Home no help as Cavaliers get bounced by Celtics, fall behind 2-1 in series

CLEVELAND — The real Boston Celtics showed up for Game 3. Led by All-Star forwards Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, the Celtics blasted the Cavaliers 106-93 on Saturday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. The series resumes Monday in Cleveland. Tatum, not listening to criticism that he's been "struggling" in the series, scored 33 points and had a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with six assists. His sidekick, Brown, added 28 points and nine rebounds and point guard Jrue Holiday added 18 points and eight rebounds. That was more than enough to offset 33 points and six rebounds by Cavs guard Donovan Mitchell. The problem for Cleveland was that it didn't get enough from Mitchell's supporting cast. "They are elite offensive players," Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said of Tatum and Brown. Cleveland put a huge emphasis on winning the rebounding battle in the game. However, they once again got pushed around on the boards, 44-35. That's a key statistic, as the team with the most rebounds has won each game in the series. "We have to team rebound, box out and come up with the 50-50 balls, as well," Cavs center Evan Mobley said. "They tried to keep me off the glass. They did a good job of tracking me throughout the possession." Mobley was held to 17 points and eight rebounds — just two in the second half — after dominating the paint in Game 2. "They did a lot of switching," Mobley said. "They kept a long defender on me throughout the game." Cleveland's defense didn't live up to the task of slowing down Boston, which shot .513 from the field and .382 from the 3-point line. Cavs point guard Darius Garland, who had just six points in the first half, finished with 15 points and a team-high six assists. Seven of his points came in the fourth quarter once the game was all but decided. "We know how much he means to us. We'll keep pushing him," Bickerstaff said, predicting Garland will have a big game Monday night. The game was decided in the third quarter when the Celtics scored the first 14 points of the second half to extend their lead to 71-48. The Cavs were held scoreless for the first 3:23 as Boston took control of the game. The Celtics outscored Cleveland in the third quarter 27-21 and led 84-69 entering the fourth. The Cavs trailed by nine points at halftime. Mitchell shot a sizzling 6-of-8 from the 3-point line in the first half but the rest of the team was a woeful 2-of-15. For the game, Mitchell finished 7-of-12 from behind the arc and the rest of the team was 5-of-24. "Give them credit, they came out with a sense of urgency," Mitchell said of the Celtics. "They got three after three after three. It's hard to fight an uphill battle. "There were a bunch of things we could have done better. There were times where we tried to hit the home run, myself included. I'm not mad at (our) aggression." Mitchell was almost unstoppable in the first half with 23 points. However, the rest of the Cavs combined for just 25. The Cavs were held to .429 shooting from the field and .333 from the 3-point line. "We were attacking them physically," Bickerstaff said. "We weren't getting those whistles." Bickerstaff went with a small lineup for part of the fourth quarter with Mobley and four guards. "It gave us space," Bickerstaff said. "We were struggling to score. It gave us a little boost. We were trying to create open shots. We just didn't make enough of them." Contact Bob Finnan at rfinnan30@gmail.com. Follow him @BobCavsinsider on X. Celtics 106, Cavaliers 93 BOSTON (106): Brown 13-17 0-2 28, Tatum 11-25 9-9 33, Horford 1-7 0-0 2, Holiday 7-10 1-2 18, White 4-13 1-1 12, Hauser 2-3 0-0 6, Walsh 0-0 0-0 0, Kornet 1-1 0-0 2, Mykhailiuk 0-0 0-0 0, Brissett 0-0 0-0 0, Pritchard 2-4 0-0 5, Springer 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 41-80 11-14 106. CLEVELAND (93): Okoro 1-7 0-0 2, Strus 2-8 0-0 6, Mobley 7-11 3-3 17, Garland 6-15 2-2 15, Mitchell 12-22 2-3 33, Morris Sr. 0-2 0-0 0, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Wade 2-6 0-0 5, LeVert 6-12 2-2 15, Merrill 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 36-84 9-10 93. Boston&emsp; 30&emsp;27&emsp;27&emsp;22&emsp;—&emsp;106Cleveland&emsp;28&emsp;20&emsp;21&emsp;24&emsp;—&emsp;933-Point Goals—Boston 13-34 (Holiday 3-4, White 3-8, Brown 2-3, Hauser 2-3, Tatum 2-8, Pritchard 1-2, Horford 0-6), Cleveland 12-36 (Mitchell 7-12, Strus 2-6, LeVert 1-3, Wade 1-4, Garland 1-6, Mobley 0-1, Okoro 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Boston 44 (Tatum 13), Cleveland 35 (Mobley 8). Assists—Boston 22 (Tatum 6), Cleveland 17 (Garland 6). Total Fouls—Boston 14, Cleveland 14. A—19,432 (19,432)