Jaylen Brown, Celtics crush
Cavaliers in Game 1
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[May 08, 2024]
Jaylen Brown scored 32 points while leading the Boston Celtics to a
120-95 victory over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday in
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Derrick White made 7 of 12 3-point attempts and added 25 points for
the Celtics, who had a 55-38 edge in rebounding. Jayson Tatum
contributed 18 points and 11 rebounds but had a poor shooting night.
Tatum went 7 of 19 from the field, including 0-for-5 from 3-point
territory.
Boston's Payton Pritchard logged 16 points, Jrue Holiday had 14
points and Luke Kornet grabbed 10 rebounds.
"It starts with defense," Brown said. "We wanted to set the tone on
defense and kept them under 100 (points), but we feel like we have
an answer for everything (on offense). We just play the game the
right way. We see what they want to take away and we play after
that."
Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell led all scorers with 33 points.
Mitchell also had six rebounds and five assists.
"It's one game at the end of the day," Mitchell said. "Jaylen Brown
is an All-NBA player. He makes $300 million for a reason. It's not
the first time he's scored 30 on somebody.
"They're a high-powered team. We'll look at the film and be better
on Thursday. It sucks that we lost, but it's good to see where we
can improve."
The Cavaliers received 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds from
Evan Mobley. Darius Garland finished with 14 points, and Isaac Okoro
had 11.
Jarrett Allen, Cleveland's starting center, missed his fourth
straight game due to a rib injury. Allen averaged 17.0 points, 13.8
rebounds and 1.3 assists in 31.8 minutes per game during the first
four games of Cleveland's first-round series against the Orlando
Magic.
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May 7, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Celtics guard Jaylen
Brown (7) looks to pass under the basket against the Cleveland
Cavaliers during the third quarter of game one of the second round
of the 2024 NBA playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow
Townson-USA TODAY Sports
"Player safety," Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. "We're not
going to put him out there if he can't protect himself. That's where
he's been at to this point."
Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is scheduled for Thursday in
Boston.
As expected, the Celtics didn't have center Kristaps Porzingis, who
is rehabbing a strained right calf that could cause him to miss the
entire series. The Celtics improved to 23-4 in games where they have
not had Porzingis this season.
Boston led 40-34 after one quarter and 59-49 at halftime. The
Celtics led by 13 points three times in the second quarter.
White scored 14 points in the third, when the Celtics were up by as
many as 16. Pritchard made a 3-pointer that just beat the buzzer at
the end of the quarter to give Boston a 92-77 advantage. Mitchell
kept Cleveland close by putting up 16 points in the third.
The Cavaliers trailed by 26 with just under four minutes to play in
the game.
--Field Level Media
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