Celtics advance to Eastern Conference Finals on the back of Al Horford after beating Cavaliers 113-98
On Wednesday night at the Garden the Boston Celtics looked to end the shorthanded Cleveland Cavaliers season. Boston had been dominant the last two games in Cleveland, and now the Cavs were facing a real uphill battle down 3-1 in Boston without Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert.
The Celtics gave fans a slight scare after stumbling in game 2 but have since rebounded and shown why they are the #1 seed in the NBA and a title favorite winning both games convincingly in Cleveland. With Boston only without Kristaps Porzingis in this one they look to take advantage of having that #1 seed by knocking out the Cavs and getting some rest before the Eastern Conference Finals against either the Knicks or Pacers.
First Quarter:
Boston would start hot from 3 point range hitting their first two looks from Jaylen Brown and Derrick White to get an early 6-3 lead. Cleveland was going to need a borderline miracle to hang with Boston in this one missing their superstar, their 6th man and one of their best big men inside. Al Horford who had struggled offensively in this series made his impact felt early on the defensive end with two early blocks. Boston’s hot start from 3 would continue as they started 4/6 from downtown led by Derrick White who had 8 quick points in this one.
Cleveland would hang tough in the first quarter with a surprise offensive outburst from former Celtics Marcus Morris who had 7 points on 3/3 shooting to make it a 23-22 Celtics lead with 3:17 to go in the first. The first quarter in the words of Sean Grande was an “uneven” one for Boston as they shot well from distance 6/12 but couldn’t get anything else to fail and the first would end 28-28.
Second Quarter:
The Celtics would continue to play “uneven” out of the gates in the second forcing Joe Mazzulla to call a timeout after a Max Strus 3 pointer with 10:08 to go in the half and the score 34-34. Marcus Morris offensive outburst would also continue in the second as he would hit back to back buckets to give the Cavs a 46-40 lead with just under 7 minutes to go in the half. Morris was by far Cleveland’s best player early as he was up to 14 points in 12 minutes.
However in a battle of the oldest guys on the court Al Horford was Boston’s best player in the first have wreaking defensive havoc and cleaning up on the boards. Boston would go on an 18-6 run to end the half leading 58-52, with a chance to send the Cavaliers home for the season in the second half.
Third Quarter:
Al Horford would continue to turn back the clock in the third quarter and Jayson Tatum would start to find it offensively to bump Boston’s lead to 66-57 9:07 to go in the third. Horford was Boston’s best player through the first 25 minutes of play scoring 14 points on 5/10 shooting and wreaking havoc on the defensive end with 3 blocks.
Boston would continue to build on their lead getting it up to double digits for most of the second half of the quarter. Evan Mobley would score back to back buckets to cut it to 72-66 with 4:30 to go in the third and keep the Cavs somewhat in the game. Cleveland would continue to hang around led by Mobley and Morris dominating inside the paint to end the quarter only down 6, 85-79 trying to save their season and get back to Cleveland for game 6.
Fourth Quarter:
Mobley and Morris would continue to torture the Celtics on offense cutting Boston’s lead to 88-83 with 10 minutes to go in the game. However Boston would start to find it’s rhythm offensively with White and Horford back to back 3’s pushing Boston’s lead back up to 96-87 with 7:30 to go in the game.
Boston now finds itself as the first team to advance to the Conference Finals with a chance to get some rest before they play either the Knicks or Pacers. Boston will wait to update Porzingis injury status but with extra rest most feel there is a chance he could play in the Conference Finals. The Celtics did what they needed to do advancing in 5 games and give Horford time to rest and Porzingis time to heal now they get to wait and hope Knicks-Pacers goes 7 games.
