The Cavaliers rode a pair of massive performances from their backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert — each of whom poured in 41 points — to pull off a 132-123 overtime victory over the Celtics on Friday.
BOSTON — After giving up 75 points to the Boston Celtics in the first half of Friday night’s game — the most the Celtics had scored in a first half in 15 years — the Cleveland Cavaliers had a clear choice in front of them.
« Very easily, after the way we played in the first half, » Cavaliers coach JB Bickerstaff said, « we could have sat down and got ready for [the New York Knicks] on Sunday. »
The Cavaliers, though, didn’t do that. Instead, they rode a pair of massive performances from their backcourt of Donovan Mitchell and Caris LeVert — each of whom poured in 41 points — to pull off a comeback from trailing by 13 at the break to lead Cleveland to a 132-123 overtime victory over the Celtics in front of a sellout crowd at TD Garden.
Mitchell and LeVert became the second pair of Cavaliers to score at least 40 points in a game in franchise history. The others? LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, who did so in Game 5 of the 2016 NBA Finals, the first of three straight wins that led Cleveland to its lone NBA championship.
But while this game didn’t have nearly the same significance, it was still a signature victory for a Cavaliers team that was missing All-Star guard Darius Garland, who remains out because of a laceration on his eyelid, and is still coming together after making the blockbuster deal to acquire Mitchell less than two months ago.
« I think we’re farther than we expected, » Mitchell said. « I’m not saying we’re [perfect]. We have things we can work on … certain things you look at like, ‘OK, we’ve got work to do.’ But then there’s positives. We’ll take this win, the way we competed, got stops, got to the paint, but there’s always ways to improve. »
After a rough opening four games for LeVert, who came into the night shooting just 3-for-24 on 2-point shots so far this season, there was certainly plenty of room to improve heading into the matchup with the Celtics. But it would’ve been impossible to know he’d been struggling based off how he played in this one, as he and Mitchell went shot for shot with Boston’s dynamic wing tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who each scored 32 points.
