The Celtics were heavily favored to beat the Cavaliers even before Cleveland had three of its top six players — including star guard Donovan Mitchell — missing for Game 5 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series Wednesday night.
And yet, despite that, Boston found itself in a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter — staring down the possibility of yet another painful loss on its home court in the postseason, an all-too-familiar scenario in recent years.
Led by 25 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists from Jayson Tatum, plus a motivational performance from the team’s oldest player, Al Horford, Boston escaped with a 113-98 victory — and, with it, a trip to the Eastern Conference finals for the third straight season, and the sixth time in the past eight years.
“Close-out games are tough. It’s a level of stress, anxiety, desperation; it takes what it takes,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “You got to play 48 — hopefully, maybe more at times.
“And at the end of the day, you just got to keep going … continue to chip away at the things you can control.”
Boston now awaits the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal between the New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers, which New York leads 3-2 heading into Friday’s Game 6 in Indianapolis, with the conference finals set to begin at TD Garden either Sunday afternoon or Tuesday night.
“Joe talked about us taking the challenge defensively, individually, and this was one of those nights that we had to — as a man, we had to look in the mirror and step up and try to do our best,” Horford said of the challenge of slowing down Garland late in the game. “And for me, it was just trying to do whatever I could and use my lengths and just staying solid, and just continuing to take on that challenge time after time.”
Boston’s sheer edge in talent eventually allowed the Celtics to wear out the Cavaliers and pull away down the stretch. And, after Horford was pulled in the closing moments to a massive ovation, he and the Celtics were officially off to yet another trip to the conference finals.
