Boston Celtics 109, Cleveland Cavaliers 98 — Recap

March 8, 2026 · View Preview

📰Game Summary

Final (regular season): Boston Celtics 109, Cleveland Cavaliers 98. Scoring by quarter: Q1 BOS 35-26 CLE; Q2 BOS 21-10 CLE; Q3 BOS 30-33 CLE; Q4 BOS 23-29 CLE.

Top performers (box score): Donovan Mitchell (CLE) 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 threes on 9-of-18 shooting; Evan Mobley (CLE) 24 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists, 2 threes on 10-of-19 shooting; Jaylen Brown (BOS) 23 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 threes on 7-of-17 shooting; Jayson Tatum (BOS) 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 threes on 6-of-16 shooting; James Harden (CLE) 19 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 3 threes on 6-of-16 shooting.

Standouts

Top Scorer · CLE

Donovan Mitchell

30 PTS, 7 REB, 5 AST, 3 3PM · 9-18 FG

Scoring · CLE

Evan Mobley

24 PTS, 8 REB, 1 AST, 2 3PM · 10-19 FG

Scoring · BOS

Jaylen Brown

23 PTS, 9 REB, 8 AST, 1 3PM · 7-17 FG

Season highs

Jayson Tatum · Season-high 20 points

Every player's line is in the box score below; the play-by-play is available in the BlowOutAlert workspace.

📊 Game Flow

BOS 26 largest lead Q3 3:54 (BOS 81, CLE 55) · 11-0 run, Q3 5:19–Q3 3:54

CLE 8 largest lead Q1 8:53 (BOS 3, CLE 11) · 10-0 run, Q3 1:49–Q4 11:52

Swings 1 lead changes Tied 2 times

Ahead for good: Jayson Tatum makes driving layup (Payton Pritchard assists) (Q1 5:33, BOS 17, CLE 15).

Linescore

	1	2	3	4		T
BOS	35	21	30	23		109
CLE	26	10	33	29		98

🧮 How They Scored

BOSCLE

32Points in the paint38

2Fast-break points18

11Second-chance points10

13Points off turnovers8

41Bench points13

Four factorsHighlighted side won the factor

53.0%Effective FG%48.3%

9.6%Turnover %6.8%

23.8%Offensive rebound %20.4%

0.262Free-throw rate0.244

Box Score

Boston Celtics

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
Jaylen Brown G	38	23	9	8	0	4	7-17	1-3	8-9	+17
Neemias Queta C	36	4	11	1	0	0	2-7	0-0	0-0	+13
Payton Pritchard G	35	18	3	7	1	2	7-12	2-6	2-2	+18
Derrick White G	35	6	7	5	0	0	2-9	0-3	2-2	-6
Jayson Tatum F	27	20	3	2	0	1	6-16	2-9	6-7	-3
Baylor Scheierman G	26	16	10	0	1	0	6-8	4-6	0-0	+10
Sam Hauser F	24	15	4	0	0	1	5-10	5-10	0-0	+11
Luka Garza C	12	7	1	1	0	2	2-4	1-1	2-2	-4
Hugo González G	7	0	1	1	0	0	0-1	0-0	0-0	-1

Cleveland Cavaliers

Player	MIN	PTS	REB	AST	STL	BLK	TO	FG	3PT	FT	+/-
James Harden G	38	19	4	10	0	0	0	6-16	3-8	4-7	-12
Donovan Mitchell G	34	30	7	5	1	2	0	9-18	3-9	9-11	+8
Evan Mobley F-C	31	24	8	1	0	3	2	10-19	2-6	2-3	-6
Sam Merrill G	29	5	5	4	1	0	0	2-9	1-7	0-0	-1
Jaylon Tyson G-F	25	8	6	1	0	0	1	3-8	2-6	0-0	-18
Keon Ellis G	24	0	3	0	1	1	0	0-1	0-1	0-0	-15
Dean Wade F	21	7	3	0	1	0	0	3-5	1-3	0-0	+1
Dennis Schroder G	20	2	3	2	0	0	2	1-4	0-1	0-0	0
Thomas Bryant C	14	3	2	0	0	0	1	1-6	1-4	0-0	-8
Craig Porter G	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0-0	0-0	0-0	-4

🔬 Advanced Stats

Boston CelticsTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Jaylen Brown	Starter	38	23	54.9	29.3	+23.0	11.6
Jayson Tatum	Starter	27	20	52.4	34.5	-5.9	11.0
Sam Hauser	Starter	24	15	75.0	19.3	+18.2	12.1
Derrick White	Starter	35	6	30.4	12.7	-8.7	7.6
Neemias Queta	Starter	36	4	28.6	9.0	+19.1	4.9
Payton Pritchard	Bench	35	18	69.9	19.5	+25.4	16.5
Baylor Scheierman	Bench	26	16	100.0	13.1	+22.4	24.5
Luka Garza	Bench	12	7	71.7	25.9	-4.6	4.2
Ron Harper Jr.	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jordan Walsh	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hugo González	Bench	07	0	0.0	5.9	-6.3	-4.4
Amari Williams	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Cleveland CavaliersTS% true shooting · USG% usage · NET net rating · PIE player impact

Player	Role	MIN	PTS	TS%	USG%	NET	PIE
Donovan Mitchell	Starter	34	30	65.7	31.9	+13.9	26.7
Evan Mobley	Starter	31	24	59.1	31.4	-8.2	18.0
James Harden	Starter	38	19	49.8	22.4	-17.9	12.8
Dean Wade	Starter	21	7	70.0	11.1	+5.3	5.2
Sam Merrill	Starter	29	5	27.8	14.3	-3.9	2.3
Jaylon Tyson	Bench	25	8	50.0	15.5	-37.9	6.0
Thomas Bryant	Bench	14	3	25.0	22.6	-31.8	-3.6
Dennis Schroder	Bench	20	2	25.0	13.3	-2.8	1.2
Larry Nance Jr.	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Keon Ellis	Bench	24	0	0.0	1.9	-27.2	-1.1
Craig Porter	Bench	04	0	0.0	8.3	-51.4	0.0
Nae'Qwan Tomlin	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Tristan Enaruna	Bench	00	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0