CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers fell to the Boston Celtics 109-102 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Monday night.
Cleveland now finds itself staring down a 3-1 deficit as the series turns back to Boston for Game 5.
The Cavs had the deck stacked against them from before tipoff when Donovan Mitchell was ruled out with a strained calf sustained in Game 3 on Saturday. Jarrett Allen also missed his seventh straight playoff game with bruised ribs.
1st half
The first half of Game 4 had it all — high-octane offense at times, two technical fouls, chippy defense, frustration at the refs, the on-court return of the Cavaliers' role players, and the off-court return of a franchise legend. Cleveland, already dealing with Jarrett Allen's rib injury, would turn to Caris LeVert to pick up the offensive slack with Mitchell sidelined.
If you were looking for offense early, Game 4 surely delivered.
The Wine and Gold got off to a blistering 8-2 start with a pair of Max Strus 3-pointers, forcing an early Celtics timeout. The early run seemed to wake up the Celtics, lead by Jason Tatum's 16 first-quarter points.
The energy ramped back up at the FieldHouse when with a few minutes to go in the quarter, when former Cavalier LeBron James was shown on the scoreboard.
Strus finding his 3-point stroke was one of the biggest stories of the first half for the Cavaliers. Going 5 of 6 from beyond the arc, his 15 first lit a fire to the banged up Cavaliers offense, helping them enter halftime with only a five-point deficit.
The Celtics went into the locker room holding on to a 62-57 lead.
2nd half
The Cavs would take advantage of a Celtics offense that came out cold to start the third quarter, gaining their first lead since early in the game. With 8:58 on the clock, the Celtics took their first timeout of the half after Cleveland grabbed a 65-64 advantage.
But the lack of Mitchell seemed to catch up the Cavaliers midway through the third. After taking the lead, they would only score 13 points in the last nine minutes of of the quarter, while Boston opened a 10-point lead to begin the fourth.
As the final period unfolded, it felt like the Cavs' injuries and the Celtics' talent were finally too much to overcome. Former Celtics killer Dean Wade had several opportunities to blow the roof off Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse by cashing in an open 3, but the shot would not fall.
Darius Garland came alive in the absence of Mitchell, igniting a run midway through the fourth helping the Cleveland (and Cavs fans) climb back into the game. But with just over a minute to go, Jaylen Brown hit a dagger 3-pointer to extend the Celtics' lead to three possessions and send Cavs fans to the exits.
Garland finished the night win an impressive 30 points and seven assists, but was just 4 of 13 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Cavaliers finished an underwhelming 15 of 48 (31.3%) from 3-point range and were also out-rebounded 57-41.
Tatum didn't exactly shoot the lights out either, but still rose to the occasion with 33 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Brown added 27 with eight boards, making 60% of his field-goal tries.
With a chance to put the fear of a lifetime into the favored Celtics, the Cavs instead dropped back-to-back games at home, giving Boston a prime opportunity to wrap the series up. Game 5 is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. from TD Garden, with the statuses of Mitchell and Allen still uncertain.