The absence of Donovan Mitchell loomed large over Monday night’s Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers. Cleveland’s star guard was ruled out before the game with a left calf injury, but the Cavaliers didn’t make things easy on Boston for the evening. The Celtics withstood multiple comebacks in a game that remained within just two or three possessions for most of the night, fending off the Cavaliers to take a commanding 3-1 in the series.
For the second straight game, the action was spearheaded by the Jays: Jayson Tatum (33 points) and Jaylen Brown (27) carried a Boston offense that seemed a bit unsteady, with Jrue Holiday adding 16 points and Payton Pritchard scoring 11 off the bench. With Mitchell out, the Cavaliers relied on Darius Garland, who scored 30. Evan Mobley and Caris LeVert added 19 points apiece, while Max Strus scored 15 on five made threes.
The Cavaliers opened the night with a quick start, rattling off an 8-2 run in the early minutes of the game, but the Celtics’ response was assertive: a 19-2 run across the ensuing five minutes to put them back in command. At the center of the run was Tatum, who continued his recent scoring uptick with an explosive 16 first-quarter points. Cleveland answered with some timely three-point shooting, making six of their first nine attempts, and a quick start from LeVert (10 points). Boston entered the second quarter with a 37-30 advantage.
The Celtics’ offensive outburst continued into the second quarter, as their field goal percentage dipped above 70%. As the clock ticked under nine minutes, Brown and Cleveland’s Max Strus got tied up on the floor after Brown converted a layup. Brown hit the ground and Strus fell on top of him, and as Strus attempted to step over Brown, Brown appeared to grab Strus’ back foot. An initial review deemed that Brown’s contact was illegal but not unnecessary, resulting in a common foul, but an apparent second review determined that a foul occurred away from the ball, granting Cleveland a free throw and possession.
Though the sequence directly netted the Cavaliers just a single made free throw, it did appear to galvanize a bit of momentum. Aided by sloppy ball control on the part of the Celtics (10 first half turnovers), Cleveland trimmed the Boston lead all the way down to a single point as the quarter wore on. Despite racking up 11 made threes in the first half (25 attempts), the Cavs weren’t able to flip the Celtics’ lead. The ultimately gained just two points in the quarter, with Tatum splashing a three late in the half to send the Celtics into halftime with a 62-57 lead.
Early in the third quarter, though, the Cavaliers completed their comeback. Garland converted a layup with just under nine minutes in the quarter, and Cleveland took their first lead of the game since the score was 8-5 in the first quarter. After a Joe Mazzulla timeout, the Celtics responded with a 7-0 run, capped off by a strong and-one layup from Brown. With Brown bringing a renewed verve as a scorer, Boston was able to put a few possessions between themselves and the Cavaliers and hold them there for the remainder of the quarter. They entered the final frame ahead by 10 points, 88-78.
The Celtics had a brief moment of concern when, in the closing minutes of the third quarter, Derrick White appeared to suffer an injury on an offensive possession from the Celtics. White made it back down the court on defense, but at the next stoppage of play, he departed for the locker room. He returned to the Celtics’ bench shortly thereafter, and returned to the game before the third quarter ended.
The two teams traded blows early in the fourth quarter, with the Celtics looking to push their lead beyond the point of no return. The Cavs had answers, though, even as Boston matched their best lead of the game at 13 points with just over nine minutes remaining in regulation. The clock continued to run down, and the Cavaliers continued to fight — the embarked on an 8-0 run across the midway point of the quarter, bringing them back within seven points.
Garland was a key factor in Cleveland’s continued persistence. He connected on a floater with just under five minutes to play — his 26th and 27th points — to bring the Cavaliers back within seven, and then drew a foul on Horford on a drive to the basket on the next possession. Mazzulla challenged the ruling on the play — Horford blocked the shot cleanly, but was called for contact elsewhere during the shot — and the call was overturned. The Celtics couldn’t convert on the ensuing possession, however, missing consecutive threes to leave the lead at seven points with just over three minutes remaining in regulation.
Cleveland’s lead reached 12-2 on a layup from Mobley, before Tatum finally cut it off with a layup of his own. After Tatum missed a midrange jumper, though, the Cavaliers again cut the lead to five on a goaltending call against Horford with 1:55 remaining. On the next possession, the game paused for yet another review, as the Cavaliers challenged a foul call on a midrange jumper from Brown. Cleveland won the challenge, overturning the call, but much as it did with the Celtics earlier, the sequence didn’t break in their favor. Strus missed a three-pointer and committed a loose ball foul, fouling out of the game, and Brown responded with a three-pointer to give the Celtics an eight-point lead with just over a minute remaining in regulation — a sequence that proved to be the dagger for the night.
Next up, the Celtics will look to close out Cleveland on their home court this Wednesday at 7 PM EST on TNT.
