Cleveland 88, Boston 87

[recap] [box score]

The Celtics just gave this one away.

After sort of sleepwalking through the first half -- understandable, perhaps, given all the minutes everyone has had to play due to injuries -- the Celtics finally put some space between them and the young Cavs in the third quarter, and led by 11 with 4:24 to play.

From there, the Boston offense went completely stagnant. The closest the Celtics came to scoring was probably when Paul Pierce got a Cleveland defender up in the air, drew contact on a 16-footer -- but didn't get the whistle. The league is trying to clean up that kind of play this year, sick of offensive players getting to the line by leaning into defenders and drawing contact. So they've emphasized that if the defender goes up and the contact comes from the player with the ball leaning in after the defender lands, there should be no call. This, however, was a missed call; the Cavs defender clearly had not landed by the time he hit Pierce.

It's tempting to blame one play in a one-point loss, and there were others, besides that missed call, that probably would have won the game for the Celtics. Up one with less than a minute left, a Ray Allen three-pointer rimmed out, but Kevin Garnett grabbed the rebound. Rather than going back up, he looked to kick it back out to run some more clock -- and traveled when he couldn't find anyone immediately open.

On the ensuing Cleveland possession, Kyrie Irving missed a drive, but Anderson Varejao grabbed the offensive rebound and found Antawn Jamison open at the top of the key. Jamison missed the three-pointer, and Brandon Bass grabbed the rebound. But a Cav -- I think it was Alonzo Gee -- poked it away, and Varejao pounced on the loose ball, calling a timeout with 22 seconds left.

Anyone one of those plays might have secured the game for the Celtics. But instead, Cleveland had one possession to win, and Byron Scott decided to win it or lose it on that final trip down floor, instructing Irving to dribble out most of the clock at half court. Varejao came up and set a high screen, which Boston defended well. Irving drove right, over the screen, and Bass hedged nicely. But Irving, the top pick in last summer's draft, spun back left, ripping the ball through Avery Bradley's steal attempt. Irving continued to the bucket, and lofted a pretty left-handed layup over a recovering Bass that dropped through with 2.5 seconds left.

Boston still had a chance to win, of course. They advanced the ball to half court with a timeout, and inbounded to Pierce, who was immediately fouled by the Cavs, who had one to give. After another timeout, Boston again inbounded to Pierce, who was rushed by most of the Cavs defense. He had to double-clutch, and the ball was still in his hand when the buzzer went off. (The shot missed short, anyway.)

Time to move on. The Celtics have their chance for revenge on Tuesday, in Cleveland.