In Jayson Tatum’s second game back, he scored 20 points in 27 minutes after a big 12-point first quarter. However, this afternoon belonged to Jaylen Brown who scored 23 points with 9 rebounds and 8 assists. The Celtics beat the Cavaliers, 109-98 to improve to 43-21.
Nikola Vucevic is the only Celtic who missed this one with his right ring finger injury. Boston started Derrick White, Jaylen Brown, Sam Hauser, Jayson Tatum and Neemias Queta. Donovan Mitchell returned for the Cavs after missing their
last few games, they were missing Jarrett Allen, Max Strus and Tyrese Proctor. Along with Mitchell, they started James Harden, Sam Merrill, Dean Wade and Evan Mobley.
It was a bit of a slow start for the Celtics who were outscored 11-3 early in the game leading to a Joe Mazzulla timeout. Evan Mobley had 7 quick points for Cleveland.
1-6 (1-3) vs 4-5 (1-2) how do we think it's going
— Dan Greenberg (@StoolGreenie) March 8, 2026
Jayson Tatum looked like Jayson Tatum in the first quarter. He scored 12 points on 4/6 from the field as Boston finished the quarter on a 32-15 run to lead 35-26.
The 2nd quarter got off to a fast start for the Celtics with both Tatum and Brown on the bench. In the past Boston would crumble in those minutes but they’ve been playing those minutes all season and winning them by a lot. They outscored the Cavs 7-2 by the time that the Jays checked back in.
you kinda forget the celtics have been playing non tatum/brown minutes all season and winning them.
— jack (@janderson22_) March 8, 2026
The 2nd quarter really belonged to the Celtics defense. Over the first 8:31 of the quarter, Boston held the Cavs to 7 points, 2 of which came off of a Mobley fast break dunk.
Cleveland finished with just 10 points in the quarter, 4/25 from the field and 0/14 from three. The Celtics led 56-36. Jayson Tatum led the team with 14 points while Jaylen Brown chipped in 11 of his own.
Cleveland opened the first 3:07 of the game on an 11-3 run.
— Justin Turpin (@JustinmTurpin) March 8, 2026
Since then, 53-25 #Celtics. https://t.co/hdu1sgxvts
Cleveland got going in the 3rd as they scored more points in the first 4:25 of the quarter (14) than they did in the entire 2nd. Joe Mazzulla called a timeout as the C’s lead was cut to 12 points.
Jaylen really got it going in the third quarter, he had 9 points in the first 7 minutes of the quarter, making 4 of his first 6 shot attempts in the period.
The Celtics bounced back well, taking a 25-point lead but an 8-0 Cavs run to end the quarter cut the Boston lead to 86-69. Brown led the team with 20 points while Sam Hauser had 15 and Baylor Scheierman had 13 of his own.
That carried over to the 4th quarter as the Cavaliers cut the Celtics lead to 91-81 on a 12-5 run in the first 3 minutes of the quarter.
JT cooled down after a hot start, with a stretch of 7 straight missed shots after his big 12 point first quarter. You can see he looks great; he just needs the conditioning to comeback. That will take some time.
A big pair of Payton Pritchard buckets settled the Celtics offense back down before a Jayson Tatum layup made it a 14-point game again. Then after Cleveland cut the lead back to 9, Jayson Tatum hit a big three to make the lead 12 once again.
That was the dagger as Cleveland missed back-to-back threes at the end of the game, allowing the Celtics to pull out the 109-98 win.
The bench gave big contributions too as Payton Pritchard scored 18 points and Baylor Scheierman scored 16. The Celtics shot 44% from the field and 39.5% from three while the Cavaliers shot 41% from the field and 29% from three. The Celtics next game is against the Spurs in San Antonio on Tuesday at 8 EST.
