*** On Monday night – despite a valiant effort by a Cavaliers club down two main starters – the Celtics pushed the Wine & Gold to the brink in their Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup, pulling away to take the 109-102 win and a 3-1 edge in the series. Still without Jarrett Allen, nursing bruised ribs, and missing Donovan Mitchell on Monday night, out with a left calf strain, the feisty Cavaliers gave the top-seeded Celtics all they could handle, cutting a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to five before finally running out of gas down the stretch. Darius Garland led Cleveland with 30 points and Max Strus canned five triples, but it wasn’t enough against a Boston team that attempted 24 free throws to just seven for the home side.
*** The Cavaliers were without their leading scorer (Donovan Mitchell, 29.6ppg) and rebounder (Jarrett Allen, 13.8rpg) in the postseason, the Wine & Gold hung tough with Boston through the first half – cutting Boston’s 13-point led to a single point just before half. Payton Pritchard’s triple at the end of three gave the Celtics a 10-point edge, and Jaylen Brown’s turnaround 17-footer put them up 15 with 7:56 to play in regulation. But Cleveland went on a 12-2 run from there, capped by Evan Mobley’s layup with 3:14 remaining. The margin was still five when Brown connected on a triple with 1:09 to play, giving Boston all the breathing room it’d need to escape with the win.
*** Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was proud of his team’s effort Monday’s tough loss. “They laid it all out there. 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.”
*** On Monday night, Darius Garland had his best postseason performance of Cleveland’s current run – leading Cleveland with 30 points on 12-for-27 shooting, including 4-for-13 from deep, adding seven assists and a pair of steals. It was the second 30-point Playoff performance of Garland’s young career, having dropped 32 on the Knicks in Game 2 of the First Round matchup last year.
*** Garland spoke postgame about what the Cavaliers will need to stave off elimination on Wednesday. “The same aggressiveness, the same attitude. Try to get as many threes up as we can, especially if they're falling. And then just keep being aggressive going to the rim. When we go into the rim, they're sending about three bodies, so the open kickout is there. That's how we're getting in so many quality looks on the three-point line. And just try to buckle down defensively.”
*** With Mitchell sidelined, Caris LeVert got his first start of the postseason, and continued what’s shaping up to be a rock-solid series for him – netting 19 points on an even 9-for-18 shooting, adding five boards, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. After finishing with just four points in the series opener against Boston, LeVert is averaging 18.3 points on 51 percent shooting from the floor over his last three outings.
Caris LeVert | Cavs vs Celtics, Post Game 4 | 5.13.2024
*** LeVert on stepping in for Cleveland’s injured superstar. “Next-man-up mentality. I think that's been the mentality all year long with our guys. We never quit regardless of the situation, regardless of what we're faced with – and obviously it hurts to lose this one, but the series isn't over. We're looking forward to the next game and trying to execute a little bit better than we did tonight.”
*** Max Strus couldn’t miss before intermission and couldn’t buy one on the other side. In the first half, Strus went 5-of-6 from three-point range to lead Cleveland with 15 points. But the Celtics cooled him down after the break, taking the collar on five field goal attempts, including all three three-pointers he attempted. Strus still managed to finish with seven boards, a team-high-tying seven assists and a pair of steals in the loss.
*** Evan Mobley had another solid start in the middle for Cleveland – finishing with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting to go with a team-best nine boards, adding three assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Through the first four games of the Semifinal series against Boston, Mobley is averaging 18.5 points and 10.0 boards, shooting 63 percent from the floor, 50 percent from deep and 80 percent from the stripe.
*** Mobley, on his strong third quarter in which he scored 10 of his 19 points. “I feel like I got off to a slow start, so at halftime I just tried to regroup and just keep attacking as much as possible. In the third, (shots) were just going down, my touch was good and was feeling good and they were just going in.”
*** The Celtics will look to close out the Wine & Gold on Wednesday night at TD Garden in Game 5. If the Cavaliers can stay alive, Game 6 goes down back here in Cleveland on Friday night. If the series goes the duration, Game 7 is slated for Sunday in Beantown.