BOSTON — What. A. Game.
In what could be an Eastern Conference finals preview, the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers went toe-to-toe in a great regular-season contest Wednesday night at TD Garden. In the end, the Celtics got the job done with a 103-99 win.
Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 31 points, and Jae Crowder and Avery Bradley both joined him in double figures. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving both had 28 points.
With the win, Boston improved to 39-22, while Cleveland dropped to 41-18.
Here’s how it all went down.
STARTING FIVE
Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Amir Johnson, Al Horford
THRILLING START, QUIET END
The Celtics and Cavaliers were locked in a close battle for most of the first quarter, and it was 20-20 after a Thomas layup with 2:53 remaining in the frame. But that turned out to be the final time the C’s scored in the opening quarter, and the Cavs capitalized a bit with a 6-0 run to close the first up 26-20.
James led the way with eight points and seven rebounds, while Thomas’ seven points paced the C’s. Boston shot an abysmal 28 percent in the first quarter, which certainly didn’t help matters for the home team.
Oh, and Deron Williams made a basket in his Cavaliers debut.
WE HAVE A GAME
The second quarter started with a bang when James found Richard Jefferson for an alley-oop over Terry Rozier. Rozier didn’t seem to like the play, as he threw the ball at Jefferson and drew a technical foul.
Cleveland went up by as many as nine points early in the frame, but Boston went on a mini 7-0 spurt to tie the game at 41-41 with 4:01 remaining before halftime. Crowder scored the first four points of the run on a pair of layups, and Thomas capped it off with a 3-pointer that sent TD Garden into a frenzy.
The Cavs were up 50-49 at the half. The stars had quite the first half, as James led all scorers with 16 points and eight rebounds, while Thomas had 14 points to lead the C’s.
PLAYOFF-LIKE ATMOSPHERE
An already exciting game turned into a thriller in the third quarter, as both teams turned the intensity up to 11 in what felt like a playoff atmosphere at TD Garden. The major reason why the Cavaliers had a big quarter on offense was Irving, who scored 15 points in the frame after only having six at halftime.
And then there was this impressive sequence from James and Thomas:
Thomas scored 11 points in the third, which helped Boston take a slim 74-71 lead into the final 12 minutes. He was the only Boston player in double figures up to that point. James also clinched a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds heading into the fourth quarter.
CLOSING TIME
The trend continued in the fourth quarter, as the teams kept trading baskets. Some of them were very impressive baskets.
The end of the game turned into a 3-point party, as Crowder, Bradley, Kyler Korver and “King in the Fourth” IT all connected from beyond the arc in the final 2:05. Thomas then broke a 99-99 tie with 28.1 seconds remaining with a pair of free throws, and that put the C’s up for good.
PLAY OF THE GAME
This was a, well, Smart play.
UP NEXT
The Celtics won’t play at TD Garden for a while, as they’re next five games all are on the road. Up first for them on their western road trip is a date with the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
