Caris LeVert, Max Strus try to pick up slack for Donovan Mitchell but come up short in Cavaliers loss

CLEVELAND — With Donovan Mitchell sidelined, Cleveland needed someone to step up. Caris LeVert and Max Strus combined for 34 points, but it wasn't enough to overcome Boston as the Celtics took Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals 109-102 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Monday. Boston leads the best-of-seven series 3-1 with a chance to close out Cleveland at home Wednesday. "Caris did a great job," said point guard Darius Garland, who led the Cavs with 30 points. "We always have that next-man-up mentality. He's been in this position many times and he really set the tone for us, especially in the first half. Just being aggressive, being downhill and initiating contact. It was big." Replacing Mitchell's scoring was not going to be easy for Cleveland. The Cavs star was ruled out with a left calf strain after averaging 29.6 points in 10 postseason starts. Compounding the situation was that Jarrett Allen, who hasn't played since Game 4 of the opening-round series against Orlando, missed his sixth straight game with a bruised rib. "It's obviously tough to lose your best player in a series like this," LeVert said. "Knowing Donovan, obviously he's a warrior. I think that speaks to the type of player he is, the type of person he is and how serious the injury is, because if it was minor I think he'd try to play through it." Isaac Okoro had been starting for Allen, so LeVert, normally the Cavs' sixth man, was thrust into the lineup with Mitchell out. He responded with 19 points. "I think it did help me get into a good rhythm," LeVert said of getting the starting nod. "I felt good starting. I've started more games than I've come off the bench in my basketball career, so it was definitely cool to feel that. I think it helped me get into an early rhythm, getting some easy ones to go through early." With Mitchell out, Strus saw his volume increase with double-digit field goal attempts. Like in Game 2, when he scored 12 points during Cleveland's only win of the series, he made the most of them with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 from 3-point range. Strus immediately got off on the right foot, drilling a pair of threes sandwiched around a LeVert layup to help the Cavs take an 8-2 lead in the opening minutes. Boston, however, responded with 10 unanswered points. While Cleveland briefly regained the lead in the third quarter, the Celtics eventually pulled away. Strus was shut out in the second half and fouled out with 1:24 to play after missing a deep three that would have cut the Celtics lead to two. "We just had good, open looks (in the first quarter)," Strus said. "They did a good job of taking those away from me the rest of the game because I couldn't find another one." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.