Even before Cleveland lost three of its top six players, including standout guard Donovan Mitchell, for Game 5 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series on Wednesday, the Celtics were strong favorites to win.
Nevertheless, Boston found itself down to one possession early in the fourth quarter, facing the prospect of suffering through yet another heartbreaking loss on its home court during the playoffs—a situation that has happened far too often in recent years.
“Close-out games are tough. It’s a level of stress, anxiety, desperation; it takes what it takes,” stated Joe Mazzulla, “You got to play 48 — hopefully, maybe more at times.”
“And at the end of the day, you just got to keep going … continue to chip away at the things you can control.”
What the Celtics did was that. Boston emerged victorious, defeating the Lakers 113-98. Behind a strong showing from veteran player Al Horford and a career-high 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists from Jayson Tatum, the team advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the third consecutive year and the sixth time in the previous eight years.
With the conference finals scheduled to start at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon or Tuesday night, Boston will now await the victor of the second Eastern Conference semifinal between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, whom New York leads 3-2 going into Friday’s Game 6 in Indianapolis.
Tatum commented, “It just shows the character of the team, the organization,” in reference to Boston’s fifth conference finals appearance in his seven NBA seasons. “People might think that it’s a given that we’re supposed to be here, but I give a lot of credit to everyone in the front office, the coaching staff, the trainers, the guys that hand out the equipment, the ball boys, the cooks, the chefs, the security team. We’re all in this together. I do, I mean that.”
“Everybody has an effect on each other, and we all impact each other to help winning and build this culture that we have. Everybody should be proud of themselves. Obviously, it’s not the end all, be all. We wanna win a championship, but we’re doing something right.”
Though Cleveland was without guard Caris LeVert (left knee bone bruise), who replaced Mitchell in the starting lineup in Game 4, and starting center Jarrett Allen (bruised rib) for the eighth straight game, it appeared for a large portion of the first half of the game on Wednesday night that this might not be the case.
Before Boston eventually carried a 58-52 lead into halftime, Cleveland led for significant portions of the first half, primarily thanks to a scorching shooting performance from former Celtic Marcus Morris Sr., who scored 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the first 24 minutes.
After a poor start, though, Boston was eventually able to gain momentum and energise its home audience thanks to a number of hustle plays by Horford, who is currently playing in his 17th NBA season and is only a few weeks shy of turning 38. Horford scored six points in Game 5 after going 4-for-22 from three-point range in the previous four games of the series, including 0-for-10 in the two games played in Cleveland. He also frequently kept plays alive with his
After a poor start, though, Boston was eventually able to gain momentum and energise its home audience thanks to a number of hustle plays by Horford, who is currently playing in his 17th NBA season and is only a few weeks shy of turning 38. Horford nailed six in Game 5 after going 4-for-22 from three-point range in the first four games of the series, including 0-for-10 in the two games played in Cleveland. His intensity consistently kept plays going.
In 35 minutes, Horford ended with 22 points, 15 rebounds, and 5 assists. “It feels great because we won,” Horford remarked. “That’s the only satisfaction I get out of it.”
“But I’m happy because I was able to help the team win this game. We have to give Cleveland credit. They were depleted and they just did not quit. They really pushed us to the brink.”
Thanks to third-year big man Evan Mobley’s greatest offensive performance in his brief postseason career—33 points on 15 of 24 shots in 43 minutes—the Cavaliers achieved exactly that without Allen. Morris, on the other hand, finished with 25 points on 10 of 13 shots, including 5 of 6 from beyond the 3-point line.
Though Horford and the Cavaliers were able to stop Cavaliers guard Darius Garland from scoring, the veteran big man switched onto the smaller, quicker guard multiple times in the fourth quarter, limiting him to 11 points on 4-for-17 shooting after he had gone for 30 in Game 4 while Mitchell was sitting out.
In the end, the Celtics were able to tire out the Cavaliers and gain the upper hand due to Boston’s massive talent advantage. Horford and the Celtics were officially headed to yet another trip to the conference finals as he was withdrawn in the final seconds to a thunderous round of applause.
Regarding the task of slowing down Garland late in the game, Horford remarked, “Joe talked about us taking the challenge defensively, individually, and this was one of those nights that we had to — as a man, we had to look in the mirror and step up and try to do our best.” “And for me, it was just trying to do whatever I could and use my lengths and just staying solid, and just continuing to take on that challenge time after time.”