Kevin Love posted season-highs of 30 points and 14 rebounds as the host Cleveland Cavaliers snapped an 11-game losing streak with a 102-94 victory over the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
Love finished 10-for-16 from the floor, including 6 of 9 from 3-point range.
Cleveland (22-48) came into the contest with the longest active losing skid in the NBA, but a stout defensive effort and a 14-2 fourth-quarter run ended the Cavaliers’ slide while extending Boston’s to four.
The Celtics (35-35) lost for the fifth time in their last six contests, scoring their fewest points since registering just 91 points against Washington on Feb. 14. They shot a dismal 36-for-101 from the floor.
Jayson Tatum scored 29 points on 11-of-26 shooting, Evan Fournier finished with 15 points on 6-of-20 shooting, and Payton Pritchard came off the bench for 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Wednesday marked Boston’s fifth consecutive game without 24.7-point per game scorer Jaylen Brown, who sustained a season-ending wrist injury.
With Love erupting for all but two of Cleveland’s made 3-pointers, Collin Sexton delivered 28 points, primarily inside the arc and at the foul line. His 13 made free throws on a career-high 16 attempts paced the Cavaliers on a 22-of-27 night from the foul line.
Sexton also dished a game-high eight assists. Assists set up 27 of Cleveland’s 36 made field goals, compared to just 14 assists on Boston’s 36 made field goals.
Rookie Isaac Okoro added 15 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Cavaliers, and Damyean Dotson scored nine points off the bench.
Boston came in three games behind New York and Miami for sixth-place in the Eastern Conference, the last spot to qualify for the playoffs without having to participate in the play-in tournament. The loss trimmed the Celtics’ lead over eighth-and-ninth-place Charlotte and Indiana to 1.5 games with two games remaining on their schedule.
–Field Level Media