Last season, this matchup was must-watch television, as the two best teams throughout the season in the Eastern Conference - and maybe in all of basketball - battled for the No. 1 seed heading into the postseason.

The Cavaliers (3-1) ended up besting the Celtics (1-3), yet both suffered the same fate of a second-round upset in the postseason. Boston fell to their Atlantic Division rival in the Knicks (2-2), and Cleveland fell to their Central Division rival in the Pacers (0-3).

This season, Boston and Cleveland’s arrows are pointed in different directions early on. Boston is still trying to navigate a world without Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet, while the Cavs return in 2025-26 with some of the best continuity in the entire the NBA, outside of losing their sixth man from last season in Ty Jerome to a free agency deal with the Grizzlies.

Whether this game deserves to be on the marquee or not, it’s getting the marquee treatment as ESPN comes to Boston for a national broadcast of Cavs at Celtics for Game 5 of the 2025-26 NBA regular season.

Betting Odds for Celtics vs. Cavaliers - October 29, 2025 (Full Game)

Spread: Celtics +3.5 (-109), Cavaliers, -3.5 (-110)
Moneyline: Celtics +148, Cavaliers -159
Total: Over 233.5 (-109), Under 233.5 (-105)

Best number in each market via OddsTrader, which aggregates all the odds from every sportsbook to give you the best options to choose from.

Missed what happened last game against the Pelicans? Here’s were some of my takeaways:

1. Four Games In, Three Different Starting Fives

With Jayson Tatum likely out for the entire 2025-26 season and with the departures of Al Horford, Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis and Luke Kornet, we knew head coach Joe Mazzulla was going to be working with a different deck of cards for the top of his rotation in his fourth year as head coach.

And four games into year four, it’s clear that Mazzulla is still trying to figure out the right mix of guys, both with his starting lineups and substitution patterns.

Games 1 and 2, he went with Payton Pritchard, Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta.

Game 3, he went with Pritchard, White, Brown, Queta and rookie Hugo Gonzalez.

And in Game 4, he rolled with Pritchard, White, Brown, Queta and newcomer Josh Minott.

The goofy thing about Gonzalez and Minott’s playing time the last two nights - against the Pistons, Minott was a DNP with Gonzalez playing 18 minutes, while the Pelicans game saw Gonzalez as a DNP with Minott logging 28 minutes.

I know Monday was the second night of a back-to-back, but Gonzalez is 19 years old. Minott is a young player, too, with this being only his fourth professional season at age 22. There’s almost no tread on either set of tires here. Both of these guys could have and should have been active on both nights, regardless of which guy was starting and which one wasn’t.

2. Why Not Minott?

I know he wasn’t a guy I had in either one of my final starting lineup predictions before the season started, but I did throw out the idea of Minott competing for a starting role after a big performance in the preseason.

And on Monday night in New Orleans, he made that thought experiment from the preseason look like something a genius would come up with.

The 6-foot-8 forward was a staggering +42 on the night, filling up the stat sheet with 15 points, 9 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block and 1 assist. He was 2-2 from the charity stripe and 1-3 from beyond the arc.

On the opening play of the game, Minott broke free behind the defense and caught a sick alley-oop pass from White for a dunk to open the scoring on the evening. That set the tone for the fast-paced game he would play the rest of the night, constantly around the ball with active hands, picking up his man full-court on defense, and making the most of his first career start as a pro.

What this means for Minott potentially starting again moving forward? I have no idea. Clearly Mazzulla is still tweaking the lineup on multiple fronts, so to predict anything on that end would be a fool’s errand. With that said, I have to imagine a game like this means we won’t be seeing Minott popping up as a “DNP - Coach’s Decision” again anytime soon.

3. Rebounding!

After getting out-rebounded 110-75 over their last two games, the Celtics dominated the glass on Monday, winning the rebound battle 54-35.

It feels like a lazy take at this point, but sometimes the obvious thing to say is exactly what needs to be said:

When you lose Horford, Porzingis, Kornet and Tatum from a lineup, you’re going to lose an immense amount of rebounding ability from your team.

They’ve replaced that size with more minutes for Queta, along with newcomers Luka Garza and Chris Boucher. Not to be mean, but Queta/Garza/Boucher hits way differently than Horford/Porzingis/Kornet. And that’s borne out over the early part of this season.

Queta had 11 boards on the night, and Garza had 6 off the bench in 19 minutes of action. Minott’s aforementioned 9 and Brown’s 7 were also big reasons why Boston was able to control the pace of the game from start to finish.

4. 31-4 Run Seals The Win.

Even though they were only 18-53 from three on the night, it was their production from deep down the stretch that turned this game into a blowout.

A 31-4 run to close out a game is the type of thing we saw from the 2023-24 Celtics on their way to a title. I don’t think we’re going to get this type of run that often this season, so let’s celebrate it when we do.

A nod to Anfernee Simons for lighting it up late, ending the night 6-13 from three with 25 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 assist. That’s the type of game that backs up the excitement fans had this summer when Simons was the return in the Holiday deal. I know that type of instant offense off the bench is extremely valuable in this league, but I wonder if Mazzulla sees Simons’ hot hand and thinks it could be even more valuable to him playing 30+ minutes a night.

Also want to give a nod to Garza for going 3-4 from deep. Any time a big man can stretch the floor offensively, it’s going to help open up a lot more opportunities for the guys around him.

5. I’ve Given Up On Jordan Walsh

I say that because it feels like Mazzulla has, too.

Through four games and all the weird lineups he’s run out there, Walsh has combined for 3 total minutes of playing time across two appearances thus far. In those other two games, Walsh was a “DNP - Coach’s Decision.”

At 6-foot-6, I was convinced Walsh was going to eventually grow into being a versatile, athletic wing for this team, someone who could be an obvious backup for guys like Tatum and Brown as he continued to progress in his career.

That, clearly, is not the case. And I’ll fully admit, I was completely fooled by his performance as a rookie in Summer League. He was a guy in Vegas that looked like someone fully capable of one day being a rotational player at the NBA level. Hand up, I was wrong. And I should’ve known better than to let Summer League action color any meaningful opinions as it relates to regular season hoops. Amateur stuff by me. Won’t let it happen again.

Walsh is making $2.2 million to sit on the end of the bench this season, as a constant reminder to me of how wrong I was about the 2023 38th overall pick out of Arkansas. Good work if you can get it!

Tom Carroll is a contributor for Roundtable, with boots-on-the-ground coverage of all things Boston sports. He's a senior digital content producer for WEEI.com, and a native of Lincoln, RI.