Cavaliers prove they can play with Celtics and win 115-111

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers had a chance to right the ship on a snowy Sunday night in Cleveland against the Boston Celtics at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Cavs are 2-3 since they lost 120-117 on November 19th at TD Bank Garden in Boston and were losers of two straight entering Sunday night’s matchup between the two Eastern Conference powerhouses. The Cavs were up to the challenge and took down the Celtics in a back-and-forth battle of free throws 115-111.

The Cavs jumped out to a 9-0 lead with 8:56 left in the opening quarter when Darius Garland hit a jumper just inside the three point line. The Celtics, who were without Jaylon Brown and Derrick White responded by scoring the next three points. Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis then fouled Donovan Mitchell in the paint to give the Cavs an 12-6 lead after Mitchell hit the free throw with 7:50 left. The Celtics, just like in the first matchup between the two teams, were hot from three point range cutting the Cavs lead to 15-11 with 6:30 left. With 4:37 left the Celtics cut the Cavs lead to 18-17 on a jumper by Payton Pritchard. Then with 3:41 left the Celtics took the lead 22-21 on three by Pritchard. The Cavs then regained the lead 24-22 with 3:00 left when Georges Niang hit a three, the Cavs fifth (5 of 10) of the game to that point. The Cavs extended the lead to 26-22 when Mitchell drove the lane and scored on a layup with 2:37 left. When the clock ran out on the first 12 minutes the Cavs had a 28-24 lead. Porzingis led all scorers with nine first quarter points, while Garland led the Cavs with six. The Cavs shot 44% (11 of 25) from the field, while the Celtics shot 36% (9 of 25). The Celtics outrebounded the Cavs 14-13.

With 10:24 left the Cavs took a 33-27 lead when Caris LeVert, who did not play in the first matchup with the Celtics, hit a jumper in the paint. The Cavs took their first double digit lead of the season against Boston with 7:58 left when Niang hit his third three of the game in three attempts putting Cleveland on top 38-27. With 6:13 left the Cavs lead was down to 40-37 when Jayson Tatum drove the lane, and a foul was called on Garland. The middle of the quarter was sloppy by the Cavs, missing easy layups and bad passes turning the ball over. The mistakes and bad shooting caught up to the Cavs as the Celtics took a 45-44 lead on a three by veteran Al Horford with 3:28 on a nice pass by Sam Hauser. Cavs bench boss Kenny Atkinson took an immediate timeout. Of the timeout the Cavs regained the lead 46-45 on after Garland hit two free throws with 3:16 remaining. The Cavs for the next two minutes played great defense and caused Boston to turn the ball over and took a 51-45 lead. The Celtics cut the lead to 51-49 when Jarrett Allen fouled Drew Peterson, and he hit both with :05 left in the first half. Garland led all scorers in the first half with 15 points. Porzingis and Tatum paced the Celtics with 12 apiece. The Cavs shot 41% (18 of 44) in the first half, while the Celtics shot 36% (18 of 50). The Cavs also turned the script in the first half from the first meeting in Boston outshooting the Celtics from behind the three point line 38% (8 of 21) to 29% (8 of 27). Garland’s first half point total nearly doubled his entire eight point output in the game in Boston. Cleveland slightly outrebounded Boston 27-26 in the first 24 minutes. Cleveland also won the battle in the paint 18-12 and the Cavs reserves outscored the Celtics bench 22-10.

The Celtics immediately came out and took a 52-51 lead when Tatum hit a three with 11:52 remaining. The Cavs regained the lead on a Mitchell three and then went up 56-52 on a layup by Mitchell with 11:02 left. The Celtics then started to heat up from long range when Porzingis hit a three with 9:27 left and gave Boston a 60-58 lead. The Cavs took a timeout. The first six minutes of the second half belonged to the Celtics as the Cavs third quarter woes continued. With 6:39 left the Celtics took a 70-63 lead on a three pointer by Porzingis. Then with 4:52 left Pritchard was charged with an offensive foul and of course the Celtics challenged the call, and an even more predictable outcome was the call was overturned, and Isaac Okoro was charged with a foul. The Cavs were faltering fast after Tatum gave the Celtics a 74-65 lead with 4:21 left in the third period. The Celtics lead grew to 82-70 with 2:03 left as the Celtics were hot from 7 of 10 from behind the three-point line in the third quarter. As the third quarter ended the Celtics led 84-72, outscoring the Cavs in the period 35-21. Tatum was leading all scorers with 29, while Garland led the Cavs with 18, only three points in the third quarter.

The Cavs cut the Celtics lead to 86-78 with 9:18 left when Ty Jerome hit two free throws after being fouled by Peterson. But the Cavs could not stop the Celtics defensively as Boston continued to kill Cleveland from long range. With 8:09 left Pritchard hit his second three of the game giving Boston a 93-81 lead. With 4:33 left the Cavs pulled to within three at 93-90 when Okoro hit a three. The Celtics responded with a basket by Tatum to make the Cavs disadvantage 95-90. The Cavs then cut it to 95-92 after Allen drove the lane and was fouled. Allen failed to hit the free throw. With 3:14 remaining the Cavs deficit was three when two at 97-95 when Mitchell buried a three. The Celtics took an immediate timeout. Once again, the NBA office was getting what they wanted in the closing minutes as Porzingis threw Garland to the ground and the foul was called on Garland. The Cavs however overcame to tie the game 101-101 with 1:40 remaining on a three by Mitchell. After the Cavs stopped the Celtics on defense the Cavs took a 103-101 lead with 1:07 left on a Mitchell layup and added to the lead after Celtics miss on an emphatic dunk by Evan Mobley with :34 left in the game. Then with :26.2 Mobley fouled Porzingis in the paint. The Lithuanian hit both free throws to cut the Cavs lead to 105-103. With :21.8 left the Celtics sent Mitchell to the free throw line. He hit both to give the Cavs a 107-103 lead. The Celtics responded with a three to cut the Cavs lead to 107-106 with :16.8 left on the clock. The Celtics then fouled Garland with :14.8, he hit both giving Cleveland a 109-106 lead. Garland then fouled Pritchard with 11:1 left, he hit both cutting the Cavs lead to 109-108. Garland was fouled immediately on the inbound with :10.6 remaining. Garland hit both giving the Cavs a 111-108 advantage. Garland then fouled Pritchard again with :07.1 left. Pritchard hit both. The Cavs then took a timeout when Mobley could not find anyone to inbound the ball too. Niang was then fouled with :05.7 left and he hit them both putting the Cavs up 113-110. After Boston took a timeout Mobley fouled Pritchard and sent him to the line again, he hit both. The Celtics tried to be cute and missed the free throw and were charged with a lane violation. The Cavs then got the ball back. Mitchell was fouled with :04.3 left, he hit them both to seal the Cavs 115-111 win.

Mitchell led all scorers with 35 points, 30 of which came in the second half and 20 of those came in the fourth quarter. Tatum paced the Celtics with 33 in the losing effort. The Cavs had four players in double figures and Garland was one those with 22 points and came up big from the free throw line in the closing seconds hitting 4 of 4. The Cavs entered the final two minutes of the contest 9 of 14 from the free throw line and hit their last 11 to clinch the victory.

The Cavs will be in action next, on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when they welcome the Washington Wizards to RMFH. It will be the second time the two teams have met this season. The Cavs won the first meeting in Washington D.C. on October 26th 135-116. The all-time series between the two teams is tied 118-118 heading into the matchup on Tuesday. The Cavs however do lead the series at home (Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 70-47.