The Celtics had their streak of four consecutive blowout wins in the playoffs snapped Thursday with a 118-94 loss to the Cavaliers at TD Garden in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The humbling defeat evened the series, which has begun to follow a familiar script for the top-seeded Celtics who routed the Heat in their first-round opener around a decisive Game 2 loss.
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The Cavs weren’t historically productive from 3-point range like Miami was in its win, but they did make 46.4% of theirs to Boston’s 22.9%.
“In both of the games we lost here at home, we shot the ball incredibly bad,” Celtics forward Jaylen Brown said. “They shot the ball really well, and we didn’t play defense to our level tonight.”
Brown called the Celtics’ defensive performance “unacceptable.” Cleveland hadn’t scored more than 106 points in any of its first eight playoff games and managed just 95 in Game 1.
Spearheading Thursday’s effort was All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, who scored 23 of his 29 points in the second half to go along with eight assists and seven rebounds. The Cavs also got a big night from Evan Mobley, who had 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks despite spending much of the second half in foul trouble. Six Cavaliers players scored in double figures, including Caris LeVert’s 21 points off the bench.
Jayson Tatum paced the Celtics with 25 points, seven boards and six assists.
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Game 1 standouts Jaylen Brown (19 points) and Derrick White (10) struggled mightily from deep, going a combined 1-for-14 on 3s.
Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla to departing assistant: Prepare to be hated as head coach
The Cavs also out-rebounded the Celtics 44-31 and outscored them by 16 points in the paint despite missing injured starting center Jarrett Allen (bruised ribs). Boston also was down a key big man in Kristaps Porzingis (calf strain), and for the first time since his injury, it missed him.
“They did a good job, especially on pick-and-roll,” Celtics head coach Joe Mazulla said. “They tested our pick-and-roll defense. We have to do better at that. But a lot of that stuff in the paint came in transition because of our poor offensive spacing and our rim decisions at times.”
The Celtics, who won their first two games without Porzingis by 34 and 25 points, opened this one with a 14-5 run that prompted an early timeout by Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff. Four Boston players scored points during that opening flurry, with Al Horford and White both sinking 3s.
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Cleveland quickly rallied, however, to tie the game at 19-19, then took its first lead of the game when was called for a foul while blocking a LeVert dunk.
The partisan Garden crowd didn’t like the call, but LeVert hit both free throws as part of a 9-0 Cavs run. Cleveland led 30-24 at the end of the first — the first time Boston had been outscored in any quarter since Game 4 against Miami.
Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) goes past Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) at the Celtics take on the Cavaliers in game 2 of the second round of NBA playoffs at the Garden on May 9. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald)
The Celtics then responded with an immediate 9-0 run of their own, exploiting a small-ball Cavs lineup to score at the rim on three consecutive possessions.
After being outscored 22-6 in the paint in the opening 12 minutes, five of Boston’s first eight makes of the second quarter were layups or dunks — two by Jrue Holiday and three by Payton Pritchard.
The Celtics also got two second-quarter 3s from Horford and one from Tatum, then went cold, making just one field goal over the final 4:53 of the first half. Boston entered halftime tied 54-54 after a sloppy Brown turnover and foul gifted Cleveland foul shots in the final seconds.
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The Cavaliers then controlled the pace of play during a lopsided third quarter, led by their talented backcourt duo of Mitchell and Darius Garland.
Mitchell shook off his sleepy, six-point opening half to score 16 in the third, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer. Garland added nine points in the frame as Cleveland’s lead swelled to double digits.
“He made some tough shots tonight,” Brown said. “Some tough contested threes. We’ve got to be up. He’s a basketball player, and we’ve got to have a little more alertness to him. Tonight, he got the best of us.”
Mobley picked up his fourth foul with five minutes remaining in the third, forcing him to the bench. But the Celtics couldn’t capitalize against his replacement, past-his-prime veteran Tristan Thompson. Cleveland took a 90-78 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Mazzulla emptied his bench with five minutes remaining, giving rookie guard Jordan Walsh the first postseason action of his young career.
