Jayson Tatum had 27 points and 11 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics remain unbeaten at home with a 116-107 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
The Celtics, who beat the Cavaliers 120-113 in Boston on Tuesday, improved their home record to 12-0. Boston is the only NBA team that hasn’t lost on its home court this season.
Cleveland trailed 107-102 with three minutes to play, but Boston responded with a 9-2 run and led 116-104 following an Al Horford 3-pointer with 29.1 seconds to play. Tatum had two dunks in the run.
Cleveland received a game-high 31 points from Donovan Mitchell, 26 from Caris LeVert and 19 from Darius Garland, but the Cavaliers never held the lead. Mitchell also had eight rebounds and six assists. Jarrett Allen led Cleveland with 10 rebounds.
Boston was 17 of 20 from the free-throw line after making each of its 26 free-throw attempts during Tuesday’s victory over Cleveland. The Cavaliers made 16 of their 17 free throws.
All five Boston starters scored in double figures. Jaylen Brown finished with 22, Kristaps Porzingis had 18, Jrue Holiday tossed in 15 and Derrick White scored 14. Horford had 10 rebounds.
Boston made six 3-pointers in the first quarter and led 33-24 after 12 minutes. The Celtics had their largest lead of the first half after a Porzingis free throw put Boston in front 61-47 with 2:45 left in the second quarter.
Cleveland shot 4 of 20 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half and trailed 65-54 at halftime.
The Cavaliers sliced their deficit to five points, 80-75, when a Mitchell layup capped a 7-0 run with 5:10 remaining in the third. Garland hit a 3-pointer with 1.1 second left in the third quarter, which trimmed Boston’s lead to 90-87 after three.
The Celtics had a 97-87 advantage after they scored the first seven points in the fourth. Cleveland failed to get closer than five points the rest of the way.
Tatum had three of Boston’s eight blocked shots.
–Field Level Media