With Jayson Tatum’s nearly triple-double performance (25 points, 10 rebounds, 9 assists), the Boston Celtics overcame the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers with a score of 113-98 this morning on May 16, defeating opponent after 5 matches.
The No. 1 seed in the East, and the team with the best record in the entire tournament in the Regular Season, became the first team to participate in the NBA Playoffs 2024 finals .
With the Cleveland Cavaliers missing 3 of the team’s 5 top scorers including Donovan Mitchell, Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert, the Boston Celtics seemed to be able to win Game 5 easily.
But that didn’t happen thanks to the great efforts of the Cavaliers’ supporting duo, especially young talent Evan Mobley and veteran player and former Boston player – Marcus Morris.
This duo played extremely well and took turns bringing points for the Cleveland Cavaliers, including Morris carrying the team in the first half of the match and then Mobley speaking up in the third and fourth rounds.
However, the Cavaliers with only two good players could not make anything happen, especially when the other two names in the starting lineup, Darius Garland and Max Strus, only achieved a total of 7-27 FG along with 3-11. 3PT.
Evan Mobley scored 33 points with 7 rebounds and 4 assists this match. Marcus Morris Sr contributed 25 points and 2 steals, shooting 5-6 3PT in 34 minutes of play.
On the Boston Celtics side, Al Horford stood right behind Jayson Tatum with 22 points (6-13 3PT), 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks.
Four other Boston players reached 11 or more points including Payton Pritchard, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White. The entire Celtics team shot 19 3-pointers with a 44.2% 3PT rate. In 42 successful shots, Boston had 32 assists.
With this result, the Boston Celtics will compete in the Eastern Conference Finals series for the third consecutive year (2022, 2023 and 2024), also the 6th Eastern Conference Finals series in 8 seasons for the home team at TD Garden.
Now Jayson Tatum and his teammates will wait for their opponent to be the winner of the match between New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers. The score of this series is 3-2 in favor of New York.
The Eastern Conference finals series will kick off on Monday morning (May 20) or Wednesday (May 22), depending on when the Knicks vs Pacers series ends.