The shorthanded Celtics squandered an 11-point fourth quarter lead on Sunday as the Cavs rallied late for a 115-111 win at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Donovan Mitchell scored 20 of his 35 points in the final frame including 11 straight during the game-deciding run, helping the Cavs snap a two-game losing streak and stayed ahead of Boston in the the Eastern Conference standings.
Boston trailed by as many as 11 points in the first half after a sluggish offensive start while playing without Derrick White (sore foot) and Jaylen Brown (illness). The visitors closed the game midway through the second quarter with a 18-6 run, pulling Boston within two points at halftime.
The Celtics appeared to take control of the game in the third quarter with a 35-21 advantage in the period thanks to some red-hot shooting from Jayson Tatum. Boston led by as many as 14 points in the second half and had a 12-point advantage with eight minutes remaining in the game before the Cavs and Donovan Mitchell came alive. The All-Star guard scored 20 of his team-high 35 points in the fourth quarter, helping the hosts re-take the lead in the final minute of the game with a 21-8 run. From there, the Cavs made enough free throws in the final minute to hold Boston off, going 10-of-10 from the free throw line in the final minute.
The Celtics saw their seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss despite a team-high 33 points from Jayson Tatum. Payton Pritchard also added 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to hold off the Cavs rally.
Boston is now 1.5 games back of Cleveland for the No. 1 seed in the East. Here are four takeaways from the Celtics’ loss on Sunday night.
Celtics offense flounders early and late without top weapons: Without a pair of their top two scorers in White and Brown, Boston’s offense struggled to find any rhythm in the first half. The visitors shot just 36.7 percent from the field and just 29.6 percent from 3-point range before intermission, their second-worst shooting performance this year in a first half. With second chance opportunities tough to come by against the Cavs big frontcourt and no one drawing much contact in the paint, Boston’s offense struggled to create quality looks for the first time all season, scoring just three points in one six-minute stretch midway through the second half. Joe Mazzulla noticed the struggles early on and leaned into more single big lineups as the game wore on to try to get Boston’s offense more spacing. However, he went back to double bigs in crunch time which did not pay dividends against the Cavs 3-point shooting.
Drew Peterson gets a surprise opportunity: With Boston thin on the wing, Peterson got the nod to begin the second quarter and ended up matching his career high in minutes in the second quarter alone. He knocked down his first 3-point shot attempt of the night in transition and held his own defensively against the Cavs wings, which led Mazzulla to stick with him as Boston rallied with a 18-6 run in the second frame. Peterson’s size at 6-foot-7 also proved to be useful on the glass (four rebounds). It was far from a perfect performance (a couple of tough defensive moments) but Peterson held his own for his first meaningful NBA minutes. The fact he got this chance doesn’t exactly bode well for reserve wings like Baylor Scheierman, Jordan Walsh or Jaden Springer but it is evident that Peterson is the far more trusted shooter and spacer in that group at the moment. Peterson finished with eight points and four rebounds in 26 minutes.
Jayson Tatum catches fire in third quarter: The Celtics took command of the game in the third quarter and Tatum’s fingerprints were all over the performance. The All-Star scored 17 of Boston’s 35 points in the frame including the first eight points of the period. He went 6-of-8 from the field and knocked down all three of his 3s in the quarter while also leading the team in rebounds and assists in the frame. The Celtics have played their best basketball all year long with Tatum on the court and his contributions were highlighted even more Sunday night with Boston’s other top scorers sidelined. With Boston needing an offensive spark, Tatum was able to deliver and almost did enough to secure a win for Boston.
Defensive letdown late looms large: The Cavs ran up their point total lead in the fourth quarter (43 points) with 10 free throws in the final minute. However, the Celtics’ inability to get stops in crunch time was alarming in this one. The Cavs picked on Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis in the pick-and-roll at several points and then got easy baskets at the rim after some red-hot shooting from the perimeter. It’s not worth getting too worked up over for Mazzulla given the key absences for the matchup but the Celtics will be able to get a closer look at their vulnerabilities against the Cavs in a potential playoff matchup after this one.
