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Archives for December 13, 2023

Celtics Remain Unbeaten at Home

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Celtics went 26-for-26 from the free-throw line and improved their home record to 11-0 this season by beating the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 120-113 on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown each scored a team-high 25 points for the Celtics, and Kristaps Porzingis finished with 21. Tatum and Porzingis each had a game-high 10 rebounds. Celtics guard Derrick White made 5 of 8 3-point attempts and added 17 points.

The game was tied 106-106 with 6:05 to play, but Boston scored the next nine points, and the Cavaliers were never closer than seven the rest of the way. The Celtics have won 18 consecutive regular-season home games dating back to March.

Cleveland received a game-high 29 points from Donovan Mitchell, and 26 from Darius Garland.

Caris LeVert returned to Cleveland’s lineup after missing the past four games with a knee injury and tossed in 11 points in 23 minutes, but the Cavaliers were without forward Evan Mobley (knee) for the third straight game. Mobley is averaging 16.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per game this season. He is shooting 57.3 percent from the field.

An 11-0 run gave Cleveland an 18-4 advantage with 7:34 remaining in the first quarter. A Mitchell 3-pointer extended the lead to 25-10 with 5:15 left in the first, and the Cavaliers led 31-21 after 12 minutes.

The Celtics tied the game at 52-52 on two Brown free throws with 3:52 left in the first half before taking their first lead on a Brown layup with 1:39 remaining. A Garland 3-pointer capped the first-half scoring and handed the Cavaliers a 60-59 halftime lead.

The Celtics had a 17-2 advantage in makes at the free-throw line in the first half.

A 13-2 run gave Cleveland a 74-68 edge with 7:30 left in the third quarter, but Boston regained the lead when a Jrue Holiday trey capped a 9-0 spurt that put the Celtics in front 83-82 with 3:53 left in the quarter. Boston had a 94-92 lead entering the fourth.

The Cavaliers lost despite making 19 of their 45 3-point attempts (42.2 percent).

The teams will meet again on Thursday in Boston.

–Field Level Media

NBC Opts for Eagle Over Michaels

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NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) -NBC plans to use 26-year-old Noah Eagle as the play-by-play voice for its No. 2 NFL playoff broadcast crew in January, passing on venerable voice Al Michaels.

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NBC “Sunday Night Football” tandem Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth have the call of the network’s primary playoff broadcast next month, but NBC declined to bring back Michaels for the second game. Instead, the college football broadcast team of Eagle and Todd Blackledge with sideline reporter Kathryn Tappen was assigned the No. 2 game.

Michaels, 79, reportedly earns $1 million per game in an agreement with Amazon that affords him the opportunity to accept assignments from NBC in his “emeritus” label granted when he left at the end of his last contract in 2022.

Michaels and Tony Dungy called the AFC wild-card game in Jacksonville last year, when the Jaguars rallied from a 27-point deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers.

Eagle is the son of Ian Eagle, an established play-by-play announcer for CBS, TBS and TNT, working college basketball, NBA and NFL games. Noah Eagle replaced Ian Eagle on YES Network NBA broadcasts this season.

Noah Eagle, Blackledge and Tappen are also assigned to the NBC regular-season broadcast of Steelers-Bengals on Dec. 23 and the Nickelodeon kid-focused broadcast of Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11.

Michaels has been the voice of primetime NFL coverage since 1986, first on “Monday Night Football” until he took the “Sunday Night Football” job alongside John Madden in 2006. He worked in the SNF role until the end of the 2021 season.

He currently calls Thursday night games streamed on Amazon Prime Video with analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

–Field Level Media

Big East: Georgetown, The Hall Win

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WASHINGTON DC – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Seton Hall and Georgetown gained home court victories on Tuesday against non-league foes. Creighton is the only BIG EAST team in action on Wednesday.

Seton Hall used a 17-0 run in the first half to grab a double-digit lead against Monmouth, then held off rally attempts in the second half and recorded a 70-61 victory. Freshman Isaiah Coleman came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points. Jaden Bediako added 11 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

Georgetown was without guard Jayden Epps, the BIG EAST’s second leading scorer (19.1), due to illness, but the Hoyas (6-4) clamped down defensively on Coppin State in a 71-54 win. GU held the visitors to only 14 points in the first half. Dontrez Styles scored a game-high 19 points and Rowan Brumbaugh added 14 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Creighton travels to Henderson, Nev., to play UNLV in the Jack Jones Classic. The Bluejays (8-1), ranked eighth in the AP poll this week, have held opponents to 63.4 points per game and have allowed only 39 3-point baskets in their nine games. CBS Sports Network will televise the game at 9 p.m. ET.

Thursday’s schedule also shows just one game. No. 7 Marquette hosts St. Thomas (Minn.) at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.