Boston Celtics – Cleveland Cavaliers · NBA

Win probability changed during the game. · 13 November 2021

BOS89–91CLE

Is it worth watching?

Recommended

It was more exciting than 63% of NBA games since 2017

· It was still open in the final minutes
· The win probability swung between the two teams 23 times

It measures how much the win probability moved during the game —without looking at who won or at the score— and compares it with the 10,950 NBA games with a curve since 2017. “Highly recommended” is the most intense 20%, “recommended” runs from 50% to 80%, and “skippable” is the rest. Source: ESPN.

↑ CLE winsBOS wins ↓

Home team's win probability across the game (source: ESPN). The band rises when CLE leads and falls when BOS does.

This is how the game was decided.

Darius Garland decided it, the Cleveland Cavaliers player with the most points (22, with 4 rebounds and 6 assists; -4 with him on the floor); the winner's best plus-minus was Evan Mobley's (+16). The criterion: the winner's points in the box score; plus-minus says who was on the floor when the game opened up.

The game-winner in Cleveland Cavaliers 91-89 Boston Celtics (November 13, 2021) was hit by Darius Garland: a free throw with 9.4 s left in the fourth quarter, putting the Cleveland Cavaliers up 90-89. They never trailed again.

The biggest run of Cleveland Cavaliers 91-89 Boston Celtics (November 13, 2021) was a 17-0 run by the Cleveland Cavaliers between the third quarter and the fourth quarter, from 56-74 to 73-74. The Boston Celtics' best was a 16-0 run between the first quarter and the second quarter, from 6-9 to 22-9.

▸See where these figures come from

Play: Darius Garland makes free throw 1 of 2.

I count as the game-winner the basket that puts the winning team ahead for good. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

A run here is consecutive points by one team without the opponent scoring. Source: the official NBA play-by-play (since 2002-03) and each team's official box scores.

Source: the game's official box score and play-by-play.

Darius Garland decided this game: his points put his team ahead with 9.4 seconds left in the fourth quarter, and the opponent never led again.

It is one of the 2 games he has decided this way in the NBA since the 2002-03 season.

His profile shows the games Garland decided

▸See where these figures come from

A game is decided by the last basket that puts a team ahead in the final ten seconds of the fourth quarter or of an overtime, if that team wins.

13 November 2021 · The source is the ESPN play-by-play, play espn:401360014:592; the date is the one on the NBA box score.

Rotations · who was on the floor

Closing lineup · BOS

Schroder · Tatum · Williams · Smart · Langford

Closing lineup · CLE

Mobley · Allen · Osman · Rubio · Valentine

Q1Q2Q3Q4

BOS

Dennis Schroder

35′ · -3

Jayson Tatum

35′ · +12

Robert Williams III

34′ · +13

Marcus Smart

34′ · +12

Grant Williams

27′ · -16

Romeo Langford

29′ · -7

Payton Pritchard

15′ · -7

Jabari Parker

14′ · -17

Aaron Nesmith

11′ · -6

Juancho Hernangomez

5′ · +9

CLE

Evan Mobley

40′ · +16

Darius Garland

36′ · -4

Jarrett Allen

28′ · -14

Dean Wade

22′ · -13

Isaac Okoro

18′ · -7

Cedi Osman

29′ · +2

Ricky Rubio

33′ · +13

Dylan Windler

12′ · +8

Denzel Valentine

23′ · +9

Each bar is a stint on the floor (source: NBA). The number is minutes played and the team's +/− with him on the court. BOS and CLE.

These lineups played the most minutes together.

Boston Celtics

Tatum, Williams, Langford, Schroder, and Smart played 13.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Tatum, Williams, Williams, Schroder, and Smart played 13.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 2 points.
Langford, Williams, Nesmith, Pritchard, and Parker played 10.3 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Allen, Garland, Wade, Okoro, and Mobley played 11.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 4 points.
Osman, Valentine, Windler, Mobley, and Rubio played 10.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 10 points.
Osman, Valentine, Garland, Mobley, and Rubio played 7.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 2 points.

