The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics faced each other on a exciting Wednesday night in the NBA. Celtics hosted the defending NBA champions in their TD Garden in Boston in front of a sell out crowd of 19 thousand fans. It was a big game for both teams as they are fighting for that number one spot in the Eastern Conference.
Huge second quarter lifts the Cavs
It felt like a playoff atmosphere Wednesday night in TD Garden and the crowd was into it. The teams went back-and-forth in the first quarter with Boston leading 20-19 after the first 12 minutes of play.
That was Boston's only lead of the game as the Cavs put on a show in the second quarter. They scored 38 points and held Boston to just 22 as they took a commanding 57-42 lead at halftime. Cavaliers' biggest lead of the game was 29 points (89-60) and they ended up winning by 23 points. Final score was 114-91 for the away team. This was Cleveland's fourth win in a row and they now stand alone on top of the Eastern Conference. Cavs are 3-1 this season against the Celtics.
Boston was outrebounded in this one by a big margin (51-38) and they missed 11 free throws. Cavaliers played great team defense, holding a good Boston team to just 91 points and allowing them to shoot 40.7% from the field.
The King with a statement game in TD garden
LeBron James led all scorers in this one with 36 points. He also added 10 rebounds and six assists and had an efficient night shooting the ball (14-22). "We knew we were coming into a hostile building tonight. We just tried to play our game, defend well, move the ball, and we did that." said James in a postgame interview.
Cavaliers' all-star point guard Kyrie Irving finished the game with 19 points and five assists. Kevin Love helped with 15 points and 16 big rebounds. After the game Kyrie Irving spoke to the media: "For us it's really just about minimizing our mistakes that we make down on the floor. This tonight was a great test for us."
The Cavaliers played without their starting center Tristan Thompson who was out with a sprained right thumb.
Isaiah Thomas was the leading scorer for the home team, he had 26 points, four rebounds and six assists. Jae Crowder added 13 and Al Horford 12 points. With only four games left to play, the Celtics are now at number two spot in the East, one game behind the Cavs.
