Boston Celtics drop Cleveland Cavaliers 103-91; Snap their 3 game losing streak: NBA Recap
After losing their last three games, Boston Celtics were looking to come back hard in their next game. Kyrie Irving and his Cleveland Cavaliers turned out to be the perfect opponents for them to take the frustration out. Kyrie
had made a buzzer beating play the last time Cavs came to Boston and dropped them. This time around though, an inspired Paul Pierce guided the Celtics to a 103-91 win over the Cavaliers here at the TD Garden .
Paul Pierce posted a season high 40 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
“I feel like the last few games I've been shooting the ball a lot better, three or four games now. I'm really coming along where I'm starting to get into a good groove offensively. The way my shot's going, picking my spots. So
even before tonight I felt good."
Rajon Rondo collected 20 points and dished out 8 assists while Jason Terry chipped in with 15 points for Boston.
Despite Pierce's onslaught and the Cavs missing the services of Anderson Varejao for the night, the Cavaliers held their ground early on but the game slipped from their hands in the second half. Kyrie Irving led Cleveland with
22 points, Tyler Zeller finished off with 20 points, and Tristan Thompson had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who lost their fifth game in a row.
The Celtics raced to a 7-0 advantage early. Cleveland reduced the gap to 8-9 and it remained close for a while. Pierce connected two from downtown in close succession to have the Celtics leading 27-25 by the end of the quarter.
Cavs kept the Celtics in check early in the second period and it was a one point game on 31-32. However, Boston started pulling ahead slowly and a Pierce shot from behind the arc pushed them to 45-36 with 4:56 minutes left in the
passage. Brandon Bass had the Celtics leading by 54-46 at halftime.
Pierce was red hot in the third period. He scored 17 of the Celtics first 21 points that included two back to back three pointers to extend their lead to 75-57. Jason Terry made a jumper to open up a solid 20 point lead for Boston,
before the Cavaliers reduced the deficit down to 72-82 by the end of the period.
The second unit for the Celtics almost threw away the game in the fourth before Pierce and Rondo had to be brought back on to close the game.
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