▸See every lineup of the game

Boston Celtics

Hernangomez, Tatum, Williams, Schroder, and Smart played 4.7 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 9 points.
Tatum, Williams, Langford, Pritchard, and Smart played 2.6 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 7 points.
Langford, Williams, Pritchard, Schroder, and Parker played 2.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 8 points.
Tatum, Williams, Nesmith, Schroder, and Parker played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Osman, Valentine, Allen, Garland, and Rubio played 3.4 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 5 points.
Allen, Garland, Wade, Mobley, and Rubio played 3.1 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 1 point.
Osman, Allen, Garland, Mobley, and Rubio played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 6 points.
Osman, Allen, Garland, Wade, and Okoro played 2.2 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 6 points.
Osman, Allen, Garland, Wade, and Mobley played 2.1 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Allen, Garland, Wade, Okoro, and Rubio played 2.0 minutes together.
Their team lost that stretch by 1 point.
Valentine, Garland, Okoro, Mobley, and Rubio played 1.5 minutes together.
Their team won that stretch by 4 points.
Allen, Garland, Okoro, Mobley, and Rubio played 1.2 minutes together.
Their team tied that stretch.

▸See where these figures come from

The lineups come from the NBA's official rotation: who was on the floor and when. Each lineup's plus-minus is worked out from every player's stints and is only shown when they all add up with each other and with the final score.

Evan Mobley covered 4.81 km, more than anyone in the game.

Ricky Rubio touched the ball 83 times, a game high.
Ricky Rubio made 61 passes, a game high.
Evan Mobley defended 9 shots at the rim, a game high, and opponents made 3.
Robert Williams III had 25 rebound chances, a game high.

▸See what was measured for each player

Boston Celtics

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Dennis Schröder	4.05	6.5	76	47
Jayson Tatum	3.85	6.1	69	38
Robert Williams III	3.81	6.3	32	25
Marcus Smart	3.64	5.9	56	47
Romeo Langford	3.44	6.6	24	17
Grant Williams	3.17	6.6	39	32
Payton Pritchard	1.80	6.5	37	27
Jabari Parker	1.66	6.3	22	14
Aaron Nesmith	1.38	6.7	16	11
Juancho Hernangomez	0.66	7.9	5	3

Cleveland Cavaliers

Player	km	km/h	Touches	Passes
Evan Mobley	4.81	6.7	69	50
Darius Garland	4.07	6.4	78	58
Ricky Rubio	3.80	6.5	83	61
Cedi Osman	3.39	6.4	39	29
Jarrett Allen	3.22	6.4	51

The figures come from the NBA's optical tracking (NBA.com) for this game; speed is each player's average while on the floor.

Who stood out on defense during the season

These figures cover the whole 2021-22 regular season, not this game.

Boston Celtics

Robert Williams III recovered 1.1 loose balls per game over his 61 games.
He ranks 5 of 386 in the league.
Marcus Smart deflected 2.9 passes per game over his 71 games.
He ranks 11 of 386 in the league.
Jayson Tatum recovered 0.9 loose balls per game over his 76 games.
He ranks 36 of 386 in the league.

Cleveland Cavaliers

Jarrett Allen defended 7.1 shots at the rim per game over his 56 games, and opponents made 15 fewer out of every 100 than usual.
He ranks 1 of 131 in the league.
Evan Mobley contested 12.3 shots per game over his 69 games.
He ranks 3 of 386 in the league.
Darius Garland recovered 1.1 loose balls per game over his 68 games.
He ranks 9 of 386 in the league.

Hustle figures come from the hustle stats the NBA publishes (NBA.com) and rim defense comes from its tracking; both cover the regular season. For each player in this game we show the figure that ranks him highest in the league, and for each team, the three best ranked. Ranks count players with at least 30 games and, at the rim, at least 4 defended shots per game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have won 114 of their 284 games against the Boston Celtics.

114-170record of the Cleveland Cavaliers · NBA 1970-71 – 2025-26, regular season and playoffs

0-3in 2025-26

See the full head-to-head in the Analyst

See where it comes from

Official NBA box scores, regular season and playoffs, 1970-71 – 2025-26. It counts every game between the two teams that the house holds, this one included.

SportiveWorld knows much more about this game

Game context

Attendance

19.432

100% of capacity

Rocket Arena · Cleveland

Scoring

180

combined points

41.2 below the season average (221.2)

⚖️ The last two minutes

Official NBA L2M report: every call in the endgame, reviewed by the league.

21 calls reviewed1 errors admitted by the NBA

Foul: Shooting · 01:17.1

Evan Mobley → Jayson Tatum

Mobley (CLE) makes contact with Tatum's (BOS) arm, which affects his jump shot attempt.