BOSTON – Cleveland’s Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points, including 26 in the second half, as the visiting Cavaliers extended their winning streak to nine games by beating the Boston Celtics 123-116 Friday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference’s top teams.
Cavs All-Star point guard Darius Garland added 20 points for Cleveland, which trailed by 22 points less than five minutes into the game. The Cavaliers have won their last seven road games and own the NBA’s best overall record (49-10).
Boston’s Jayson Tatum had season highs of 46 points and 16 rebounds, and added nine assists for Boston, which has lost two in a row and dropped to 18-11 at home. The Celtics were missing starters Kristaps Porzingis (illness) and Jrue Holiday (hand).
The Celtics also got 37 points from Jaylen Brown, who tied the game at 114-114 on a jump shot with 3:15 to play. Mitchell gave Cleveland a 116-114 lead on a floater that began a 7-0 spurt by the Cavaliers.
Mitchell made 13 of 26 field goal attempts and was 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. Cleveland’s Evan Mobley finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
The Celtics made seven of their first nine 3-point attempts and had a 38-26 advantage after one quarter. Boston scored the game’s first 11 points and led 25-3 with 7:11 remaining in the quarter.
Cleveland trailed 49-47 with 6:25 remaining in the first half, but Boston had a 74-64 halftime lead. Tatum had 30 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in the half.
Boston pushed its lead to 17 points with just over eight minutes left in the third, but Cleveland was within 98-95 entering the fourth quarter.
The Cavaliers led for the first time when Mobley made a 3-pointer that put Cleveland up 104-101 with 8:43 to play.
The teams split their four regular-season meetings this season.
–Field Level Media