During the 2015-16 season, the Boston Celtics took the 23-0 Golden State Warriors to double overtime before losing, 124-119. Tuesday night, they didn’t miss their chance to hand the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers their first loss.
The Cavs made a furious second-half comeback in their 120-117 loss, cutting a 21-point Boston lead to two points multiple times, but never led after taking an early 4-3 lead. They stayed in the game by forcing 13 Celtics turnovers and grabbing 12 offensive rebounds, but ultimately, they had no answer for Boston’s three-point shooting.
Specifically, Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland had no answer. Mitchell scored 35 points on 29 shots, but he only shot 3-of-11 from three-point range. Garland was worse. After scoring 25 points in Cleveland’s previous three games, Garland shot 3-of-21 for only eight points, and he missed all six of his three-point attempts.
The Cavaliers showed their tenacity and depth, coming back repeatedly and getting 36 points from their bench, but Boston’s 22-of-41 three-point performance was too much. Jayson Tatum’s 6-of-10 three-point shooting was no surprise, but Al Horford shooting 4-of-5 and Derrick White going 4-of-7 from deep were back-breakers. Especially with the 38-year-old Horford blocking three shots.
The second-half effort might have knocked out lesser teams, but the Celtics made plays every time Cleveland got close. They got buzzer-beating baskets at the end of the first and third quarter, from Sam Hauser and then Tatum.
Ultimately, the defending champions weren’t going to let a different Eastern Conference team remain undefeated, especially in a game with NBA Cup implications.
But there was one silver lining for the Cavs. With the game out of reach, Ty Jerome hit his own buzzer-beater to cut the margin of victory to three points. In an in-season tournament where point differential matters, the Cavs grabbed garbage-time points at a championship level.
