In a clash of the top two teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics began as if they would blow the Cleveland Cavaliers out of TD Garden on Friday night. Yet the Cavs demonstrated why they have the league’s best record with a second-half surge that resulted in a stunning comeback and 123-116 victory.
Boston scored the first 11 points of the game and ran out to a 25-3 lead with seven minutes remaining in the first quarter. Jayson Tatum had 30 points by halftime, with Jaylen Brown adding 19. Yet the Cavaliers whittled the margin down to 10 points, showing that they could still give the Celtics a challenge.
Cleveland cut Boston’s lead to 96-95 with 32 seconds left in the third quarter behind a 3-pointer and two free throws from Donovan Mitchell. But Brown scored the final basket of the frame, giving the Celtics a three-point lead and perhaps stopping the Cavs’ comeback just short after fighting from so far back.
Another Brown basket built Boston’s lead to five, but Cleveland still had plenty for the fourth quarter. Evan Mobley followed with a 3-pointer and a short jumper to tie the score at 100-100. The comeback was complete and with 10:40 left, the Celtics suddenly looked like team that was running out of gas.
Mobley hit another 3 to give the Cavs a 104-101 lead, then Mitchell traded baskets with Tatum and Brown to maintain that margin. An offensive rebound and putback by Mobley put Cleveland on top 111-106 and seemingly in control of the game. Tatum tipped in his missed shot to move Boston to within three points, but Darius Garland followed that up with a huge 3 for a 114-108 Cavaliers lead.
With 3:15 left in regulation, Brown tied the score at 114-114 on a jumper but the Celtics were playing catch-up by that point. Mitchell followed with two consecutive baskets, the last of them a 3-point play to give Cleveland a five-point lead. Then Garland nailed the dagger with a step-back jumper on Sam Hauser to put the Cavs on top, 121-114.
Mitchell finished with 41 points with Garland adding 20 to lead the Cavs to their 49th — and maybe most important — win of the season. Mobley tallied 17 points with 12 rebounds.
Tatum notched a game-high 46, adding 16 rebounds and nine assists, while Brown added 37. But only three Celtics scored in double figures, while the team’s two stars tried to stave off the Cavaliers’ rally. Derrick White (16 points) was the only other threat during the fourth quarter collapse.
With the win, Cleveland improved to 49-10 and took a 7 1/2-game lead over Boston (42-18) in the East standings. The two teams split their season series, each winning two games head-to-head.
Up next for the Cavs is a home game versus the Portland Trail Blazers (26-33) on Sunday, while the Celtics host the Denver Nuggets (38-21), fresh off ending the Detroit Pistons’ eight-game winning streak behind Nikola Jokić’s 28th triple-double of the season with 23 points, 17 rebounds and 15 assists.
