Cavaliers Superstar Takes Over Late In Statement Win Over Celtics

Donovan Mitchell scores 20 points in the fourth quarter during the Cleveland Cavaliers' win over the Boston Celtics.

Feb 1, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) reacts after a three point basket during the second half against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Cleveland Cavaliers are back on top of the Eastern Conference after their statement win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday evening, 115-111.

It wasn't easy, and the Wine and Gold found themselves down by double-digits at one point, but the Cavaliers still prevailed while facing off against one of the NBA's best teams.

The story of the night was Donovan Mitchell's takeover in the fourth quarter.

Mitchell was coming off arguably his worst game of the season, scoring just 12 points against the Atlanta Hawks. After the game, he said that even when his shot isn't falling, he must find different ways to impact the game.

Cleveland's shooting guard had a slow start and had only scored five points heading into halftime. But Mitchell made up for all of that with an incredible fourth-quarter performance.

Mitchell scored a game-high 35 points while shooting 57 percent (12-for-21) from the floor and 54 percent (6-for-11) from behind the arc. The impressive part of this box score is that 20 of those points came in the final 12 minutes as Cleveland erased a 14-point Boston lead.

Spida deservedly received "MVP" chants from the home crowd as he sealed Cleveland's victory with two free throws with four seconds left on the clock.

Nov 4, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) drives to the basket against Milwaukee Bucks guard Andre Jackson Jr. (44) during the second half at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

While Mitchell spearheaded the scoring effort in crunch time, Cleveland's defense, which has faced some criticism over the last week, deserves a lot of credit.

The Cavaliers held the Celtics to just 26 points in the fourth quarter. Boston shot only 36 percent from the floor and 25 percent from behind the arc.

Jayson Tatum, who is undoubtedly Boston's first option on offense, only scored the fourth point in the final 12 minutes of the game.

The Cavaliers now tie the season series with the Celtics at one game apiece. These two teams could easily meet up against each other in the playoffs, but they won't play again in the regular season until February 4.