Celtics handle Cavaliers in battle of East's best

Derrick White scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter to help the visiting Boston Celtics extend their winning streak to four games with a 112-105 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

White made 6 of 12 3-point attempts. Four of his 3-pointers came in the fourth.

The Cavaliers trailed 109-104 and had the ball, but Jayson Tatum stole an Evan Mobley pass with 22.4 seconds to play. Tatum scored a team-high 22 points and had seven assists for Boston.

Donovan Mitchell had 31 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the loss, which dropped Cleveland's home record to 24-4. Darius Garland added 25 points for the Cavaliers, who received 17 points and 18 rebounds from Jarrett Allen.

Boston's Kristaps Porzingis had 19 points and seven rebounds. The Celtics also received a 16-point performance from Jaylen Brown.

The game featured the two teams at the top of the Eastern Conference standings. The loss ended Cleveland's four-game winning streak and left the Cavaliers 4 1/2 games ahead of the Celtics.

Neither team shot the ball well. Boston was 40 of 98 from the field (40.8 percent). Cleveland made 36 of its 91 field-goal attempts (39.6 percent).

The Celtics led 28-15 after one quarter, 54-44 at halftime and 87-75 entering the final 12 minutes of action.

Boston led by 20 early in the second quarter, but Cleveland was within eight after an Allen dunk sliced Boston's advantage to 52-44 with 40.1 seconds left in the period. Brown hit a jumper that just beat the first-half buzzer and extended Boston's lead to 10 points at halftime.

The Cavaliers trailed 73-67 with 3:38 remaining in the third, but the Celtics used a 7-0 spurt to take a 13-point lead with 2:23 left in the quarter.

Cleveland trailed by at least four points for the entirety of the fourth.

Boston has won two of its three games against the Cavaliers this season. The teams will meet again on Feb. 28 in Boston.

--Field Level Media