The Cleveland Cavaliers faced off against the Boston Celtics Tuesday night in Cleveland. Despite Collin Sexton falling 2 short of his career high with 27 points, they take the tough loss by a final score of 103-96.
The Cavaliers put up a surprigingly good game against the 35-19 Celtics, despite them missing Kyrie Irving, leading 30-28 after one. A Terry Rozier buzzer-beating three pointer would put Boston up 59-51 at halftime, but the Cavs weren’t going away, cutting the lead to six, 85-79, entering the fourth. Boston lead most of the way throughout the game and the entire fourth quarter, but Alec Burks was big late and the Cavs were able to make it a 101-96 game with a little over 2:00 to go. Cleveland would not score again, however, and Boston held on for a 103-96 tough road victory. Collin Sexton scored a game-high 27 points, while second-year standout Jayson Tatum lead the way for Boston, scoring 25.
Collin Sexton’s hot start not enough for Cavaliers
Sexton was great right from the start, starting off the game with three aggressive drives to the basket before hitting a three to cap off a 9-point first quarter. He scores 9 more in the second, hitting another three and continuing to play aggressive. More of the same in the third quarter, scoring 9 more points and totaling 27.
Collin, however, did not score in the fourth quarter and was not able to reach his career high of 29 points. He continues to show flashes of being great but, again, proves to be inconsistent. He went 0-5 from the field in the fourth quarter, and finished the night with totals of 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, on 11-24 shooting (3-7 from three).
While Sexton played a big role in keeping the Cavaliers in the game, Alec Burks also had a big night. Burks totaled 21 points and was huge down the stretch offensively, making a couple of clutch plays late and scoring the Cavalier’s last five points. Burks is the most obvious potential trade target on this Cavalier roster, and surely boosted his stock with this great performance.
Larry Nance Jr. chipped in 11 and 7 off the bench. Zizic, Nwaba, and Delly scored 8 apiece, but the Cavalier’s leading scorer Jordan Clarkson had an offnight, putting up only 7 points on 2-13 shooting (1-7 from three)
