Hit on the table, and very serious, by the Cleveland Cavaliers at the TD Garden. Second game of the Celtics-Cavaliers series and spectacular rebellion by the Cavs who ate the Celtics in the second half to win 94-118 and make the series 1-1. From losing by 25 in the first game to winning by 24 in the second. Two worlds.
Donovan Mitchell was the differentiating factor. The first half was dull, with only 6 points to his name, but his team survived that contingency, reaching the break 54-54. The second half was a different story. Immense Mitchell – outstanding in the third quarter -, excellent defense of his team, very poor response from Boston and victory by 24 points after reaching a maximum difference of 29 in the last quarter.
The image of the match was none other than the massive abandonment of the stands by the local fans with 5 minutes remaining in the match. Then the score was 87-111 and timid whistles could already be heard. Boston was knocked out and on the ground, no longer able to get up.
Mitchell, after those poor 6 points in the first half, pulled out a second half more in line with his spectacular playoffs, to finish the game with 29 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and notable shooting percentages, including a 5 of 7 from the triple.
His three-pointer at the buzzer in the third quarter made it 78-90, after Cleveland had been up 14 shortly before. But the fourth quarter left us at the beginning with a tremendous frontal triple by Mitchell against the backboard that distanced his team by 15 points and a couple of beautiful shots to the basket by Mitchell himself to continue opening the gap on the scoreboard.
A triple by Max Strus and a basket by Caris LeVert put the lead at 20 (87-107) with 6:06 remaining. And time out for the Celtics who already looked like a zombie team. From then on, nothing got better for the local team, which reached rock bottom at the aforementioned 29-point disadvantage, which led both coaches to dispense with their best men.
From 54-54 at halftime it went to a tremendous 40-64 after the intermission. The Cavaliers were firm on the rebound, outstanding in defense, with good shooting from three-point range and finishing with 54.7% shooting from the field.
Evan Mobley had a very complete game with 21 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 60 percent shooting and Caris LeVert scored 21 from the second unit. In addition, 14 points and 7 rebounds from Darius Garland, shooting little and well, and 12 points from Isaac Okoro and Max Strus, who left after 40 minutes of play, being the visiting player who spent the most minutes on the court.
Boston handled itself very poorly from the three-point shot, was barely 41.3 percent from the field and saw how many of its players, almost all of them, faded as the minutes progressed.
Jayson Tatum added 25 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists (only 2 points in the final quarter), Jaylen Brown scored 19 points on 0 of 6 from three-point range (he was joined by Derrick White with 1 of 8) and Payton Pritchard finished with 13 points.
(With information from Hispanics NBA)