Final: Celtics 98, Cavaliers 92 - C's hold off Cavs comeback attempt

Game 14: Boston Celtics (6-7) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (9-5)
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
7:00 PM - NBC Sports Boston

PROBABLE STARTERS

BOSTON: Dennis Schröder, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Robert Williams, Al Horford

CLEVELAND: Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

- Jaylen Brown remains out with a right hamstring strain. 

“He went through some treatment and some on-court stuff yesterday and was not ready to play and no further status as far as that,” Ime Udoka said. “He’ll continue to work and try to progress toward a week or two, as we mentioned, but he’s not playing tonight and he's not ready to play.”

- Al Horford and Josh Richardson are available.

- Colin Sexton (left knee), Lauri Markkanen (Health and Safety protocols), Kevin Love (Return to Competition Reconditioning), and Lamar Stevens (right ankle) are out. 

- Boston is favored by 3.5

GOING A LITTLE DEEPER

- The Celtics are trying to figure out how to consistently close games. Sandwiched around two fourth quarter collapses was a stretch of decent play during which the Celtics actually answered the other team’s runs.

“We were stagnant, offensively, in the fourth quarter. Turnovers and offensive rebounds hurt us,” Udoka said. “Nine turnovers for 10 points in the fourth quarter, and then they only had nine offensive rebounds, four in the fourth quarter when they got a few consecutive shots and made that 3 there. So the areas where we really concentrated on for the most part of the game and we did well, hurt us in the fourth quarter.”

The Celtics went with a bench lineup to steal some extra rest for their starters, but watching that unit cough up a big run in the second quarter caused Udoka to go with Schröder and the bench to start the fourth. 

“They got a rhythm going,” Udoka said. “The tough thing was even when we brought our starters back in, I think we had eight of our 20 turnovers in that fourth quarter and they got four of their nine offensive rebounds. So areas that we took care of for the most part throughout the game really hurt us late.”

Udoka was stuck, in a way, with only three timeouts left to use in the fourth quarter. He called one before Cleveland took the lead, and needed to save his last two for the end of the game. That left him searching for ways to stop the bleeding.

“You put the onus on the players but also try to put them in the right situations to have success and some things that worked in the first three quarters didn't work as well not in the fourth,” Udoka said. “That's my job as a coach and then they have to go out there and execute, so it's a little bit on everybody.”

THREE THINGS TO WATCH FOR

1. Early execution: After collapsing the way they did, the Celtics should come out with a little extra fire to lay the hammer down on Cleveland. If Boston really wants to send the message that they understand what they did wrong, coming out with great ball movement and defense would be a great way to prove it. 

2. Tatum early shots: I laid it out earlier this morning. Tatum needs to just chill and let the game come to him. If he’s hunting early mid-range shots with a lot of shot clock left, then his funk will likely continue. 

3. Horford vs. Cleveland’s young bigs: Evan Mobley finished strong but struggled to get going. It’ll be interesting to see how his youth matches with Al Horford’s experience, and if Horford will struggle to keep up at all.

GAME THREAD

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