Boston Celtics hold nerve to edge past Cleveland Cavaliers 93-90 - NBA Recap
Just two nights ago, Boston Celtics messed up big time and coughed up an 11 point lead to gift the game to Cleveland Cavaliers right at the death.
On Tuesday night, both teams were in the same court again and this game wasn’t too different from the previous one.
Boston, after completely dominating the game for the first three frames, made a meal of their double digit lead in the fourth and almost chocked once again. However, this time they did not completely blow up and managed to hold
nerves in the ending moments to escape jail.
The C’s were in the driving seat by the end of third quarter, ahead by 18 points 76-58, and the game looked done and dusted. However they were in a surprise as first, the Cavs opened the deciding frame with a 15-4 spurt to announce
their comeback, and then with the scores at 75-84, they followed with another 12-5 burst to make it anyone’s game with scores 87-89.
Fortunately for the Celtics, their two most experienced campaigners, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, jumped into action, scoring 4 quick points, to ensure that the Celtics finish on the top.
"We'd like to end the game a little bit better with such a big lead," Pierce said after the game. "They really scrapped back and put pressure on both sides. I didn't think, `Here we go again.' We just needed to respond. That's
it. This type of thing happens quite a bit. We have to figure out how to make big plays down the stretch and we did that."
Pierce marshalled the Celtics with 20 points on 7 for 14 from the floor and 6 assists while Garnett and Brandon Bass pounded 13 each. Jermaine O Neal and Ray Allen both finished with 12 points.
Rookie Kyrie Irving, who made the game winning floater last time when the two teams met, was yet again superb and paced the Cavaliers with a game high 21 points on a perfect 6 for 6 from the free throw line and 6 assists.
Disappointed with the final outcome of the game after such a massive fight back, Kyrie added
"We just couldn't finish it off.” He said. “We fought back. They gave us their best shot and it came down to the final minutes. We're just got to keep our energy up for 48 minutes."
Anderson Varejao too was outstanding and completed a massive double-double, scoring 20 points and grabbing 20 boards. Antawn Jamison and Alonzo Gee finished with 12 and 11 points respectively.
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