Donovan Mitchell scored 41 points, including 26 in the second half, as the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers extended their winning streak to nine games by beating the Boston Celtics 123-116 Friday night in a matchup of the Eastern Conference's top teams.

Can the Cleveland Cavaliers dethrone the Boston Celtics in the NBA's 2025 Eastern Conference Playoffs? As recently as the third of four meetings between the two East contenders ago, that question might not have seemed worth too much thought given how easily the Celtics dispatched the Cavs in the 2024 East Playoff series the two teams shared.

The Utah Jazz have been losing an awful lot as of late, and a road matchup against the defending NBA Finals champions doesn't inspire much faith that Will Hardy and his roster of youngsters are due for a change of fate.

Adding insult to injury, that latest loss in Boston came one game after the Knicks took a 37-point shellacking against the first-place Cleveland Cavaliers-- their largest margin of defeat in coach ...

Is it the so-called championship hangover that makes finding the will to climb the proverbial mountain harder to come by?

More than any other pitcher in baseball, Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase garnered support from his peers in a recent poll conducted by MLB.com.