Boston Celtics beat Cleveland Cavaliers 116-107 to extend home win streak
(This post was written by the Joe Murray show intern Joe Celia)
On Thursday night the Boston Celtics welcomed the Cleveland Cavaliers back to the garden for the second of their two game series after beating them 120-113 on Tuesday night.
First quarter
The Celtics came out in this game soaring on offense, and made 9 of their first 13 shots. Jaylen Brown led the C’s in scoring with 9 points, and the team connected on 6 of their 10 three point attempts. Defensively they were pests to the Cavaliers, by forcing 5 turnovers on them and holding them to 1-10 shooting from three.
Cleveland Head Coach J.B. Bickerstaff did not like what he was seeing from the Cavaliers on both ends of the floor and had called two timeouts with 5:00 remaining in the first. The bright spot for Cleveland in the first came from Donovan Mitchell, who had 12 of the Cavaliers 24 first quarter points. The Celtics did get a little sloppy with 5 turnovers of their own but led 33-24 after the first.
Second quarter
The second quarter started out similar as it was in the first with the Celtics offense continuing to score at ease. Cleveland had no answer for Jaylen Brown and Kristaps Porzingis, who scored the majority of the Celtics second quarter points from Brown jumpers and Porzingis drawing fouls. On defense the C’s struggled to contain Donovan Mitchell who continued to be the Cavs silver lining with 21 first half points on 8 of 12 shooting.
However, the main takeaway came from Cleveland’s inability to knock down three pointers, where they shot 4 for 20 for the entire half while the Celtics were 8 for 17. With Brown (18 first half points) and Porzingis (15 first half points) carrying the load offensively the Celtics were able to add to their first quarter lead and be up 65-54 at halftime.
Third quarter
At the beginning of the second half, the Cavaliers lost Darius Garland to injury on the second possession of the third quarter after he collided with Kristaps Porzingis. The Cavaliers were able to replace him easily with Caris LeVert coming alive offensively in the third, scoring 15 quarter points.
Midway through the third Cleveland was able to go on a 7-0 run to cut the Celtics lead to 5 points at 80-75. The Celtics were able to respond with 5 easy points from Sam Hauser and Jaylen Brown but Cleveland refused to back down. Darius Garland was able to return and helped Cleveland close the third on a 19-10 run, where the Celtics held a three point lead 90-87 heading into the fourth.
Fourth quarter
The Celtics began the fourth on a 9-2 run and quickly got their lead back to ten at 99-89. Jayson Tatum began to wake up offensively after having a quiet first three quarters and scored 5 early back to back points early in the fourth. However, just when it looked like the Celtics were ready to put Cleveland away, the Cavs would fight back and not go away.
Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell kept finding ways to score and capitalized on a few Boston turnovers. Late in the fourth the Celtics were able to dig deep on offense from the heroics of Jayson Tatum, who had 12 fourth quarter points and finished with 27. The Celtics were able to sustain an efficient offensive night and defeated the Cavaliers 116-107 for the second straight time.
This win puts the Celtics at 12-0 at home this season for the first time since the 2007-08 season, where the team won their 17th NBA Championship that year.
Boston returns tomorrow night vs the Orlando Magic at the TD Garden tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m.
Joe’s Takeaways:
- Celtics are beginning to play better team basketball
- Jaylen Brown is playing more efficiently on offense
- Team is responding when opponents fight back
