Cavaliers vs. Celtics: Score, Highlights, Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

The Boston Celtics earned a hard-fought 103-99 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night in TD Garden.

Isaiah Thomas led all scorers with 31 points on 10-of-20 shooting. Jae Crowder had a big night, scoring 17 points and registering 10 rebounds, and Al Horford chipped in with nine points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

LeBron James and Kyrie Irving each scored 28 points, but the rest of Cleveland's starting five finished with 14 combined points.

Deron Williams made his Cavaliers debut and played 24 minutes, scoring four points and dishing out two assists. His biggest involvement came with five seconds remaining, when he missed a three-pointer from the left corner that would've put the Cavaliers on top 102-101.

While many eyes were on the veteran point guard, Derrick Williams played a large part in the Cavaliers' taking a 50-49 lead into the locker room at halftime.

He shot a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and scored 10 points in the first half. The Cavaliers shared a replay of Williams blocking an Avery Bradley three-point attempt and finishing at the other end in the second quarter:

SB Nation's Fear The Sword was as surprised as anybody to see Williams flourishing since his arrival in Cleveland:

The Celtics also had no answer for Tristan Thompson, who scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds in the first quarter. The NBA shared a look at Thompson beating Bradley and Crowder for an offensive board off an Iman Shumpert miss in the second quarter:

MassLive.com's Jay King argued Thompson has been a problem for Boston in past games as well:

Between their inability to handle Thompson inside and the fact they shot 2-of-13 from beyond the arc, the Celtics were somewhat lucky to only be down a point at the half. They did own a 25-21 rebounding edge and make nine of their 11 free-throw attempts to remain within reach of Cleveland.

Cavaliers head coach Tyronn Lue rested James and Irving for a stretch of the third quarter, and Boston capitalized by going ahead 74-71 heading into the fourth quarter.

Even with Cleveland back to full strength in the final frame, the Celtics continued winning the rebounding battle, which prevented the Cavaliers from building any sustained lead. The two teams exchanged the advantage throughout the fourth quarter.

Crowder put Boston up 93-92 with 2:05 left in the game, but Irving knocked down two free throws at the other end at the 1:29 mark to give Cleveland a one-point lead, 94-93. Bradley and Kyle Korver exchanged three-pointers to maintain the Cavs' slim lead.

ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin tweeted how Korver had mostly been anonymous prior to his made three with 57 seconds remaining:

Not to be outdone, Thomas responded in kind with a three-pointer eight seconds later to put the Celtics back on top, 99-97. NBA on ESPN shared the reaction to the shot inside TD Garden:

Irving tied the game on Cleveland's next possession, but two free throws from Thomas canceled out the layup.

Williams' three from the corner was the Cavaliers' last chance to regain the lead. Crowder made two free throws after the miss to seal the victory.

The Celtics begin a five-game road trip Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The gap between Cleveland and Boston now stands at three games, giving even more importance to Wednesday's win for the Celtics. With Kevin Love and J.R. Smith still unavailable to the defending champions, claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference is more than attainable for Boston.

The Cavaliers return to the court Friday for a road game against the Atlanta Hawks. Fans expecting to see Andrew Bogut suiting up for the team will likely have to be patient, though.

The Associated Press' Tom Withers reported Bogut won't officially sign with the Cavs until at least Thursday, and his first game may be when the team returns to Cleveland on Monday night against the Miami Heat.

Postgame Reaction

Irving said Wednesday's game had a feeling more typical of the postseason, per the Boston Globe's Adam Himmelsbach: "It feels like a playoff atmosphere. Two great teams going at it, and that's what you want to be a part of."

Celtics head coach Brad Stevens said he was more focused on his team's performance rather than picking up the win, according to the team's Twitter account: "I just told them now: I'm not as concerned with the result. I just wanted to play with a real purpose possession to possession."

"The best part of it was, we came in, we got together this afternoon, quickly talked about a plan of attack on both ends, and executed it," Stevens said, per WEEI.com's Josue Pavon. "And after a day off, after a back-to-back, so I think that that's a really good sign because we played with a real purpose."