James Harden has generally had a gala time playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers thus far, going 8-1 in his first nine games. However, that did not ring true against the Boston Celtics when they were defeated 109-98 at Rocket Arena.
While the Cavs trailed by 26 at one point in the third quarter, they did have some momentum in the fourth. James Harden produced a full-court pass to Evan Mobley, who slammed it home to trim the lead down to nine points with more than two minutes on the clock, per a post on X by ClutchPoints.
The Cavs, however, could never recover from a second-quarter collapse, which meant they were down 20 points after the first half. Cleveland managed just 10 points in the entire quarter, shooting 4-of-25 from the field and 0-for-12 from three-point range.
Harden himself finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds, but he went just 6-16 from the field, part of a team-wide poor shooting outing for the Cavs. Donovan Mitchell top-scored with 30 points while Evan Mobley had 14 points and eight rebounds, going 10-19 from the field.
Regardless, Boston outshot the Cavs throughout the night. They went almost 40% from beyond the arc and converted 20 of their 22 free throw attempts. Jaylen Brown finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, narrowly missing a triple-double.
Jayson Tatum added 20 points on 6-of-16 shooting. The six-time All-Star looked comfortable in his second game back, scoring 14 first-half points.
The Celtics ended the game with five players in double figures as Payton Pritchard added 18 points and seven assists off the bench. Rookie Baylor Scheierman also made an impact off the bench, adding 16 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 6-of-8 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range.
The loss means the Cavs are now 39-25 for the season, 4th in the East and trailing the New York Knicks by two games. They will now host the Philadelphia 76ers next.