4 takeaways as Celtics beat Cavaliers after dominant quarter

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4 takeaways as Celtics beat Cavaliers after dominant quarter

Brian Robb · MassLive

Sun, Mar 8, 2026 ·

4 min read

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CLEVELAND — The Celtics got their first big test with Jayson Tatum in the lineup this season on Sunday and passed with flying colors. Boston dominated the final 44 minutes of the matchup, erasing an early deficit to cruise to a comfortable 109-98 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena.

Boston fell behind 11-3 in the opening minutes, leading to a quick timeout by Joe Mazzulla just three minutes into the game. From there, the Celtics took control, closing the first half on a 53-25 run to build a 20-point lead thanks to a stellar defensive effort.

Boston limited Cleveland to just 28.9 percent shooting the first half and a putrid 2-of-22 shooting from 3-point range, enabling them to build a 20-point halftime lead despite only shooting 39 percent from the field in the first half. The visitors kept their foot on the gas from there, responding with a 16-2 run in the third quarter. The hosts made one final push in the fourth quarter to cut Boston's lead to

Jaylen Brown had a team-high 23 points in the victory while Jayson Tatum added 20 points in 28 minutes in his second game back from an Achilles tear. Payton Pritchard was also big off the bench with 18 points and seven assists, including several key plays in the fourth quarter. Donovan Mitchell had a game-high 30 points for the hosts, as Boston finished up a sweep of the season series against Cleveland.

Boston's three-game road trip continues on Tuesday night when they face off against the San Antonio Spurs .

Here are four takeaways from Sunday's win for the Celtics.

Jayson Tatum is already taking a heavier load in his second game back:The Celtics star was on a minutes limit again in his second game back, playing just 28 minutes. However, Tatum looked to assert himself early and often in Boston's offensive flow. He came out of the gate red-hot scoring a team-high 12 points in the first quarter on 4-of-6 shooting with a mix of pull ups and aggressive takes towards the rim and finishes against Cavs big man Evan Mobley . Tatum struggled from the 3-point line but otherwise did a little bit of everything for Boston. However, he missed seven straight shots after the first quarter as he struggled on the perimeter to find his rhythm, particularly off the dribble. Tatum did close the game on a high note with a couple makes in the fourth quarter.

Cavaliers couldn't recover from an absurdly bad second quarter:Cleveland struggled to put the ball in the basket for the entire first half but they reached a new low in the second quarter. Cleveland scored just two points in the first 7:21 of the frame and finished with 10 points in the period after a nightmare shooting performance. The hosts shot just 4-of-25 from the field and missed all 14 of their 3-point attempts, digging themselves a 20-point hole at intermission. Only Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell hits shots for the Cavs in the period as the rest of the roster combined to go 0-of-15 from the field.

A stellar effort from the bench:The domino effect of Tatum's return is putting players back into lesser roles but those guys took full advantage of their opportunities on Sunday afternoon. Boston's bench outscored the Cavs 19-2 in the first half and the second unit was also crucial in the third quarter as the visitors put the game away with a 16-2 run with Jayson Tatum and Derrick White on the bench. Baylor Scheierman put up a double-double in one of his best reserve performances of the year and Payton Pritchard was a plus-18 in 32 minutes off the bench. The duo also hit key 3-point shots in the fourth quarter to help stall the Cavs late comeback attempt.

The Celtics may become heavy favorites in the East sooner than we think:The expectation for many about the Celtics over the final month of the regular season is that there would be a lot of growing pains as Tatum worked his way back into the lineup after 60-plus games away from the court. However, the acclimation period has been relatively smooth during the first two games with Tatum's minutes limit already at a high number (28). With Boston's role players still excelling in reduced roles, Boston's talent gap over the Cavs up and down the roster was apparent on Sunday as they dominated the battle of the bench and role players against another East contender. When Boston is healthy, it's hard for any team in the East to match up with this group.

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