LOS ANGELES: Boston's Avery Bradley drilled a three-pointer as time expired as the Celtics rallied to stun NBA Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland 104-103 on their home floor on Friday.
The Celtics snatched the victory after trailing by five points in the final 20 seconds.
The Cavaliers, led by superstar LeBron James, had trailed by seven with four minutes to play. But they appeared to have gained control for good when guard J.R. Smith grabbed an offensive rebound off James's missed three-pointer with 22 seconds remaining and Cleveland up 99-96.
Cavs guard Kyrie Irving's free throws gave Cleveland a 103-99 lead with 7.5 seconds left, but Smith fouled Evan Turner as the Celtics swingman drove for a layup with four seconds left.
Turner missed the free throw, but it was 103-101 when the ball went out of bounds off the Cavaliers, leaving the Celtics with possession and one final shot to win it.
Bradley connected from the corner over Cleveland's Iman Shumpert, silencing the sellout crowd and handing the Cavaliers just their fourth home defeat of the season.
"I knew it was there," Bradley said. "It's a great feeling."
James scored 30 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough on a night the Cavaliers lost forward Kevin Love to a bruised left thigh.
All-Star guard Isaiah Thomas scored 22 points and Turner had 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists off the bench for the Celtics, who squandered a 92-85 lead with 3:18 left before rallying.
It was a second straight defeat for the Cavaliers, two nights after they fell to the Hornets in Charlotte.
"It's how we lost," James said. "It hurts. It's been a while since I felt like this."
Irving was more philosophical in defeat.
"There were more than a few mental mistakes going down in those last final seconds until that buzzer went off," Irving said. "It was just a few bad bounces that obviously can be corrected by us."
Comments
Comments are closed.