Darius Garland hit a pair of free throws with 9.4 seconds left Saturday night, as the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame a 19 point third quarter deficit to defeat the Boston Celtics 91-89 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Cleveland (9-5) had a lead for about four minutes in the first quarter, before Boston on a Dennis Schroder floater took a 10-9 lead and a lead they held until the fourth. The Celtics had a 20-9 advantage after one, 52-38 at the half, and then the biggest of the night at 72-53 on a Jayson Tatum three-pointer with 3:06 left in the third. The Cavs closed out the third quarter on a 9-2 run to cut it to 12, and then took a 77-76 lead on a two free throws by Ricky Rubio with 6:43 left that capped off a 24-4 spurt. The teams exchanged leads down the stretch. Jarrett Allen slammed home an ally-oop for Cleveland for a two point lead with 35.9 seconds remaining, before Tatum tied it with a jumper six seconds later. After Garland nailed the free throws, Boston (6-7) had a chance to tie it and force overtime but Schroder came up short on a baseline jumper as time expired. The C’s were attempting to climb over the .500 mark for the first time this season.
Schroder led Boston with 28 points, four rebounds, and three assists. It is the first time in his career that Schroder has had 28 points or more in back to back games. Tatum added 21 points, Robert Williams III had a double double with 12 points and 16 rebounds, and Grant Williams had 11 points. Garland led Cleveland with 22 points. The Celtics and Cavaliers stay in Cleveland and play again on Monday night at 7 p.m.
