Gordon Hayward’s 39 points lift Celtics over Cavs

CLEVELAND — Last year, Gordon Hayward’s feel-good nights only came around in spurts.

But as one of the steadiest players on the Celtics roster this season, the forward punctuated the young season by putting on a mid-range clinic while leading the C’s to a 119-113 win over the Cavaliers Tuesday night.

Hayward tied his career high with a 39-point performance that included a record in made baskets with a 17-for-20 performance. All three of his misses were from beyond the arc. He also had eight assists and seven rebounds. Kemba Walker (25 points) and Jayson Tatum (18) backed him up on a night when the Celtics, with their fifth straight win, shot 56.5 percent overall, and 40 percent from downtown.

Hayward’s 3-pointer with 5:56 left was good for a 110-99 lead, and after Kevin Love answered, Walker buried his fifth 3-pointer of the night for a 107-97 edge.

But Love’s baseline turnaround triggered a 9-0 Cleveland run that included a Cedi Osman 3-pointer, and peaked on Tristan Thompson’s tip-in of a Love miss, cutting the Celtics lead to 113-110 with 2:16 left.

Hayward and Theis had just lost the ball on successive possessions, setting up the Thompson play. But Walker, with two seconds left on the shot clock, hit from downtown, only for Colin Sexton to answer from the right corner, cutting the Celtics lead to 116-113 with 1:33 left.

Walker had a pair of empty possessions, missing from downtown and then, down the other end, getting called for a double-dribble after he scooped up a Love miss with 58.2 seconds left.

Though Smart forced a Love miss, Walker was tied up by Sexton on the rebound, though the Celtics guard tapped the jump ball to Hayward. And when Tatum missed from downtown, Hayward grabbed the rebound for the put-back and the game.

Hayward got his seventh assist by feeding Robert Williams for a dunk with 3.5 seconds left in the third for an 89-83 Celtics lead. Somehow the Celtics forward had the time on a night when, through three quarters, he had just shot 13-for-16 for 30 points.

Basket No. 17 was off another drive with 11:19 left, but this time for a thinning 92-86 lead.

Edwards, who shocked the Cleveland crowd during exhibition season with a 26-point, nine-minute stretch, had suddenly heated up again, hitting his second 3-pointer of the night for a 95-88 Celtics lead, and coming back with his third for a 102-90 lead with 9:01 left.

A quick 5-0 Cavs run, capped by a Cedi Osman 3-pointer, cut the Celtics lead to 104-97 with 6:55 left. But Daniel Theis, after missing the first of two free throws, blocked Osman, buying time for a Brad Wanamaker transition drive and a 107-97 Celtics lead with 5:59 left.

Hayward’s 9-for-9, 22-point first half gave the Celtics one of their best starts of the young season. The Celtics forward scored everything inside 15 feet off a series of drives and pull-ups, and scored four points in a 9-2 run over the last 1:38 for a 61-52 halftime lead.

Overall the Celtics had it all their way in the first half, shooting 54 percent and once again getting to the line, where they shot 8-for-9 as a unit. Walker and Tatum each had 12 points, and combined with Hayward, shot 19-for-28.

Hayward finally missed on his first shot of the third quarter, from 3-point range, but then converted a Smart lob, and the Celtics eventually hit stride again, this time behind a pair of Walker 3-pointers, the second good for a 75-63 C’s lead with 5:51 left in the quarter.

And then Hayward got hot again, raising his shooting numbers to 13-for-15 with a drive followed by another of his pull-ups from the lane, this time for an 81-70 Celtics lead.

The Cabs responded with three downtown hits, including a Larry Nance Jr. bomb from the former that cut the Celtics lead to 85-81. And when Edward hit from 20 feet, Nance Jr. came back to draw the foul and cut the lead again to four points.

But Hayward fed Robert Williams for a dunk off a high pick-and-roll and an 89-83 Celtics lead.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/32m6Fsx