The Boston Celtics are still the best team in the Eastern Conference even though they did not win the NBA’s inaugural In-Season Tournament. They appeared committed to reminding the league of that point on Tuesday night when they played the Cleveland Cavaliers, who are expected to make the playoffs. After a sluggish start, the Celtics overcame an аggressive Cleveland оffensive and dominated the Cavaliers in the final minutes to win 120–113.

Together, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Kristaps Porzingis scored 71 points and made a flawless 22 of 22 free throw attempts. Jrue Holiday and Derrick White completed the starting five with eight made threes apiece and defensive intensity that seemed to become stronger as the game progressed. Donovan Mitchell scored the most points in the game—29—but was limited to only two in the last quarter and a half. Darius Garland, his backcourt mate, chipped in with 26 points.

It would be an understatement to suggest that the Celtics appeared sleepwalking to begin this game. Following Brown’s first basket of the game, the Cavaliers quickly placed Boston in a deficit by going on a 15-2 run. They exploited the Celtics’ defense by always seeming to be two steps ahead with their passes. In fact, it took more than six minutes of play time before any Celtic other than Brown appeared on the scoreboard, when Porzingis scored two free throws to place himself in the scoring column.

But until Brown’s teammates woke up, the Celtics were able to survive thanks to his impressive start. Payton Pritchard made a three-pointer to become the second Celtic to convert a field goal after he scored 10 of the team’s first 12 points. After a terrible start, Boston found themselves trailing by just 10 points at the halfway mark of the second quarter, 31-21, as the lid seemed to fall off the basket from that point on.

The Celtics much needed the wild energy that Pritchard brought to the game tonight. He scored his second three-pointer of the game early in the second quarter, having joined Brown on the scoreboard in the first. His аggressive play style paid off as he was unable to take advantage of the smaller Cleveland backcourt. In his eight first-half minutes tonight, he blocked a shot, disheveled two assists, and scored six points.

Tatum was also a part of Boston’s comeback, having settled into a scoring pattern throughout the second quarter. He earned himself two trips to the free throw line and a powerful dunk early in the quarter by getting himself going downhill into the teeth of the Cleveland defense. They were aided by a foul-happy Cleveland defense, as Boston made 17 free throws to the Cavaliers’ two at the half. The Celtics trailed the Cavaliers by just one point at the half, 60-59, despite the Cavaliers’ offense continuing to score.

Mitchell, not Tatum or Brown, was the game’s top scorer. By the halfway mark of the third quarter, the 27-year-old combo guard had put up 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists against Boston’s abnormally lethargic perimeter defense. But as the third quarter went on, the Celtics zeroed down on him, and for the rest of the game, his output significantly decreased. The game’s dynamic was significantly altered by his two points over the remainder of the game.

Thanks to Mitchell’s brilliance and аggressive ball movement on offense, Cleveland made another significant run in the second half and led them to a 13-2 lead halfway through the third quarter against the Celtics. Up until this point in the game, the Cavaliers held a sizable lead from three points, but as the third quarter drew to a close, Boston’s shooters gained confidence and erased the gains Cleveland had earned in the first few minutes of play. Over the last six minutes of the game, Boston made seven three-pointers, holding off an energized Cleveland offense to lead 94–92 going into the fourth quarter.

It was a high-octane contest, perhaps one of the most remarkable оffensive showdowns of the year, and as the fourth quarter got underway, it seemed to be sailing toward an incredible conclusion. As the clock ran out, both teams were unable to acquire more than a one-possession advantage over the other in an almost wearisome sequence of huge shots and forceful defense.

But the Celtics were determined not to have a close game. With just over four minutes left in regulation, two free throws by Porzingis—Boston’s 23rd and 24th—gave the Celtics their first two-possession lead of the fourth quarter, 110-106. Tatum extended the lead to seven points with his second three-pointer of the game in the aftermath. Sensing blооd in the water, the Celtics found some clutch time swagger in the minutes that followed, and with 2:30 remaining, White’s three-pointer gave the Cavaliers a mortal blоw.

The Celtics will next experience a little of déjà vu when they play the Cavaliers in the TD Garden this Thursday at 7:30 PM on NBA TV, marking the second straight game in which they will host them.