Cavs rally late to stun short-handed Boston Celtics in overtime, 118-114
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CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Comeback Cavs improbably did it again.
Despite trailing for most of the game, Cleveland rallied in the fourth quarter and then outlasted the short-handed and exhausted Boston Celtics in overtime on Monday night, 118-114. The Cavs are now 7-0 in OT this season and have their first victory against an opponent with a winning record (at the time they played them) since Feb. 10 — even though this one has a tiny asterisk.
“It was a will to win, an understanding of the moment and learning from our mistakes,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “That first half, that wasn’t Cavalier basketball. Give the Celtics a ton of credit. They wanted to go out and win and they played that way. They took it to another level. We were fortunate enough to find it late. But we’ve got to be better from the start. You can’t have halves like that and expect to always be able to come back. But give our guys credit, they found a way to fight uphill and come out with a win.”
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Boston was playing the second game of a back-to-back, coming off an exhausting — and emotional — double-overtime loss to the Knicks the night before. The Celtics were also without three usual starters — MVP candidate Jayson Tatum (knee), do-everything-forward Al Horford (back) and center Robert Williams III (hamstring).
For most of the night, it seemed like they were going to overcome all of it, illuminating an even shinier distress signal around the fading Cavaliers.
The Celtics led by as much as 15 and were up by 14 at the start of the fourth quarter. In all, they were ahead for more than 47 minutes of game action.
But as the Cavs have shown throughout this season — even when their play has been maddeningly inconsistent — they don’t give up and refuse to give in.
With the timely substitution of defensive-minded Lamar Stevens, who didn’t play in the first three quarters, the Cavs made a gutsy push to open the fourth quarter, ripping off the first six points and cutting the Boston lead to single digits.
The Celtics regrouped and went back ahead by 11 around the midway point. But a timely sequence from Stevens — two offensive rebounds that save possessions, led to back-to-back baskets and trimmed the lead to just six — sent a jolt into the team and crowd. The Cavs could sense something special brewing. At the other end, Stevens then helped stymie All-Star swingman Jaylen Brown on a driving layup attempt, which led to a run-out 3-pointer from Darius Garland.
Even though it seemed like a sure-fire loss, the Cavs were suddenly, somehow, within one possession.
With 24.7 seconds remaining, Donovan Mitchell’s whirling floater gave Cleveland its first lead of the second half — until Derrick White quickly answered with a clutch 3-pointer that gently bounced on the rim once before dropping in.
Maybe it just wasn’t Cleveland’s night.
On the following possession, with the Cavs down by two, the ball once again went to Mitchell, the team’s late-game alpha. Mitchell pushed the ball up the floor, sped by the first defender, soared to the rim, took a bump and attempted to flip in a reverse layup. Even though Mitchell’s shot missed and the Celtics collected the rebound, Grant Williams was whistled for a foul, giving Mitchell a pair of free-throw attempts. With the Boston’s coach’s challenge unsuccessful, Mitchell calmly made both, tying the game at 109.
The Celtics had another chance with 5.8 seconds left. A few of them actually.
Out of timeouts, backup guard Payton Pritchard raced ahead and missed his game-winning floater attempt. Only Williams was there for a put-back attempt. Despite barely being able to hear the whistle in the boisterous building, with some brief confusion on each side, Williams was slapped on the wrist and received two free throws.
Just 0.8 seconds on the clock, Williams — an 82.7% free-throw shooter this season — only needed to make one. He turned to Mitchell and boasted that he would make both. Mitchell riled up the crowd and attempted to ice Williams, who couldn’t back up his big talk. The first came up short. The second rattled in and out, as Marcus Smart’s last-second tip wouldn’t fall.
The Cavs locked down Boston and made enough plays at the other end in OT, outscoring the fatigued Celtics, 9-5. Boston, which didn’t arrive at its team hotel until 2:30 a.m., went just 1 of 8 in the extra period.
“I work so hard for these moments, for these opportunities. I didn’t really make a shot in the second half, but just trying to find ways to make winning plays,” Mitchell said. “Defensively, offensively, however that is. Just finding ways to win the game. Doesn’t really matter how you go about it, just win the game at the end of the day. We couldn’t really afford to lose this one. I don’t know what the standings are exactly, but I know we’re like a game or two games, whatever it may be. This was important. This was huge.”
Mitchell scored a game-high 40 points on 14 of 34 from the field and 4 of 11 from 3-point range. It’s his eighth 40-point game this season. He also added 11 rebounds and four assists while playing through a sprained middle finger on his left hand. Second-year forward Evan Mobley finished with a double-double, scoring 25 points to go with 17 rebounds. It’s his third straight game with a double-double and 20th this season.
Garland chipped in with 17 points and 12 assists. Out-hustling and out-working the opponent, Stevens scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds, including six on the offensive end.
“There’s no way we win that game without Lamar,” Bickerstaff said. “He set and changed the tone of the physicality, the effort. I know I say this a lot, but I love in this team that they didn’t want to disappoint him. He was giving it his full effort and they weren’t going to let his effort go wasted. They figured out a way. They raised their level and out-competed them and went out and won the game.”
The Celtics were led by Brown, who tallied 32 points, 13 boards and nine assists. Malcolm Brogdon added 24 points off the bench. Derrick White had 12 while Smart finished with 11 on 4 of 17 shooting and 3 of 11 from beyond the arc.
After going 13 of 25 from 3-point range in the first half, Boston went just 3 of 23 in a chilly second half and overtime.
“I thought we did a better job of actually just guarding them,” Bickerstaff said when asked about the variance. “That first half, we were back off of 3-point shooters and they just raised up in front of us and knocked it down. We didn’t do a good job of guarding their penetration in the first half, so now we’re in scramble mode and they’re ending up with wide-open shots. I think just in the second half we just did a better job of guarding and taking individual challenges.”
Despite getting some help from the schedule-makers — and New York — Cleveland looked like it was primed to squander the opportunity and slip further away from contention. But the Cavs found a way, avenging a loss in Boston five days ago and winning the season series.
Survive and advance. This is March, after all.
Up next
The Cavs will hit the road for four straight games, starting with a matchup against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
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Cleveland Cavaliers forward Lamar Stevens puts in two over Boston Celtics center Mike Muscala in overtime.
© Joshua Gunter/cleveland.com/TNS