San Francisco Frontiers - Cavaliers rally to top Celtics in battle of NBA Eastern Conference heavyweights

The Cavs posted their ninth straight victory, withstanding Boston star Jayson Tatum's near triple-double of 46 points, 16 rebounds and nine assists.

Darius Garland scored 20 points and Evan Mobley added 17 points and 12 rebounds for Cleveland, who took the lead for the first time on Mobley's three-pointer with 8:43 left in the fourth quarter.

Boston star Jaylen Brown -- who scored 37 points -- tied it up at 114-114 with 3:15 remaining, but Mitchell responded with a pair of driving baskets and the Cavaliers held on for a win that pushed their league-best record to 49-10 -- 7.5 games ahead of Boston atop the Eastern Conference.

"It's a measuring stick," Mitchell said of the gritty win over the defending champs, who beat Cleveland in the second round of the playoffs last season.

"These guys have won a championship and we want to continue to get to where they're at."

Despite the absence of Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, Boston burst out of the gate -- roaring to a 25-3 lead in less than six minutes.

Tatum scored 18 points in the opening quarter as the Celtics out-scored the Cavs 38-26.

But Cleveland had already steadied the ship and pulled within two points midway through the second period before Boston pulled away again to lead 74-64 at halftime.

The Celtics pushed their lead to as many as 17 midway through the third quarter, but still the Cavaliers wouldn't go away.

"The biggest thing is we fought," Mitchell said. "The biggest thing is just resiliency."

The Denver Nuggets, fueled by Nikola Jokic's 28th triple-double of the season, ended the Pistons' eight-game winning streak with a 134-119 victory in Detroit.

Jokic, the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player, scored 23 points with 17 rebounds and 15 assists. He also added one steal and a pair of blocked shots before sitting out most of the fourth quarter of a game in which the Nuggets led by as many as 25 points.

Denver guard Jamal Murray led all scorers with 31 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 28 for the Nuggets.

Malik Beasley scored 16 points off the bench to lead the Pistons as star guard Cade Cunningham was held to 11 on a tough night for Detroit's starters.

It was smooth sailing for Western Conference leaders Oklahoma City in Atlanta, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 31 points to lead the Thunder to a 135-119 victory over the Hawks.

Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams scored 20 points apiece for Oklahoma City, Dort drilling six of the Thunder's 23 three-pointers.

U.Campbell--SFF