The Boston Celtics fended off a gritty push by the hobbled Cleveland Cavaliers, playing without star guard Donovan Mitchell who was ruled out ahead of Game 4 with a calf strain, to take Game 4 in Cleveland 109-102.
“To be expected, right?” Celtics star Jayson Tatum said, according to ESPN’s Tim Botemps. “When the best player goes out, everybody has more freedom, more opportunity.”
Tatum paced Boston with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists.
“Obviously, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It’s the playoffs, they don’t want to go home. Give them credit … they played hard from beginning to end and made big plays on both ends. They hit big shots, so it was a battle, and it was fun out there.”
Mitchell hurt his calf late in the fourth quarter of Game 3 and was absent from the team’s shootaround Monday morning at its practice facility. Mitchell would be officially ruled out around an hour before tipoff.
“I mean, they laid it all out there,” Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “They gave us everything that they had. They competed at a high level. They played the game properly. I’m proud of the guys, the way they went out and scrapped and competed and gave ourselves a chance.”
The Cavs saw others step up in Mitchell’s absence such as Daris Garland, Caris Levert, Max Strus, and Evan Mobley.
“The same aggressiveness, the same attitude, try to get as many 3s up as we can and then just keep being aggressive going to the rim,” Garland said.
“When we’re going to the rim, they’re sending about three bodies so the open kick-out is there. So that’s how we’re getting so many quality looks at the 3-point line. And just try to buckle down defensively, try to hold Jayson and Jaylen [Brown] to some tough 2s and try to run Derrick White, Payton Pritchard off the line and just keep being us, man.
“We just have to fight through all of this. It’s not going our way, but just keep fighting. That’s what we always do.”
Now the Celtics head back to Boston with an opportunity to close out a team at home for the second straight playoff series, doing so against the Miami Heat during the first round of the playoffs this year.
“There’s nothing better than winning a playoff game on the road,” Celtics guard Jaylen Brown said. “It’s like everybody against you guys, you come here with the guys in the locker room. It’s a tough environment, the crowd was great, but as a competitor, it’s really fun to be in an environment like that, win on the road.
“Now it’s time to go back and play well in front of our fans and give them something to cheer for and try to get a win.”
