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The Cavs fumbled away a win at home tonight, losing at the buzzer to the Boston Celtics by the score of 104-103. Down by two, and with the ball out of bounds under their own basket, the Cavs allowed Celtic guard Avery Bradley to get a clean look at from the corner and he drilled a three to give the Celtics the win. With a four-point lead with just 8 seconds left in the game, the Cavs fouled Evan Turner as he made a layup, then were unable to secure the rebound off of his missed free throw, setting up the heroics by Bradley. The Cavs were inconsistent all night, holding a 15-point lead at one point, and overcoming large deficits in both the third and fourth quarters to appear as if the game was in hand. It never really was, however, and the Celtics never gave up and used all 48 minutes to pull this one out.
The Cavs came out with great energy and looked like they were going to run away with this one early. Great defense and hot outside shooting helped them build a quick 14-2 lead. The Cavs were the aggressors early on. They moved the ball on offense, rotated on defense, took charges, forced turnovers and drew fouls to take a commanding early lead. Kevin Love and JR Smith combined for three makes from behind the arc in the first three minutes of the game to force an early timeout by the Celtics. The fast pace continued for the Cavs throughout the first quarter, and they took a 32-20 lead into the second period.
The pace slowed down dramatically in the second quarter, and the Celtics were able to chip away at the double-figure Cavs lead. For the quarter, the Cavs shot 7-21 and had their 12-point lead cut in half as they were outscored 23-17 in the quarter. After shooting 10-18 in the first quarter, the offense let the Cavs down in the second. The Celtics ended the second on an 8-2 run, and would carry that momentum into the third quarter, which has been a nemesis of the Cavs lately.
The Cavs allowed the Celtics to score the first nine points of the second half, and saw their early 15-point lead turned into a third quarter deficit very quickly. The Cavs battled back and regained control to take an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter started the same as the third did, though, as the Celtics this time went on a 14-3 run to take the lead at 77-76. The Cavs lacked any kind of killer instinct to put Boston away, and they had multiple opportunities to do so.
Even as the Celtics built a seven-point lead late in the game, the Cavs stuck around thanks to the brilliance of LeBron James, and some timely 3s by Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith. It still wasn’t enough, even with a four-point lead and 8 seconds on the clock, as the Cavs couldn’t pull this one out. This is the type of loss that makes fans and analysts think more about the potential for a trade to shake things up in the locker room. We will have to wait and see if that is the case.
LeBron led the way with 30 points and seven rebounds. J.R. Smith and Kyrie Irving followed with 20 and 19 points, respectively. The Cavs missed 14 free throws and were again out-rebounded by an inferior team.
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In Kelly Olynyk’s first time in Cleveland since tearing Kevin Love’s shoulder out of its socket in Game 4 of the first round playoff series last year, the crowd gives Olynyk a very loud and warm welcome.
And Kelly Olynyk gets a well deserved welcome into Cleveland. #CavsNation #Game4 pic.twitter.com/quRWWt7qkg
— Cavs Nation (@CavsNationNet) February 6, 2016
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