Dean Wade and the Cavaliers snap Celtics 11 game win streak 105-104

BY TIM SHIRER

CAVALIERS BEAT WRITER

(CLEVELAND, OH) - The Cleveland Cavaliers (40-21, 21-11) continued their brutal stretch of eight games in eleven days on Tuesday night as they welcomed the Boston Celtics (48-13, 19-10 away) to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. This was the third meeting of the two teams this season. The first two meetings were in Boston and the Celtics took both games on 12/12/23 and 12/14/23.

Heading into the game the Celtics led the all-time series 139-86, but the Cavs lead the series in Cleveland (Cleveland Arena, Richfield Coliseum, RMFH) 59-56. Tuesday night the Cavs were once again without Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell is expected to miss at least two more games after receiving a Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) injection on Monday at the Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland swingman Caris LeVert did return from a two game absence. The big story was Dean Wade coming out of nowhere to score 20 fourth quarter points to lead the Cavs to a 105-104 win, snapping the Celtics 11 game winning streak in front of a national TV audience on TNT.

Early in the game neither team looked comfortable and with 8:15 left on the first quarter clock the game was tied 9-9. During the first timeout of the game the Cavs honored Cleveland Heights native and former NFL great Jason Kelce with a video and a jersey. Kelce retired on Monday after a 13-year NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles. His brother Travis, also a Cleveland Height graduate and current Kansas City Chiefs tight end was in attendance next to his Jason as he was honored. After the timeout the Celtics went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-9 lead with 4:51 left in the period after two free throws by Kristaps Porzingis after he was fouled by Caris LeVert. The Cavs cut the lead to 20-15 with 4:01 left after Garland hit a three from the top of the three-point arc. The Celtics responded with an 8-2 run to extend the lead to 28-17 with 2:37 after a three by Porzingis. The Cavs once again cut the lead to five at 30-25 with :19.7 left in the first quarter on a Dean Wade three pointer. But the Celtics responded with a three of their own, by Porzingis to give Boston a 33-25 lead with 12 minutes in the book. Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 13 and Jarrett Allen led the Cavs with nine first quarter points. The rebounding problems continued for the Cavs as they were hustled on the boards by Boston 17-12.

The second period was not getting any better and with 7:01 left after Tatum hit one of two free throws the Celtics lead was 42-33. With 5:37 left Jaylen Brown drove the lane and gave Boston a 46-33 lead. With 3:26 left in the first half the Cavs took a timeout trailing 48-35. Part of the reason for the deficit was the terrible shooting from the field. The Cavs were shooting 29% (14 of 47). It was apparent as the first half wound down that without Mitchell the Cavs were no match for the Celtics. When the first half ended, and the dust settled Boston led 55-45. Cleveland ended up shooting 32% (17 of 53) in the first half while Boston shot 42% (20 of 48) and percentages from behind the three-point line were similar as Boston shot 44% (10 of 23) from long range, while the Cavs shot 38% (8 of 21). Tatum led all scorers with 22 points. Allen led the Cavs with 13 points. Boston dominated scoring in the paint 20-12. The Cavs also were badly outrebounded by the Celtics 33-26 which has been a common thing for the Cavs post all-star break.

With 11:09 left in the third the Cavs cut the Boston lead to 57-50 on a three by Garland. But with 10:00 left Holiday hit a three to extend the Celtics lead back to double digits at 60-50. The Cavs showed some life and with 9:15 left on the third quarter clock they trimmed the Boston lead to 60-56. As it had been all night one step forward two steps back for the Cavs as Boston scored the next five points to extend the lead to 65-56 with 8:41 remaining in the third period. The shorthanded Cavs continued to fight back and cut the lead to 69-65 on a three pointer by Garland with 5:02 left in the third period. With 2:13 left in the period the Cavs sloppy play, bad shooting and lack of rebounding resulted in the Celtics taking an 81-67 lead on a layup by Al Horford on a pass from Porzingis who appeared to take four or five steps with the ball in the paint before passing it to Horford. Then with :07.7 left in the third Garland was called for a foul on Brown as Brown drained a three pointer. Cavs coach JB Bickerstaff challenged the call, and it was overturned with Boston leading 87-69. Garland took the ball out after the challenge all the way to the other end to score giving Boston an 87-71 lead with 12 minutes left. Tatum led all scorers with 24 points, Brown had 21 and Porzingis had 19 for Boston. Allen paced Cleveland with 19 points. The Cavs continued to be pounded on the boards by Boston as the Celtics were leading in that category 45-31. Boston was also winning the battle of the paint 32-26.

Early in the fourth quarter with the Celtics up 89-71 Okoro was fouled by Tatum, he missed both free throws and with 9:27 left in the game Payton Prichard showed up and gave the Celtics a 91-71 lead. With 6:30 left the Cavs trimmed the Celtics lead to 95-85 on a three by Georges Niang. Then with 5:14 left on the game clock Dean Wade was fouled but could only hit 1 of 2 free throws and the Boston lead was at 97-88. After a failed three-point attempt by Wade hit two consecutive threes to pull the Cavs to within three points 97-94 with 4:18 left. Celtics coach Joe Mazzula had seen enough and called for the timeout. After Porzingis hit a jumper in the paint, Allen was fouled by the big man at the other end and he hit both free throws, with 3:42 left on the clock the Cavs trailed 99-96. Then after a Celtics turnover the Cavs tied the game on a three by Niang 99-99 with 3:20 remaining. The Cavs stifled the Celtics at the other end then took a 102-99 lead when Wade drained another three with 2:34 left. With 1:54 left Garland was fouled Brown and hit 1 of 2 free throws to give the Cavs a 103-99 lead. The Cavs pulled to within 103-101 with 1:39 left. The Cavs then turned the ball over on the other end on a bad pass by Garland with 1:19 remaining. Cleveland’s defense then forced a bad shot by the Celtics and Wade pulled down a key rebound with 1:01 left, the Cavs took a timeout. With :36.7 left Porzingis drove the paint, made the layup and was fouled by Garland. He drained the free throw to give Boston a 104-103 lead. Then the Cavs regained the lead with :19 left when Garland missed a jumper and Wade put it back in giving him 23 points in the game and 20 in the fourth quarter. With :00.7 left Garland was called for a personal foul on Tatum. Bickerstaff challenged the call and Tatum was called for a leg kick. There was a jump ball which was tipped went out of bounds and the Cavs were victorious 105-104.

The Cavs were shooting 37% (28 of 75) from the field through the first three quarters suddenly were on fire in the final quarter shooting 75% (11 of 15) from the field including 8 of 11 from three point range to end the game shooting 43% (39 of 90) for the game and 48% (20 of 42) from behind the three point line. The Celtics outrebounded the Cavs 53-42 for the game, but in the crucial for quarter the Cavs pulled down eleven boards while the Celtics managed only eight.

Tatum led all scorers with 28 in the losing effort. Wade with his fourth quarter heroics led the Cavs with 23. Allen had 21 points and 12 rebounds for another double double.

With the win the Cavs moved to within a half game of the Bucks for the second seed in the Eastern Conference.

Allen said after the game that the Kelce brothers rallying the crowd helped and made them believe they could complete the comeback and get the win.

The Cavs will get no rest as they travel to Atlanta to play the Hawks (26-34, 15-16 home) on Wednesday night at 7:30 pm at State Farm Arena. The Cavs and Hawks have met three other times this season with the Cavs winning all three contests. The first two games were in Cleveland and the last meeting was in Atlanta on 01/20/24. The Hawks lead the all-time series 129-113 and 77-41 in Atlanta.