the ball to Al Horford at midcourt, then eight, seven, six and …

Splash.

Derrick White drilled an above-the-break 3, rescuing a broken possession with his second triple of the half. The Celtics led by 14 and never let their lead shrink to single-digits again.

It didn’t matter White had little time to decide and create. It didn’t matter Tatum had been removed from the offense, as he was most of the night, scoring 18 points on 19 shots without a single 3. If you were Cleveland, nothing mattered Tuesday.

Boston destroyed the Cavaliers in Game 1, bombing away offensively and putting everyone outside of Donovan Mitchell in a headlock after a hot-shooting first quarter. The Celtics, rested and ready, flexed their depth in a way no team in the East can. The series feels over already.

Because as Tatum slogged through his worst offensive performance of the playoffs, a prime time for Cleveland to pounce, White went 7 of 12 from 3-point range. Jaylen Brown poured in 32 points. Payton Pritchard jumped off the bench for 16 points, including a buzzer-beating 3 to close the third quarter. Luke Kornet snatched six offensive boards and teamed with Al Horford – with his eight rebounds and four assists – to capably replace Kristaps Porzingis.

It was the kind of performance – even against a tired Cavaliers team coming off a seven-game slugfest against the Magic – that makes you wonder if they need Porzingis to win the Finals.

For a night, maybe even a series, they didn’t need Tatum. Beating the brakes off a playoff-caliber opponent without your All-NBA superstar can happen on a Tuesday in the regular season, but shouldn’t in the second round of the postseason.

In Denver, a no-show from Jamal Murray – a zero-time all-star – sent the Nuggets to bed early Monday against Minnesota. Hours earlier, Tyrese Haliburton and his six points undercut the Pacers in New York. It’s a star’s game in a make-or-miss league.

Tatum missed and missed and missed Tuesday, and Mitchell dropped 33 on the Celtics, despite the peskiest defensive efforts of White and Jrue Holiday. The Cavs’ only path to a long series – forget victory – is Mitchell carrying an offensive load for two, while Boston suffers from bad shooting luck outside on multiple nights. Mitchell delivered in Game 1, and Cleveland got buried anyway.

Who really thinks the Cavs have a chance to push this series to six or seven now?

Part of this disbelief is owed to the Celtics’ defense, which locked Cleveland into a 4:38 scoreless stretch to start the second quarter and neutralized Darius Garland (14 points on 16 shots). To Tatum’s credit, he guarded up against Evan Mobley and bothered Mitchell and the Cavs’ other ball-handlers whenever Boston switched pick-and-rolls that started with a Mobley screen.

You know who wasn’t bothered? Ever?

Brown.

Even if Max Strus manages to hang with Tatum defensively, as he did in Game 1, Cleveland doesn’t have another wing stopper for him. Brown recognized this obvious, fatal hole in their roster and attacked it.

Brown overwhelmed every defender across from him, dragging them into the paint like he was reliving last week’s little-brother-in-the-driveway battles with Tyler Herro.

“Just trying to get some paint touches,” he said coolly post-game.

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