Celtics 117, Cavaliers 115

 

Not to give them any ideas, but the sports-betting sites could start (if they haven't already) a wager on which quarter of the game will the Celtics underperform? It's usually the second or the third, but the answer for last night's game in Cleveland was the fourth.

The C's lead, 90-79, at the end of three, and had out-scored the Cavs in each of the first three quarters. But then in the fourth, they let the Cavs outscore them, 36-27, and come to within one point before Jaylen Brown sealed the win with one-of-two free-throw attempts.

Brown got a triple double with 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, but it was Pritchard's night with 42 points, including 6 of 11 three-point shooting. Still, the Cavs hit more threes (20) than the Celtics, and had more offensive boards (16) than Boston (15), although admittedly, it was close. Neemias Queta was out last night (left ankle sprain), but leads the NBA over the last seven games in both offensive (8) and defensive (10) rebounds. His presence last night could have made the difference in rebounding.    

Still, with the win, the Celtics improve to 11-9 and are back up into third place in the Atlantic Division, 2½ back from the Knicks. Those Knicks will come to the Garden on Tuesday night for the C's next game, and hopefully we can close that gap a little more.