Celtics lose third straight in Cleveland, 102-94

Early in the evening Jaylen Brown posted a picture of himself, left arm in a sling and his surgically-repaired wrist in a cast while holding up his right thumb, on social media.

Any encouragement intended for his teammates in Cleveland was lost, however, with the Celtics falling, 102-94, to a Cavaliers team that had just lost 11 straight games.

The Celtics will carry a three-game losing streak into the final weekend of the season.

The loss eliminated any hope the Celtics had of still attaining the sixth seed. They need one win in their last two games in Minnesota and New York to nail down the seventh seed  and a home game in the play-in tournament opener on Tuesday night, most likely against Charlotte or Indiana.

Jayson Tatum shrugged off another slow start for 29 points. Cleveland’s Kevin Love, dusting off a performance from a younger age, destroyed the Celtics with 30 points and 14 rebounds.

Marcus Smart (calf contusion), Kemba Walker (load management) and Rob Williams (turf toe) all missed the game.

Payton Pritchard’s 3-pointer with 51 seconds left in the third was good for a 69-67 Celtics lead. Tatum, with 20 points, had helped the Celtics ramp up their pace in the third, as shots started to fall on both sides after a turgid first half.

As evidence, Kevin Love’s up-top 3-pointer with 9:26 left gave Cleveland a 74-72 lead. The shot also boosted an 11-0 Cleveland burst that the veteran power forward capped with another 3-pointer for an 80-72 lead with 7:26 left.

Tatum was fouled with 6:24 left, and hit twice from the line, snapping a 3:30 scoring drought and cutting the Cleveland lead to six points.

But Love and Collin Sexton hit back-to-back 3-pointers for an 89-76 lead, extending the Cleveland run to 20-4.

After falling behind by 11 points, the Celtics closed out the second quarter with an 8-0 run that cut the Cavaliers lead to 42-39. Tatum, despite struggling through a cold 5-for-13 first half (1-for-4 from downtown) had picked up steam in his 11-point performance. No other Celtic had more than six points.

The Celtics opened the third with a 6-0 run on back-to-back threes from Grant Williams and Tremont Waters – the second for their first lead of the night – and the lead changed hands seven times in the next four minutes.

Cleveland pulled barely ahead again with a 10-3 run, with the only Celtics response a Tatum three-point play. But the C’s then answered with a 7-0 run that included  Luke Kornet 3-pointer for a brief lead. Tatum took the lead back again, this time at 66-63 via a three-point play with 1:59 left in the third, and Pritchard, with his third three of the night, gave the Celtics a 69-67 edge to close out the third.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SQgYGp