Celtics fend off Cavs, make third straight ECF

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BOSTON -- The Boston Celtics, behind 25 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists from Jayson Tatum, defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 113-98 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night, winning the series 4 games to 1 and advancing to the Eastern Conference finals.

With the victory, Boston advanced to the East finals for a third straight season. It also marks the sixth trip in eight years - the second time the Celtics have accomplished that feat (1980-88) and joining the Philadelphia 76ers (1977-85), Los Angeles Lakers (1980-91), Chicago Bulls (1989-98), Detroit Pistons (2003-08) and Golden State Warriors (2015-22) in doing so since the NBA went to a two-conference format in the 1970-71 season.

Boston will now await the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, which New York leads 3 games to 2 heading into Friday's Game 6 in Indianapolis, with the conference finals set to begin here at TD Garden either Sunday afternoon or Tuesday night.

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For much of the first half Wednesday night, however, it looked like that might not be the case - despite Cleveland entering the game missing star guard Donovan Mitchell (left calf strain); guard Caris LeVert (left knee bone bruise), Mitchell's replacement in the starting lineup in Game 4; and starting center Jarrett Allen, who missed his eighth straight game with a bruised rib.

Despite that, however, Cleveland led for chunks of the first half - mainly behind a red-hot shooting performance from former Celtic Marcus Morris who had 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the opening 24 minutes - before Boston eventually took a 58-52 lead into the first half break.

It was the latest reminder of how the Celtics have played wildly differently at home compared to on the road over the past few playoffs. Entering Wednesday's action, Boston had gone 14-14 since the start of the 2022 playoffs here at TD Garden - the most games played (28) without a winning record at home over three postseasons in NBA history, per ESPN's Stats & Information Group. That includes dropping Game 2 of both Boston's first round series against the Miami Heat and this series against Cleveland despite both teams missing key contributors with injuries.

On the road, however, Boston is undefeated (4-0) in these playoffs, and 18-7 overall over the past three postseasons.

But after the sluggish start, Boston finally began to get some traction - and some energy into its home crowd - behind several hustle plays from Al Horford, who is just a couple of weeks shy of his 38th birthday and in the middle of his 17th NBA season. After going just 4-for-22 from 3-point range over the first four games of the series - including 0-for-10 in the two games in Cleveland - Horford hit six in this game alone, and repeatedly kept plays alive with his energy.

Horford also repeatedly defended Cavaliers guard Darius Garland in isolations, especially in the fourth quarter, playing a part in Garland - who scored 30 points in Game 4 - going 4-for-17 in Game 5, finishing with 11 points and 9 assists, and was subbed out for the final time inside the final minute to massive standing ovation for his efforts.

Cleveland hung around thanks to a stellar game from Evan Mobley, who had the best offensive game of his postseason career to date by scoring 33 points on 15-for-24 shooting, along with Morris - who had seven points across the first four games in total - finishing with 25 points on 10-for-13 shooting.

But after Morris hit a triple with 10:59 remaining in the fourth to make it 86-83 Celtics, Boston responded with a 15-4 run over the next four minutes, capped by a Tatum jumper with 6:45 remaining, that put the Celtics up by 14, and had the sellout crowd roaring with pleasure.

From there, Boston's lead never got lower than nine, and the game was essentially over when Tatum hit Jrue Holiday under the basket for a wide open layup with 2:15 to go to push the lead back to 14, and officially starting the party here for yet another trip to the NBA's Final Four.