Cleveland Cavaliers @ Boston Celtics
Thursday, December 14, 2023 at 7:30 PM ET
TD Garden, Boston, MA | Game ID: 22300319
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
BOS 33 32 25 26 116CLE 24 30 33 20 107
ESPN UpdateESPN Update
Celtics improve to 12-0 at home behind Jayson Tatum's 27 points in 116-107 win over Cavs
BOSTON -- — Jayson Tatum scored 27 points, Jaylen Brown had 22 and the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 116-107 on Thursday night to improve to 12-0 at home.
Facing the Cavaliers for the second consecutive game at TD Garden after a victory on Tuesday, Boston won for the sixth time in seven games overall.
Kristaps Porzingis added 18 points, Jrue Holiday had 15 and Derrick White 14 for the Celtics, who have the best record in the Eastern Conference. Tatum added 11 rebounds, and all five starters scored in double figures.
“I think we were locked in, attention to detail,” Holiday said. “This game we kind of controlled the game from beginning to end, withstood their punches and were able to make plays down the stretch.”
Donovan Mitchell paced Cleveland with 31 points, Caris LeVert finished with 26 and Darius Garland had 19. The Cavaliers have lost three straight.
After having their double-digit lead sliced to three entering the final quarter, the Celtics took control again. Tatum sparked a quick spurt with a fadeaway and a step-back 3-pointer, pushing Boston’s lead to 101-91 with 8 1/2 minutes to go.
Cleveland had one more run left, slicing it to 107-102 on LeVert’s driving basket with 3:01 to play, but Holiday hit a layup and Tatum followed Cleveland’s turnover with a dunk with 1:53 to play.
“I thought we could have played a lot better, to be honest,” Brown said. “I thought we played a little lethargically and allowed them to keep the game kind of close. That’s kind of dangerous against certain teams; they’re in striking distance and can get hot at any moment. We’ve got to do a better job of putting teams away.”
Trailing by double digits most of the third quarter and looking somewhat sluggish, the Cavaliers found a late spark, namely Garland, late in the period when he burst to the basket before hitting a left-handed scoop. He followed that by nailing a 3 from the top with 0.3 seconds on the clock to close to 90-87 after three.
Unlike Tuesday’s victory when the Celtics fell behind by 15 in the opening quarter, they combined some steady ball movement that led to numerous open looks with good outside shooting, taking advantage of a cold start by the Cavaliers to jump ahead by 14 on Brown’s right-corner 3 midway into the second quarter.
“I think it's growth to constantly be challenged throughout the season,” Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I've seen over the last two games our guys kind of staying at a certain level, really work to execute and play together.”
Boston shot 56.1% in the opening half (including 8 of 17 on 3-point attempts) and led 65-54 at the break.
Mitchell had 21 first-half points, but the Cavaliers missed 16 of 20 attempts from beyond the arc. Every Cleveland player besides Mitchell shot under 50% from the floor in the opening half.
“I don't think that we came out as aggressive and assertive as we needed to,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “I thought we did settle (for shots) a little early, but we did pick it up.”
After making all 26 free throws in Tuesday’s win, Boston was 17 of 20 from the foul line.
UP NEXT
Cavaliers: Host the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday night.
Celtics: Host the Orlando Magic on Friday, the first of consecutive games between the teams at TD Garden.
Who is who
the initials in the Players column
BOSAH A. Horford
DW D. White
JB J. Brown
JH J. Holiday
JT J. Tatum
KP K. Porziņģis
LS L. Stevens
PP P. Pritchard
SH S. Hauser
CLECL C. LeVert
DG D. Garland
DM D. Mitchell
DW D. Wade
GN G. Niang
IO I. Okoro
JA J. Allen
MS M. Strus
TT T. Thompson
BOS/CLE the team itself, not a player
-- the feed named nobody
What
What happened
the codes in the Events column
M2 / M3 made 2 / made 3
X2 / X3 missed 2 / missed 3
FT / X1 free throw made / missed
AST assist
OR / DR offensive / defensive rebound
STL steal
BLK block
TO turnover
FL foul
OF offensive foul — ends the possession
VIOL violation
JUMP jump ball
TM timeout
IR instant replay
HE heave at the buzzer, filed to the team
Where
Where a shot came from
the middle field of M3.LW.25
RM at the rim inside 4 ft
RC right corner
RW right wing
SO straight on
LW left wing
LC left corner
M3.LW.25 made 3, left wing, 25 ft
X2.RM.01 missed 2, at the rim, 1 ft
When
When it happened
the Offset column
one number per event, in the Events order:
whole seconds from the start of the
possession to that event
Events FL X3.RC.23 OR M2.RM.01
Offset 0 18 22 24
the foul opens the possession at 0s;
the putback ends it at 24s, which is
the possession's own Dur