Boston Celtics Upend Cleveland, 112-105, Reduce Cavs Lead in the NBA Eastern Conf
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 05 Feb 2025
Defending champion Boston Celtics put the hex on the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers right in their home arena in scoring a 112-105 win, reducing the Cavs lead over them in the Eastern Conference below five games.
Five Boston players, with Payton Pritchard's 9 points nearly making it six, conspired in delivering double figures to offset the 73 points output of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland and Jarett Allen and clinching the win for the Celtics, their second in three matchup games versus the streaking Cavs.
As usual, Jalen Brown (16), Jayson Tatum (22) and center Kristaps Porzingis (19) led the Celtics scoring with support from Derrick White (20) but a pleasant surprise was the 13 points contribution of veteran relief center/power forward Al Horford who also pulled down a team high 10 rebounds for good measure. Pritchard's nine points could be considered as icing on the cake as the Celtics were never threatened in losing control of the lead by Cleveland despite the herculean efforts of Mitchell.
Mitchell finished with game high 31 points plus 10 rebounds and three assists in the defeat. Garland had 25 points and three assists and center Allen managed 17 points and pulled down a night high 18 rebounds while Sam Merrill added 12 points. Those could have been enough to help pull the Cavs through in normal days.
However ace forward Eric Mobley was held to just seven points in nearly 30 minutes on the floor as the other dependables George Niang, Max Struss and Ty Jerome could only combine for a total of 13 markers. Chris Levert laid a big fat egg in nearly 20 minutes on the floor.
On the other hand, Jrue Holiday, Luke Kornet and Sam Hauser made use of the limited time they were off the bench as virtual shock troopers especially in defense and other areas of the game.
With the win, Boston upped its record to 36-15 while inflicting the tenth loss on Cleveland in fifty games, cutting for the first time in a long while the Cavs lead in the Eastern to below five games.
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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