The Boston Celtics have gained back control of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals with a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. The final score read 96-83 for the Celtics who remain perfect at home this postseason and LeBron James will now have to kick things up a notch in Game 6 to keep the Cavs in it.
For Boston, rookie Jayson Tatum scored 24 points and Al Horford added 15 points and 12 rebounds to give the Celtics their 10th straight victory at home and they now need only one more victory to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals — a place they haven’t been since 2010. The Celtics pulled away in the first quarter of the game, taking a double-digit lead into the second and never really looked back. The closest the Cavs got was bringing the game to an 83-71 deficit but Horford scored on an alley-oop play that put a stop to the Cavalier’s run.
After James appeared to get tired in the fourth quarter, he scored only two points and went 1-6 shooting from behind the arc. That was all she wrote. Game 6 will take place on Friday in Cleveland and if there’s a Game 7, that will go on Sunday.
THAT’S ?#CUsRise pic.twitter.com/6hpqtKqBk7
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) May 24, 2018
The Celtics are not counting their eggs before they hatch however. “To do what we want to do we still have to beat this team one more time,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “And it’s hard to do in the NBA.” The organization is well aware they need to face a more motivated LeBron James who had 26 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. James has played in NBA Finals in seven straight seasons and he’s not about to go down quietly, even if he chooses not to stay with Cavs when the season comes to a close.
What’s interesting here is that Boston has taken a lead in this series without their star guard Kyrie Irving. That’s pretty incredible when you think about it.
