The Cleveland Cavaliers couldn’t just take what was handed to them. On a night when an exhausted Boston Celtics team came into town after a double-overtime loss on Sunday and were playing without three starters, including Jayson Tatum, the full-strength Cavs didn’t just come out blazing and blow them out.
Instead, it was another hard-fought battle with their Eastern Conference foes, with the game going to overtime before the Cavs won 118-114. The two teams have played four times this season: three times they have gone to overtime, and the fourth game a furious Cleveland comeback fell just short as they lost by four in Boston.
The Cavaliers trailed by double-digits for much of last night’s game before Lamar Stevens entered at the start of the fourth quarter for his first minutes of the game. He would never leave the court, playing all 17 remaining minutes. He was ferocious on the offensive glass, pulling in six crucial offensive rebounds, and his defense was monstrous on Jaylen Brown. He was +18 in his 17 minutes.
Evan Mobley was everywhere, scoring 25 points, pulling down 17 rebounds and blocking three shots. Donovan Mitchell put the team on his back yet again, playing all 29 minutes of the second half and scoring 40 hard-earned points. Darius Garland had just 17 points, but he dished 12 assists and was +17 for the game.
It was the Cavaliers’ seventh overtime game this season, and they are now 7-0 in those games. This group is able to muster something special in that extra period to outlast opponents.
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The Cavs’ overtime victory almost never happened. After their comeback resulted in a tie game, the Cavs raced back on defense to contest the Celtics’ final shot. Payton Pritchard drove into the paint and missed a high layup over multiple defenders, only for Lamar Stevens to foul Grant Williams on the putback with 0.8 seconds left. Williams and Donovan Mitchell then started jawing, with the Celtics’ forward making a bold proclamation:
Grant Williams telling Donovan Mitchell he'll make both free throws before missing both to send the game into OT which the @cavs ended up winning 118-114.
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) March 7, 2023
Did Mitchell get in the head of Williams? 👀 pic.twitter.com/ce8c80rRwY
He, uh, missed both. Gibson Lowenberg had more on Williams’ foolish promise.
Also on the website, we took a look at one of March’s first NBA Mock Drafts. In this one, the Cavs are foolishly paired with a Kentucky dinosaur, a big man with a questionable path to NBA relevance.
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The Indiana Pacers scored at will against the Philadelphia 76ers but couldn’t get stops themselves, losing 147-143 in a barnburner; Philly remains 2.5 games ahead of the Cavs. The Miami Heat won a close game over the Atlanta Hawks to gain some separation for the seventh seed, and the Heat are just two games behind the Brooklyn Nets for that all-important sixth seed.
The West only had four teams in action last night, with the Denver Nuggets winning a close game over the Toronto Raptors to increase their lead on the rest of the Western Conference. The Sacramento Kings won again, easily coasting against the New Orleans Pelicans, notching their 38th win of the season, already 4.5 games above their over/under for the season.
Coming up: The Cavaliers fly to Miami to take on the Heat twice in the next three days, starting Wednesday at 7:30 pm ET.