The Boston Celtics kicked off the toughest stretch of their remaining schedule with a decisive win Sunday in Cleveland.

Jayson Tatum kick-started Boston with a strong first quarter in his second game back from an Achilles surgery, and co-star Jaylen Brown finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists as the Celtics defeated the Cavaliers 109-98 at Rocket Arena.

“I think we did a good job,” Tatum, who had 20 points, three rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes, said in a postgame interview with ESPN sideline reporter Jorge Sedano. “Obviously, every game you can learn something, win or lose, but I can’t stress it enough: I’m just happy to be out here playing on the team with the guys, competing, making plays, making mistakes. I’m just happy to be out here.”

The 43-21 Celtics led by as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter, then held off a late charge by the 39-25 Cavs, who now trail second-place Boston by four games in the Eastern Conference standings.

Payton Pritchard scored nine of his 18 points in the final six minutes to help put Cleveland away. Pritchard was a team-best plus-18 across his 34 minutes off the bench, shooting 7 for 12 and adding seven assists. Baylor Scheierman also was a second-unit difference-maker, going 4 for 6 from 3-point range to finish with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Pritchard and Scheierman both performed well as Celtics starters earlier in the season before shifting into their current bench roles.

“They’ve been playing great all season,” said Tatum, whose return to the lineup Friday night displaced Scheierman. “It was fun to watch from the sideline. I’m just happy to be out there making plays with them.”

The Cavs, who had won 15 of their previous 19 games, got 30 points from Donovan Mitchell, 24 from Evan Mobley and 19 from James Harden. Boston’s bench outscored Cleveland’s 41-13.

The Celtics will close out their three-game road trip with back-to-back matchups against the top two teams in the Western Conference. Boston will visit the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.

Both teams were missing veteran big men Sunday afternoon. Celtics backup center Nikola Vucevic fractured his right ring finger Friday night and is expected to miss at least the next three weeks. The Cavs played without starter Jarrett Allen (knee), their second-leading rebounder behind reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Mobley.

The Cavs controlled play in the opening minutes, building an 11-3 lead to trigger an early Joe Mazzulla timeout. Mobley scored seven of those points — two makes at the rim and a 3-pointer over a screened Neemias Queta — and also blocked two of Boston’s first eight field-goal attempts.

It didn’t take the Celtics long to close that gap. A 12-2 run after the stoppage put Boston ahead, with Tatum leading the charge.

During one 3 1/2-minute stretch midway through the first quarter, Tatum tallied 12 points, two rebounds and an assist. He hit a turnaround midrange jumper over Sam Merrill, pulled up for a 3-pointer, drove through multiple Cavs defenders for back-to-back layups and drew a three-shot foul on Dean Wade. He also fed a well-placed bounce pass to Derrick White, springing the guard for a wide-open dunk.

After misfiring on his first six shots Friday night, Tatum started this game 4 for 5. The Celtics led 22-20 when he headed to the bench for the first time.

Brown, who played the entire first quarter, took over from there, hitting an and-one jumper on the next Boston possession. He had seven points and two assists in the final 3:06 of the quarter as the Celtics stretched their lead to 35-26.

Boston closed the opening period on a 32-15 run, with Payton Pritchard and Luka Garza adding 3-pointers off the bench. Garza will be an important player for the Celtics down the stretch, as Vucevic’s injury pushed the 27-year-old big man back into head coach Joe Mazzulla’s rotation.

Tatum and Brown both began the second quarter on the bench, but the ice-cold Cavs could not capitalize against Boston’s second unit. Cleveland scored just three points over the first eight-plus minutes of the quarter, going 1 for 17 from the field during that stretch. The Cavaliers missed 16 consecutive 3-pointers, and they struggled to convert inside, as well.

Harden went 2 for 7 in the first half.

The Celtics managed just 21 points in the second quarter, 10 of which came on free throws. But they held Cleveland to 10 — the fewest by a Boston opponent this season — and took a 56-36 lead into halftime.

The Cavs regained their offensive composure after the break, opening the second half with a 14-6 run that cut Boston’s lead to 12. But just as they did in the first quarter, the Celtics delivered a strong response.

Brown kept Cleveland at bay by sinking four midrange jumpers, and Boston’s less-heralded wings followed those up with a barrage of 3-pointers — two from Sam Hauser and two from Scheierman. Both of Hauser’s came after offensive rebounds, including one by Scheierman.

Boston’s lead peaked at 26 points and sat at 86-69 entering the fourth quarter.

Cleveland then rallied again. Mitchell, who’s fueled many a comeback against the Celtics in his Cavaliers tenure, scored or assisted on four baskets in the first three minutes of the final quarter, and drew a shooting foul on Brown. At the other end, the Cavs forced the Celtics into two shot-clock violations, with one coming after a Brown 3-pointer appeared to graze the rim, which should have triggered a reset.

A Mitchell 3 cut Boston’s lead to 91-81. Another by Tyson got it to single digits with 6:24 remaining. The Celtics answered both with triples by Scheierman and Pritchard.

Pritchard added two more tough midrange makes. Then Tatum, who had not made a field goal since midway through the first quarter, bullied his way in for a layup and hit a 3 that made it 107-95 with 1:59 to play.

Other observations

Third-year wing Jordan Walsh returned after missing Friday’s game with an illness, but he was a healthy DNP for Boston.

____

©2026 The Boston Herald. Visit at bostonherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.