Jaylen Brown scored a game-high 30 points and Josh Minott had 11 points and 14 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics defeat the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers 125-105 Wednesday night.
Brown was 12-of-20 from the field, and made 4-of-9 3-point attempts. Eight Boston players scored in double figures.
The Celtics received 21 points from Sam Hauser, who came off the bench to make seven 3-pointers, and 19 points from Derrick White. The Celtics made 21 of their 57 3-point attempts in the victory.
Neemias Queta had 10 points and 13 rebounds, and Anfernee Simons added 14 points off the bench. Payton Pritchard and Luka Garza each finished with 10.
The win was Boston’s second in a row after starting 0-3 for just the 10th time in franchise history.
The loss ended Cleveland’s three-game winning streak. The Cavaliers scored 42 points in the first quarter, but failed to score more than 25 points in any of the final three quarters.
Cleveland’s starters all scored in double figures. Evan Mobley and Jaylon Tyson each tossed in 19, De’Andre Hunter had 18, Jarrett Allen scored 16 and Donovan Mitchell finished with 15. Mitchell didn’t score in the second half. Mobley added a team-high 11 rebounds.
The Cavaliers played without Sam Merrill, who is nursing a hip injury he sustained during Monday’s victory at Detroit. Merrill started in each of Cleveland’s first four games.
Cleveland led 42-40 after the first quarter, but Boston ended the second quarter on a 20-3 run and had a 75-60 halftime lead. Brown scored 22 of his 30 points in the first half.
Boston extended its lead to 19 points midway through the third quarter and was up 98-85 entering the fourth.
Cleveland failed to get any closer than nine points in the final quarter. The Celtics were up by 20, their largest lead of the game, when Hauser made his seventh 3-pointer with 1:17 to play.
