You hate it when a plan just can’t come together.

The first ugly preseason loss for the Cleveland Cavaliers ended in a 138-107 defeat to the Boston Celtics on Sunday. The Cavs fell to 0-3 before wrapping up their preseason schedule with a home bout against the Detroit Pistons.

Even with seemingly all the second chances in the world, Cleveland ended its outing at TD Garden with a clip of just above 35% from the floor, its lowest of the preseason, as it was outscored in every quarter.

Five Cavaliers still barely ended the night in double-digits, including a pair of new additions in Larry Nance Jr. and Thomas Bryant. Jaylon Tyson led the Cavs with 16 points while tacking on five rebounds and four assists. The second-year wing showed some consistency, but still ended the game with six made shots on 14 tries from the floor.

It’s clear Tyrese Proctor’s confidence can make some kind of difference early in his NBA career.

The second-round guard has shown nothing less than a sizable amount of confidence, especially from the perimeter, over the course of this year’s preseason run. He fired up a handful of pull-up and step-back jumpers over his last few games, including in his performance in Sunday’s loss, where he made two shots on nine tries from the arc.

Proctor’s playmaking still showed signs of life with four assists as he connected on more routine perimeter passes.

While confidence can get you anywhere, it’ll take reflecting his near-perfect game from last week to keep justifying some of his more confident tries instead of the seven makes on 21 shots over his last two games.

The Cavs as a whole made 12 of their 60 tries from the 3-point line, including one make on 14 shots in the first quarter.

Proctor would make Cleveland’s only long-range shot in the first, a quick strike from the corner off a pass from Tyson. Led by guard Anfernee Simons, the Celtics would respond with 18 scores on 45 shots. Simons was nearly unstoppable from above the break as he made his first three shots in a row.

The Cavs couldn’t overcome an incredibly slow start from the court, but showed some signs of life as they started to close the game out in the fourth. One of the league’s top offenses last season will have time to recover when they take on the Pistons at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Rocket Arena. The game will be broadcast on FanDuel Sports Network.

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers’ elite pass rush is officially upgraded from a duo to a trio after their defensive masterclass against the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers walked out of their Week 6 contest with a decisive 23-9 victory, holding Cleveland to three field goals and zero touchdowns in their first meeting of the 2025 season.

Leading the defensive charge for the Steelers once again was outside linebacker Nick Herbig. Even with the return of Alex Highsmith from injury, Herbig’s star shone brightest in Week 6. He led the edge rushers in sacks (2), tackles for loss (2), and quarterback pressures (4), and spent the entire afternoon terrorizing Browns’ rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

The rise for Herbig is meteoric, going from replacement to next defensive star in a matter of weeks. As his stock continues its ascent, the Steelers have found a way to keep all three of their elite rushers on the field.

On several third downs, the Steelers deployed all three of Herbig, HIghsmith and T.J. Watt. This choice forced Cleveland to constantly adjust its protections on offense, and that confusion helped the Steelers land so many QB pressures and tackles in the backfield.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters after the game that Herbig’s performance has earned him the nod as the 12th starter on defense.

“He’s playing at a pretty high level,” Tomlin stated. “That’s why I introduced 12 defenders today.”

What made this performance even more special for Herbig was the quarterback on the other side. Herbig and Gabriel are very familiar with one another. The two were both born in Hawaii and faced off during their high school football days. Long before either was an NFL difference-maker, they were battling for state championships in the last one to join the United States of America.

In 2018, Herbig recorded four sacks in the championship game. His St. Louis Crusaders sacked Gabriel nine times en route to a win and the Crusaders’ third consecutive state title.

Seven years later, Herbig was again causing nightmares for Gabriel.

Through five games, Herbig is off to the best start of his NFL career. Even after missing the first game of the year due to injury, he’s accumulated 12 total tackles, 4.5 sacks and one forced fumble and interception each as well. He’s on pace to reach double-digits in sacks for the first time in his young tenure in Pittsburgh, and he should continue to receive significant opportunity to continue his breakout campaign.

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