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The Celtics rebounded from their ugly Game 2 loss to the Heat by reeling off three straight routs to win that series in five. Mazzulla will be hoping Thursday’s clunker spurs a similar turnaround.
“You treat it the same way you would a win,” the coach said. “You come in tomorrow, you watch film, and you get better for Game 3.”
Smoke from the Canadian wildfires that engulfed the Northeast United States in a haze hardly let up in Greater Boston.
But Saturday’s rain may have cleared the skies just in time for the World Cup final in New Jersey on Sunday.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued an air quality alert that the fine particles from smoke across the entire state averaged at a level “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups,” which includes people “with lung or heart disease, older adults, and children.”
Fine particulates that are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM2.5) were tracked at a level of 130, which the agency rates as in the middle of the 101-150 “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups,” at multiple locations in the city and in nearby municipalities.
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The U.S. Air Quality Index also recorded a 130 rating for much of the region but the city itself was rated at 166 near South Station, with nearby locations including Quincy, Chelsea, and Lynn hovering around 160 PM2.5. This concentration falls under the “Unhealthy” category.
Similar warnings were issued throughout much of the country Saturday.
At MetLife Stadium, where the World Cup final is scheduled to take place, the sky was the same thick, soupy gray it has been for days, even after a drenching thunderstorm prompted warnings of flash flooding and forced the Spanish national team to suspend its last outdoor training session ahead of the clash with Argentina.
Saturday’s storm front will largely move the smoke out of the Northeast before the final between Spain and Argentina, said Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather.
“There could be some lingering smoke that would make things hazy, but very faint,” Roys said. “In terms of the thickest smoke, the smoke that has really been eye-popping and leads to poor air quality, that is not expected across New York City or much of the Northeast.”
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The air quality index shows an improvement from unhealthy air for sensitive groups on Saturday to “moderate” air quality Sunday in East Rutherford, which means little to no health risk for the general public.
BOSTON (WHDH) – Boston police are investigating a shooting in Allston on Friday night that left a man dead, officials said.
Officers responding to a report of a person shot in the area of 20 Rugg Road around 10:30 p.m. found a man inside suffering from a gunshot wound, according to Boston police. Boston EMS treated him on-scene before he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His name has not been released.
No arrests have been made.
No additional information was immediately available.
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This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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Ariana Grande is coming to Boston next week and one of her biggest fans in Massachusetts will be there after resolving a ticket issue with StubHub.
Kelsie Duest of Hopedale had two front row balcony seats to Grande’s show on July 23 at TD Garden. Her brother bought them for her on StubHub last year. Her mother said it cost nearly $1,400 for the pair.
But about a month later, Sharon Duest checked her Apple Wallet and noticed the tickets were invalid. She said StubHub offered them a choice, take a refund or different tickets.
Kelsie Duest has two seats to Ariana Grande’s show on July 23 at TD Garden in Boston.
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CBS Boston
Duest ended up accepting the tickets that were offered, only to learn they were obstructed view seats behind the stage and Kelsie wouldn’t be able to see Grande during parts of the concert.
Concerned that her daughter, who has Down syndrome, would miss out on the experience of seeing Grande on stage, Duest tried calling and emailing Stubhub hoping to get better seats.
“We didn’t want anything for free. We just wanted just the tickets that we had,” she told WBZ-TV.
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With the concert coming up soon, the Duests reached out to the I-Team’s Call for Action for help, who contacted StubHub.
“We’re so sorry about the issues Sharon experienced with their ticket order, especially given how meaningful this concert is to Kelsie,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
“We understand how disappointing and stressful that situation was. Our Customer Care team worked with them to resolve the issue and ultimately secured upgraded replacement tickets in a section in front of where the original seats were located, allowing them to attend the show with an improved view.”
Kelsie and her mom now have club seats closer to the stage than the tickets they originally purchased.
“I know we couldn’t have done this without you guys. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” Sharon Duest said.
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A good rule of thumb with electronic tickets is to always check on them to confirm that they remain valid up until the event. You should also keep good records in case you need a refund or a replacement.
