CLEVELAND – Cam Newton might be dabbin’ come Super Sunday, but for now, it’s Avery Bradley’s time to celebrate.
Bradley canned a game-winning, buzzer-beating 3-pointer Friday night in Cleveland to give the Boston Celtics an improbable 104-103 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Cavaliers.
Boston scored eight points during the final eight seconds of the game to polish off its incredible comeback. Bradley’s 3-pointer splashed through the net from the left corner after he received a wrap-around dish from Isaiah Thomas.
“It’s a great feeling,” a cool, calm and collected Bradley said after the game. “It’s a blessing from God that I even had a chance to get open. I lost the ball for a second and I didn’t even think I had enough time to get the shot off, but I did and it’s just a great feeling.”
Bradley’s shot capped off a chaotic final 10 seconds of the game. Cleveland twice led by as many as four points during those final 10 seconds, yet the Celtics continued to claw away.
Jae Crowder hit a 3-pointer with eight seconds left to make it a two-point game, and following two free throws from Kyrie Irving, Evan Turner made a driving layup along the baseline as J.R. Smith inexplicably fouled him.
Turner headed to the free-throw line with 4.9 seconds left and a chance to make it a one-point game. His shot, however, missed off the rim and to the left, leading to Marcus Smart’s signature play of the night.
“Intentionally, I was put in to foul (Timofey) Mozgov, but neither one of us were actually expecting Evan to miss the free throw,” Smart explained. “Once he did that, I decided to go for the ball, and instead of the foul, we came up with a good play.”
Smart beat Mozgov with his first step and got into Mozgov’s body, taking away a free pass to the rebound. Amid a collision of bodies underneath the basket, the ball trickled out of bounds off of Mozgov’s leg, giving Boston a chance to inbound the ball from the baseline with 4.9 seconds left on the clock and tie or win the game.
Brad Stevens, summing up the final seconds of the game, accurately stated, “This game can change quickly, and you’ve just got to stay with it.”
Boston did exactly that, even on the final play of the game.
The team was out of timeouts but Stevens was afforded an opportunity to draw up a game-winning play while the referees reviewed the missed free throw. They called into the NBA’s Replay Center to determine without question which team should have possession of the ball.
Stevens’ first option was to go to Evan Turner for the tie, but LeBron James, whom Stevens later called “really freaking smart” for adjusting his defensive position, squashed that idea.
The next option was to go to Thomas, who was coming off of a screen and into the left corner. Thomas caught the inbound pass and had a brief look at a shot before 6-foot-9 Tristan Thompson closed out on him. Thomas then drove along the baseline, drawing two defenders, and whipped a left-handed pass around his right hip and back to Bradley, who was replacing Thomas in the left corner of the court.
As Bradley stated, he didn’t catch the ball cleanly. His momentum was taking him to his left, but Thomas’ pass was off the mark to Bradley’s right. Somehow, Bradley reeled the ball in, gathered his feet and let loose on the biggest shot of his six-year career.
“It’s extremely difficult,” Smart said of the shot, “because you have to focus on getting the ball first, and then making sure you’re behind the 3-point line, and then making sure you get the ball off on time. So you have to do numerous things, and everything went the right way for us.”
Bradley’s teammates ambushed him on the court as they celebrated their momentous victory. Not only had they downed the East’s top team, but they did so in miraculous fashion on the road and in an incredibly hostile environment.
This contest legitimately felt like Game 1 of a playoff series. The home team came out guns-a-blazing, jumping out to a 14-2 lead. The crowd viciously booed the Celtics, and in particular Kelly Olynyk, who still draws the ire of Cleveland fans long after he inadvertently injured Kevin Love during last season’s playoff series. Boston struggled throughout the first half while facing such obstacles.
“It was definitely the closest game this year that felt like a playoff game,” said Tyler Zeller, who came off the bench to score 16 points. “There were times when we were trying to make calls and Jonas (Jerebko) couldn’t hear us.”
Yet somehow, the Celtics managed to overcome it all, score eight points during the final eight seconds, and shock the reigning Eastern Conference champions on their home court.
“In the big picture, it really does count as one (win),” said Stevens, “but it gives you a sense that you’re improving and getting better.”
It also gives the hero of the night, Bradley, and all of his Celtics teammates a reason to celebrate on Friday night.
