The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers showed what NBA basketball looks like at its best on Friday night, as the two top teams in the East provided a thrilling potential conference finals preview at TD Garden. This didn’t always look like an instant classic: the Celtics took a huge lead early in the first quarter before Cleveland rallied back to make it competitive, and then zoomed ahead in the second half.
Celtics forward Sam Hauser buried a three-pointer to put Boston up 22-3 at the start of the game. The Celtics immediately forced a turnover, and Jayson Tatum buried another three on the other end. Cleveland head coach Kenny Atkinson called timeout, and as Tatum went to bench, he had a message for the Cavs: “Go the f—- home.”
Tatum had reason to be feeling himself with a 25-3 lead at the moment. Only one problem: there was still 41 minutes left in the game. Cleveland roared back to steal the win, making Tatum’s quote go viral after the buzzer.
The Cavs beat the Celtics, 123-116, to steal a road win over the reigning champions. Cleveland out-score Boston 120-91 after Tatum told the Cavs to ‘go the f—- home.’
Tatum was spectacular on the night, finishing with 46 points, 16 rebounds, nine assists, and three blocks on 19-of-37 shooting from the floor. The Celtics superstar was red hot in the first half with 30 points, but he shot only 8-of-20 in the second half and didn’t make a three-pointer after halftime. When Tatum had a shot to give the Celtics one last chance late in the fourth quarter, he came up way, way short:
The Cavs were red hot after their slow start. Cleveland ripped 17-of-39 three-pointers (43.6 percent) and did a great job limiting turnovers (only seven on the night). Donovan Mitchell matched Tatum blow-for-blow to finish with 41 points on 13-of-26 shooting. Mitchell was consistently getting to the foul line on Boston’s home floor. None of Boston’s team of fantastic defenders could stay in front of him.
What a comeback from the Cavs. Watch the way they erased Boston’s big first quarter lead here:
We need a Cavs-Celtics Eastern Conference Finals series so badly. This was elite hoops.
