Three Reasons Why The Cavs Completed The Comeback Against The Celtics
Let's be honest with ourselves, the Cleveland Cavaliers played a pretty incomplete game as a whole. They found themselves down 12 points at halftime, allowing the Celtics to climb out to a 15 points lead and shoot 52 percent from three.
Certainly is not a winning recipe.
But despite their struggles and frustrations, Cleveland came out of this one victorious with a 118-114 win. These are the reasons behind the comeback.
Fourth Quarter Defense
Heading into the fourth quarter Cleveland was trailing by a score of 92-78 and the game slipping out of their hands. But all the Cavs needed was one quarter, and some tired legs from the Celtics to tie the game up and win it in overtime.
The Cavs outscored Boston 31-17 in the fourth which included some elite defense from the team as a whole. The Celtics shot just 6-for-24 from the floor and 20 percent from deep. This was the complete opposite of what they'd done all game.
This quarter showed the resiliency this team has which is a great characteristic of a playoff team.
Grant Williams' Missed Free Throws
At the end of the day, this game doesn't make it to overtime if Grant Williams made just one of his free throws at the line with 0.8 seconds left. Is it fair to put all the blame on Williams? No. The Celtics as a team blew the game well before that moment, but that really sucked all the life out of them over time.
Sometimes you just get lucky and the Cavs needed an unexpected moment like that one after a couple of weeks of tough losses.
Lamar Stevens - Junk Yard Dog
The definite reason that the Cavs were able to complete the comeback was Lamar Stevens who had a career game.
Stevens played a total of nine seconds in the first half after being inserted for defensive purposes. However, he finished with a total of 17:09 at the end of the game after coming in and providing a huge spark in the second half.
The forward finished the game with eight points, eight rebounds, and three blocks. Six of those rebounds came on the offensive end which set a new career high for Stevens. Getting second opportunities such as this is a premium when trying to get back into the game like the Cavs were.
If that doesn't convince you of Stevens' impact, then this might. Lamar finished with the highest +/- of anyone on the team at 18.
As the Cavs start to set their rotation as they get close to the playoffs, Stevens is making a case to get significant minutes.
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