Garland shine as Cavaliers end slide, get past Celtics
CLEVELAND — There have been plenty of frustrating moments and growing pains along the way over the past two seasons for Collin Sexton and Darius Garland.
On Wednesday night, Cleveland’s young backcourt shined.
“They stayed poised,” Cavs coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “They never got frustrated. They kept their composure. They read what the defense was doing and then they made the right plays.”
Sexton scored 29 points, Garland added 25 and the two guards made big plays down the stretch as the Cavaliers ended a four-game losing streak with a 117-110 win Wednesday night over the Boston Celtics, whohave fallen back to .500.
“They made timely baskets ,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said . “They made floaters. They made timely plays .”
Sexton and Garland did it all, combining for 54 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds.
“That’s the improvement and growth we’re looking for,” said Cavs forward Larry Nance Jr., who added 18 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cavs showed some glimpses of a promising future while also ending a nine-game losing streak to the Celtics, who wore their familiar green on St. Patrick’s Day but had nothing to celebrate.
Boston lost for the third time in four games, with the Celtics’ lone win coming against the woeful Rockets.
Stevens detected some s l umping s houlders amongst his players when shots didn’t fall in the first half. It was not a good performance by a team with title aspirations and which had played Utah tough before losing at home on Tuesday night.
“Sometimes, that’s the way the game goes,” said Stevens, who wasn’t displeased with his team’s effort.
Cleveland played with a lead all night, but the Cavs had to hold off a second-half rally by Boston led by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
Tatum scored 29 points and Brown 28 for the Celtics, whose only lead was at 2-0.