Donovan Mitchell, Cavaliers rally to steal OT win vs Celtics

Cleveland Cavaliers continue taking care of business at home

Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers pull off an inspiring comeback effort to complete a 118-114 OT victory over the Boston Celtics. With another important win at home, the Cavs move up to 28-7 at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse and 41-26 overall.

Mitchell led all scorers with a game-high 40 points to go with 11 rebounds and four assists to lift Cleveland over the defending Eastern Conference Champions for the third time in four matches this season. Reserve forward Lamar Stevens came up in the clutch for the Cavs with eight massively important points between the fourth and extra periods.

Following a dominant blowout performance against their struggling long-time division rivals Detroit Pistons, the Cavaliers started out playing catch up but rallied back with a massive fourth-quarter effort to force overtime and steal a huge win with the help of their dedicated and raucous home crowd.

Apart from Mitchell’s heroic’s rising star sophomore Evan Mobley was also stellar with an aggressive outing that yielded him 25 markers to go with 17 boards and three blocked shots. Darius Garland bucked a slow start to finish with a double-double of 17 points and 12 dimes in the gutsy win.

On the other side, Jaylen Brown starred for the Celtics without his All-Star teammate Jayson Tatum, finishing with a near-triple-double performance of 32 points, 13 rebounds, and nine dimes. Guard Malcolm Brogdon also added 24 in the losing effort.

The Cavs could be peaking at the right time

Not only was this the third victory Cleveland had over Boston, but it is also worth noting that all four meetings came down the wire, with the three Cavalier wins being settled in overtime as Mitchell completed his 8th 40-point outing in a wine and gold uniform.

The young Cavaliers team appears to be peaking just at the right time, building momentum leading into the final few weeks of the regular season and looking to avoid a late-season collapse similar to that of last year where they barely missed out on a postseason berth after crashing out after two play-in tournament losses.

Head coachJ.B. Bickerstaff’s group continues to solidify their hold of solo fourth place in the Eastern Conference with back-to-back wins, but are still only one and a half games ahead of the surging New York Knicks, who have since won nine-straight games.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will have a day off to travel to South Beach for back-to-back outings against the former Cavs star Kevin Love and the Miami Heat on March 8 and 10.