No matter how much we all want this Celtics (35-35 overall, 14-20 away) team to go away for awhile, it appears like the team itself is even more determined to end this season as soon as possible. The timing was just too perfect since star Jaylen Brown had surgery on his left wrist's damaged ligaments yesterday right before his lifeless team fell 102-94 last night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to the Cavaliers (22-48 overall, 13-23 home). The win snapped an 11-game losing streak for Cleveland while Boston's tailspin continued with their fourth loss in a row. In the grand scheme of things, this game meant very little but technically, Boston still has not secured the No. 7 seed yet and they could drop to as low as No. 9. Granted, no matter where they land and if they somehow survive the Play-In Tournament, do you have any hope that they'll make any noise before getting swept by Philadelphia (47-22) or Brooklyn (46-24) in the first round?
The C's actually led by two points (69-67) going into the fourth quarter before they crumbled. The ghost of Kevin Love has appeared in less than half the games this season (can you blame him?) but he turned in a vintage performance with a game-high 30 points, 14 rebounds and two steals. If the Cavs are ever going to get good again (assuming that LeBron James does not return home again for a second time), they will need point guard Collin Sexton (28 points, 8 assists) to become the star that he shows glimpses of from time to time. Rookie swingman Isaac Okoro added 15 points and six assists in the rare Cavaliers victory.
Boston's active star Jayson Tatum had some nice stats (team-high 29 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks) but he shot 11-of-26 from the floor. With little left to play for, the Celts chose to sit down guards Marcus Smart and Kemba Walker while center Robert Williams (will he appear in another game this season?) continues to deal with his apparently deadly case of turf toe. Shooting guard Evan Fournier added 15 points, center Tristan Thompson notched 10 points and rookie guard Payton Pritchard scored 15 points and had seven rebounds off the bench. There are two games left for the C's in the regular season: at Minnesota (22-47 overall, 12-21 home) on Saturday afternoon (2, NBC Sports Boston) and at New York (38-31 overall, 22-11 home) on Sunday afternoon (1, NBC Sports Boston). The first ever Play-In Tournament in NBA history begins on Tuesday.
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