Cavaliers’ comeback win over Celtics give them confidence they can compete with defending champs

With Celtics fans in a frenzy throughout TD Garden after the Boston Celtics blitzed to a 25-3 lead over the Cavaliers in the final matchup of Eastern Conference frontrunners, Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell didn’t panic.

He actually was in a calm place.

“Everything that could have possibly went wrong, went wrong. At that point, you could only go up from there,” Mitchell said after posting his first 40-point game this season. “That’s been our challenge all year. How do you respond? And we did.”

What followed was three quarters of frenetic basketball that concluded with 41 points by Mitchell and a breakout night by teammate Evan Mobley that added up to a 123-116 win and a ninth straight victory by the Cavs team that earned a season split with a Celtics team they could very well see in the playoffs.

The Celtics led throughout before the Cavaliers settled in and took their first lead of the game, 104-101 in the fourth quarter.

Cleveland stretched its lead to 114-110 when the Celtics got back-to-back stops, each followed by buckets by Jaylen Brown to tie the game.

Mitchell scored on a floater to put the Cavaliers back in front. Then, following a miss by Brown on Boston’s next possession, Mitchell hit a driving layup and was fouled. He completed the three-point play to put the Cavs in front 119-114 with 1:57 remaining.

Mitchell said Brown’s flurry inspired him to respond after slow start to the period.

“Just kind of having a pulse. Having a feel. I took some bad ones (shots) in the fourth that I didn’t like, kind of settle,” Mitchell said. “But that’s part of the process. But for me, kind of doing my job when my number’s called. Keeping it steady. That’s what I do.”

As remarkable as Mitchell was, the spark for Cleveland’s final fourth-quarter push actually belonged to Mobley. He had 13 points and eight rebounds in the final quarter, including the Cavs’ first nine points of the period.

Mobley said it was a reminder to that he has the capacity to be an elite big man in the NBA.

But as happy as they were to leave the court with a victory, Mitchell said it was tempered by the fact that the NBA’s top offense found itself in a 22-point hole to begin with.

“Coming into the game it was like, no championship is being won tonight,” Mitchell said. “It was like, we got punched in the mouth. What are we going to do about it?”

Still, coach Kenny Atkinson said that kind of comeback is something to build on.

“You go into the locker room … guys feel like they’re as good as these guys,” Atkinson said. “We can hang with these guys. Keep at it. Stay with it. So, yeah, this gives us a little more confidence. But there’s context around that. We know they’re missing two guys. Humble in victory, that’s for sure.”

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