Sights, sounds and observations from the Celtics' 103-99 victory over the Cavaliers Wednesday night at TD Garden.
1. It was Deron Williams' welcome-to-the-Cavaliers moment.
2. LeBron James found Williams "naked" in the short corner and fired him a pass for a 3-pointer that would have given the Cavs a one-point lead with 4.2 seconds on the clock.
3. According to a Fox Sports Ohio statistic, three-time All-Star Williams had made 7 of 10 short corner 3s in the final 10 seconds in his 12-year career.
4. Williams, who signed with the Cavs Monday and was making his Cleveland debut against the Celtics, sounded like he knew what James had in mind.
5. "I know, it was a great moment, it was set up perfect. I did everything but make it," Williams said. "Wide open, wide open. Felt good, looked good, it just didn’t go in."
6. Williams told James before the game he expected to play 10-12 minutes, likely most of it with the second unit. Then Kyrie Irving picked up his second foul with 3:51 left in the first quarter and Cavs coach Tyronn Lue called on Williams.
7. Williams ended up playing 23 minutes.
8. James explained all that transpired on that possession that led to Williams' shot, which followed two free throws by Isaiah Thomas that put the Celtics up 101-99 with 28.1 seconds left.
9. On the previous posession, Kyrie Irving scored on a baseline drive against Al Horford to tie the game at 99. After the Celtics free throws, the Cavs hoped to go back to the Irving-Horford matchup. But this time Avery Bradley was guarding Irving. Irving managed to get what James called "a good look," a 13-foot fadeaway on the baseline that missed. Tristan Thompson rebounded and kicked it out to James.
10. James can take it from there. "I see (Jae) Crowder running out of control and he jumped, then Marcus Smart jumped at me," James said. "I seen D-Will naked in the short corner so I gave him the opportunity. He just missed it. He got the shot he wanted."
11. Williams was dressed long before James. The two spoke for a couple minutes before Williams departed, including an exchange about how much playing time Williams got.
12. "We kind of fast tracked his legs. He’s gonna be in the ice tub the next day and a half," James said.
13. "I thought it was good," Williams said of the shot. "Felt good, looked good. I’m sure I’ll get many more of them. Just move onto the next one and keep shooting."
14. Williams admitted his legs felt a little heavy and he was rusty because he hadn't been on the court in over two weeks. The Cavs held an abbreviated practice Tuesday before flying to Boston, and he had only that and Wednesday morning's shootaround. Lue said assistants Larry Drew and Damon Jones had helped prep Williams and put plays on Williams' iPad.
15. "We don’t want to give him too much the first game. Just try to give him five sets that we run with that second unit, we’ll try to let him be comfortable with those," Lue said at shootaround.
16. Even under those circumstances, Williams said he felt pretty comfortable.
17. "They really don’t practice here and they told me that coming in," Williams said. "I’m just kind of playing on the fly right now and learning on the fly. I’m sure it will take me a little bit of time, but not much. It’s easy to play with a group like this."
18. Kyle Korver, Williams' teammate with the Utah Jazz for three seasons, was impressed with what Williams did in his debut. Williams scored four points on 2 of 8 shooting from the field and went 0 for 2 from 3-point range, with two rebounds and two assists.
19. For having a practice and a little walk-through this morning I thought he played really well," Korver said. "There’s a learning process with this. He’s going to keep getting better and better and more comfortable. When I first came I thought the defensive end took me longer to understand what we were doing than the offensive end. But he’s a point guard, so he probably has more to learn than I did."
20. Williams, 32, who started all 40 games he played for the Dallas Mavericks this season before being bought out and waived, admitted it was tough to erase two seasons of Mavericks' plays from his brain so quickly.
21. "The sets are pretty simple here," Williams said, "It’s just getting the calls and remembering them. Sometimes when T-Lue calls something out my mind is just scrambled trying to think of what it is. It wasn’t bad today."
22. Even playing on two Olympic teams with James and with Korver in Utah is little help. His time with Korver ran from 2007-10. His last Olympics with James was 2012.
23. "In a certain sense, but it’s been a long time. It’s been four years since I played with ‘Bron and even more with Kyle. I definitely know how they like to play, but it will take some time," Williams said.
24. Irving sounded sad to see Jordan McRae waived Wednesday to make room for big man Andrew Bogut, who is poised to sign after clearing waivers.
25. "Obviously it was somewhat emotional, but what like we always say in this business, it happens. It’s part of it," Irving said. "So, understanding that he’ll get picked (up). Incredible player, even better person. I’ll see him soon, though."
26. The Cavs' Richard Jefferson may have a few bruises after the physical, playoff-style game. Early in the second quarter, James threw an alley-oop pass to Jefferson, who hung on the rim. When he came down, second-year player Terry Rozier found his head between Jefferson's legs. So Rozier fired the ball at Jefferson's back as Jefferson was running downcourt, drawing a technical foul.
27. "This ain't the park, you can't do that," Jefferson said of Rozier's retaliation. "That's why when I'm running back after he threw the ball, I had no reaction."
28. What Jefferson did after hanging on the rim almost seemed like something out of the Warrriors' Draymond Green's playbook.
29. "When I caught it, my momentum carried me there, so instead of having my legs hit him I just went over top of him," Jefferson said. "When you've been fortunate to be dunking for 20-plus years, that's something that you read and see. Is it trying to be aggressive? A little bit, it's still tactical."
30. In the waning seconds of the second quarter, Jefferson was hit in the chin by an Al Horford elbow. The incident was reviewed to see if it was flagrant, but deemed a basketball play.
31. The highlight of the night that had nothing to do with the game came with about nine minutes remaining when James ran into Patriots coach Bill Belichick going for a rebound. Winning his fifth Super Bowl in February, Belichick was sitting under the basket with his girlfriend.
32. "That's why I slowed up," James said. When it was suggested it was a collision of the greatest in their respective sports, James said, "I don’t know if I’m on his level. But I definitely slowed up because I knew it was him. I’m not taking no legend out. I’m not doing that. I need to keep seeing him win, so that’s pretty cool for me."
33. James later tweeted that he had a "great" conversation with Belichick after the game. "Things like that I'll remember forever. #GOAT #MutualRespect #Inspiring" James tweeted.
34. The Cavs flew to Atlanta after the game, where they will face Korver's former team, the Hawks, at 7 p.m. Friday. Check back then.