The Celtics bounced back from a heartbreaking loss in Minnesota to top the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-115 Sunday at Rocket Arena, on a second night of a back-to-back.
Despite playing without two starters in Derrick White (calf contusion) and Neemias Queta (ankle sprain), Payton Pritchard scored a season-high 42 points on 15-of-22 from the field - including 6-of-11 from deep while Jaylen Brown recorded his fourth-career triple-double with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to lead Boston -- who are now 11-9 on the year.
"To me, having a great balance of knowing when it's his time versus when it's time to make a play, and that's been a huge growth of his -- not just this year, but in the past as well," C's coach Joe Mazzulla said of Brown during his postgame presser. "That's what you want out of your best players."
Anfernee Simons played extended minutes in White's absence to finish with 18 points off the bench and Jordan Walsh notched a double-double for a career-best 14 points and 11 rebounds to preserve the win for the C's -- who led by as many as 21 in the third quarter.
For the Cavaliers, Evan Mobley had 27 points, 14 rebounds after being guarded by Xavier Tillman (nine points, six rebounds, three steals and a block) as the Celtics' starting center for most of the night.
Darius Garland netted 21 points to go along with eight assists and Donovan Mitchell chipped in 18 points on 7-of-16 from the floor, eight assists and five turnovers, as the Cavs fell to 12-9 in the standings.
Boston took a 58-51 advantage into the break and went on a 28-14 run to start the second half to seemingly run away with the victory, before the Cavs used a 14-4 spurt of their own to cut the deficit to 11 heading into the final frame -- but never got any closer than two in the closing minutes.
With the Celtics still ahead 110-99 with 1:55 left, Mitchell hit consecutive 3-pointers to pull Cleveland within 114-112 with 20.5 seconds remaining.
Pritchard sank two key free throws to end up 6-of-6 from the line to keep Boston up 116-112 with 5.9 seconds left. But the Cavaliers wouldn't go away, as Garland buried a pull-up 3-ball on the ensuing play with 1.2 seconds to go on the game-clock. Following Brown splitting a pair of free throws, it set up the home team's final chance to tie and send it to overtime or win it on another 3-pointer.
But Mobley missed a mid-range jumper as the final buzzer sounded, as the Cavs fell short of pulling off a comeback and are now winless against Boston on two tries so far this season.
The Celtics went 3-1 in their toughest stretch with wins over the Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons (snapping a 13-game win streak) and now the Cavaliers on the road. Next up is the New York Knicks (13-6) on Tuesday, when they host the division rivals at TD Garden. NBC/Peacock will have the tip-off at 8:00 pm ET.
Game Notes:
Boston went 40-of-81 (49%) from the field, including knocking down 14-of-40 (35%) from long-range, while the Cavaliers were 43-of-94 (46%) and 20-of-52 (38%) from deep. The Celtics out-rebounded Cleveland 46-43 but were even at 42 points in the paint respectively. The C's turned the ball over 19 times to the Cavs' 14.
Joel Pavón
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