Avery Bradley gave Boston a 104-103 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers Friday night. His bucket was the deciding factor, but another play – a bone-headed one – made Bradley’s shot possible.
Media row couldn’t believe it when a Cavaliers player committed a foul with 4.9 seconds left as Evan Turner put home a layup to make it a two-point game.
Then they realized J.R. Smith was the player who committed the foul, and to the group, it all made sense.
To Smith’s slight credit, replays showed that the contact he made with Turner was relatively minimal. However, in that situation, at that stage of the game, he should have just allowed Turner to put home an uncontested layup.
Even if Turner made the shot, Cleveland would have the ball with 4.9 seconds left. Boston, meanwhile, had no timeouts. All the Cavs needed to do was make two free throws, and the game almost certainly would have been over.
But Smith instead chose to challenge Turner’s drive and contest him along the baseline.
Thanks, J.R.
Turner wound up missing the free throw, and Marcus Smart wound up tipping the ball off of LeBron James before it bounced out of bounds, which gave the C’s one more possession to get the win.
The rest is history.
Bradley hit the shot, and you’ll hear plenty about that, but it was J.R. Smith’s bone-headed foul that gave the C’s a chance.
Evan Turner did it again. And by ‘it,’ we mean logged a double-double.
Turner did so for the second time in three games by tossing in 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds Friday night in Cleveland. Friday’s double-double marks his third of the season.
Turner made half of his 16 shot attempts on the night and three of his four free throws. His 19 points trailed only Isaiah Thomas’ 22 on the team.
As always, the versatile wing made plenty of plays for other teammates, as well. He dished out six assists to tie for the game high in that category.
Boston outscored Cleveland by 11 points while Turner was on the floor. His plus/minus rating was more than double that of the next-best Celtic.
Marcus Smart on what he told Avery Bradley following his game-winner.
