Cavaliers look completely overmatched in 109-98 loss to Boston

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - Tuesday night the Cleveland Cavaliers (39-25, 21-12 home) defeated the Detroit Pistons 113-109. But the Victory did come with a cost as Jarrett Allen who had been playing the best basketball of his career was injured on knee to knee contact and was out for Sunday’s matchup as the Boston Celtics (43-21, 22-11 road) and Jayson Tatum who returned on Friday in just 10 months from Achillies surgery which occurred in the playoffs last year visited Rocket Arena.

The game had special meaning for the Cavs organization as it was “Bow Tie Day” honoring Nick Gilbert son of Cavs chairman Dan Gilbert. Nick passed away May 6, 2023, from NF1 (neurofibromatosis) and was meant to bring awareness to “The Gilly Project” a non-profit to bring awareness to the disease and help find a cure. The meeting was the third between the two teams and Boston won both meetings. On Sunday, the Cavs came out listless and underwhelming as they were pummeled by Boston 109-98 with a final score that did not indicate how bad the Cavs played.

The Cavs jumped out to an early 7-0 lead capped off by a three by Evan Mobley. Then with 8:53 left, Mobley scored in the paint to give the Cavs an 11-3 lead. Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla called an immediate timeout. After the timeout, the Celtics went on an 11-2 run to tie the game 13-13 with 6:39 left. It was Kenny Atkinson’s turn to take a timeout to calm his troops. Then with 6:07 left Tatum gave the Celtics the lead when he drove the lane and scored. After the Celtics took a five point lead James Harden trimmed it two points when he buried a three with 4:17 left in the opening quarter. With 2:30 left in the quarter Donovan Mitchell drove the lane and scored and cut the Boston lead to 25-24. The Celtics lead was back up to five at 29-24 when Jaylon Tyson fouled Jaylen Brown, he hit one of two free throws with 1:46 left in the quarter. The Celtics lead grew to eight points when Luke Garza drained a three with 1:06 on the first quarter clock. When the first quarter clock expired Boston held a 35-26 lead. Tatum led all scorers with 12 first quarter points. Mobley paced the Cavs with nine points. The Celtics outshot the Cavs 52% (12 of 23) to 45% (9 of 20) from the field. The Celtics also shot 60% (6 of 10) from three-point range while the Cavs shot just 25% (2 of 8) from long range. Boston also outrebounded the Cavs 11-9 in the first 12 minutes.

The Cavs opened the second quarter an ice cold 0 for 6 from the field and Boston extended their lead to 11 points. Mobley finally broke the drought when Mitchell hit him in the paint, and the Celtics led 37-28 with 9:05 left. The poor shooting continued with 7:36 left the Cavs were 1 of 12 from the field in the quarter and the Celtics lead was 42-28. With 4:40 left in the second quarter the Cavs were 1 of 17 in the period. Harden was fouled and converted 1 of 2 and the Cavs trailed 44-29. With 3:45 left Mitchell drove the lane and did the unthinkable, he scored. After a Celtics, a miss by Boston Harden hit Mobley on a fast break dunk. The Cavs cut the Celtics lead to 48-33. With 1:05 remaining in the half the Celtics led 54-35 and the Cavs looked overmatched. When the halftime the Celtics led 56-36. Mobley and Tatum led all scorers with 14 points apiece in the opening half. The second quarter was atrocious as the Cavs shot just 16% (4 of 25) from the field. The Celtics weren’t much better shooting just 25% (5 of 20). It was even worse from long range as the Cavs were 0 for 14 from behind the three-point line and the Celtics shot 1 of 9. The two teams combined for 31 points in the quarter as the Celtics outscored the Cavs 21-10. There was nothing positive in the second quarter for the Cavs as they were also outrebounded 19-14.

The Cavs came out of the locker room and scored the first seven points to cut the Celtics lead to 56-43 with 10:04 left. With 7:35 left after a Dean Wade steal, Sam Merrill hit Mitchell under the basket and cut the Celtics lead to 62-50. Boston called a timeout. With 6:04 left the Celtics lead was back at 17 points when Sam Hauser drained a three. With 5:04 remaining in the third quarter Brown was called for a foul, his fourth. The call was challenged by the Celtics and they won. It was clear that Brown hacked Mobley’s arm. But the worst official in NBA Tony Brothers overturned the call with help from the NBA office. After the overturned call with 4:22 left the Cavs took their largest lead of the game 78-55 when Baylor Schierman, yes Baylor Scheirman drained a three. 29 second later Hauser drained a three to give the Celtics an 81-55 led and the sellout crowd at let the Cavs know they were not happy as boos reigned down as the Cavs called a timeout. The afore mentioned Scheirman averages 4.6 points a game on the season and 3.6 a game in his career and had 13 through the first three quarters on Sunday. Through three quarters the Cavs trailed 86-69. Statistically everything remained ugly for Cleveland through three quarters. Mitchell led all scorers with 21 points. Brown led the Celtics with 20.

It was very apparent that the four-day break did not help the Cavs, in fact with their play on the court it looked like it hurt them. With 5:49 left and the Cavs lost the ball out of bounds. Atkinson challenged the call and it was overturned and Boston was called for a personal foul. Someone in the NBA replay center will most likely lose their job on Monday morning for overturning a call that went against Boston. After the overturn, the Cavs cut the Celtics lead to 97-88 with 5:40 left in regulation. With 2:54 left Harden drained a three to cut the Celtics lead to 11, but it was too little too late as the Celtics defeated the Cavs 109-98.

Mitchell led all scorers with 30 points in the embarrassing loss. Brown led the Celtics with 23, Tatum had 20, Schierman tallied 16 and Hauser netted 15 points in the resounding win.

The Celtics led the Cavs in every single statistical category including rebounds as the Celtics outrebounded the Cavs 49-42. The Celtics bench led by legends Scheirman and Hauser outscored the Cavs bench 41-13.

The Cavs will play the second game of the back-to-back on Monday night at 7 pm at Rocket Arena when they welcome the Philadelphia 76ers to town. The two teams have met three times this season, with the Cavs winning all three meetings.