Mitchell's 29 points help Cavaliers blow out Celtics 118-94, tie series at 1 game apiece

BOSTON (AP) — Donovan Mitchell banked in a 3-pointer from a few steps beyond the top of the arc and could only shrug as he backpedaled back on defense. He followed with two baskets in the lane to give the Cleveland Cavaliers a 16-point lead.

"Sometimes you get lucky," Mitchell said after scoring 29 points to help Cleveland beat Boston 118-94 on Thursday night. “Shooters shoot.”

Two nights after losing the opener by 25 points, the Cavaliers answered with a blowout of their own, beating the top-seeded Celtics in Boston to tie their Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game apiece. The teams now head to Cleveland for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday and Monday.

“We expected them to play better and they did," Celtics center Al Horford said. "They responded and we didn’t.”

Mitchell scored 33 points in the opener but got little help. On Thursday, the Cavs All-Star took just six shots and scored six points in the first half, while handing out five assists. Mitchell had 16 points in the third quarter and hit three straight baskets to start the fourth, including the 28-footer off the glass.

“I hadn’t shot much, trying to find ways to get guys involved early, and picking my spots. I was just continuing to find ways to apply pressure on them,” said Mitchell, who finished with eight assists and seven rebounds.

“In the second half it was scoring,” he said. “Sometimes it’s assists. Sometimes it’s rebounds. Whatever it takes. And when it was time to go, it’s time to go. I knew at some point I was going to have to start, obviously, shooting.”

Jayson Tatum scored 25 for Boston, and Jaylen Brown added 19 points. But Derrick White, whose 25 points in Game 1 helped the Celtics coast to a 120-95 win, managed just 10 points, missing seven of his eight 3-point tries.

With the win, the Cavaliers assured themselves of at least a fifth game back in Boston on Wednesday. And after finally getting their first road win in this postseason, they showed that they can win there.

“When we defend the way we defended and our shots fall, what we do travels,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “And we can win anywhere.”

Evan Mobley had 21 points and 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double, and his fifth of this postseason. Caris LeVert scored 21 off the bench for Cleveland, hitting a pull-up jumper midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Cavaliers a 20-point lead and started a parade of fans to the exits. Many of those who stayed began booing.

A minute later, after the Celtics missed another 3-pointer – they were 8 for 35 from long distance in all -- LeVert made a layup and drew a flagrant foul from Tatum. It was a 25-point game, and Boston coach Joe Mazzulla emptied his bench.

Bickerstaff followed soon after, getting some rest for Mitchell, who played a game-high 37 minutes on Tuesday night but was on the bench for the 10-2 Celtics run to start the fourth that blew open the game.

Mitchell hit four of his five 3-point attempts in the third quarter to help Cleveland extend its lead to as many as 14 points. And he remained in the game at the start of the fourth and until the game was put away, with Cleveland up 27 and four minutes left.

“At halftime I was just like, ’I don’t plan on coming out.' That was the mindset,” Mitchell said. "He asked me if I needed (a break) and I was like, ‘I’m good.’”

According to ESPN, the 24-point win was the biggest in the playoffs by a double-digit underdog since 1991.

Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis missed his third straight game with a strained calf muscle. Mobley started at center in place of Jarrett Allen, who has missed five straight games with bruised ribs, and reached a career playoff high in points.

Mobley scored 11 in the first quarter, when the Cavaliers quickly fell behind by nine – giving the vibes of a second straight blowout. But Cleveland ran off 11 points in a row – eight from LeVert. Boston went ahead by eight in the second before the Cavs sent it into halftime tied.

Tatum had 16 points, six rebounds and four assists at the half, and Mobley had 15, seven, and five.

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Boston Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, left, guard Derrick White, center, and center Kristaps Porzingis, right, watch from the bench as the Cleveland Cavaliers lead the Celtics during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series, Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) walks to the bench as the Cavaliers trailed the Boston Celtics by more than 20 points during the second half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) looks to pass while pressured by Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) during the second half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots next to Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday (4) during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots as Boston Celtics forward Sam Hauser (30) defends during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) tries to pass the ball around Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) shoots as Boston Celtics center Luke Kornet (40) defends during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Celtics guard Jaylen Brown (7) drives toward the basket as Cleveland Cavaliers forward Isaac Okoro (35) defends during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) passes the ball as Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley (4) and guard Max Strus (1) defend during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, left, is defended by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Max Strus, behind, and forward Evan Mobley during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Evan Mobley, center, and guard Caris LeVert, right, and Boston Celtics center Luke Kornet watch the ball get away during the first half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series Thursday, May 9, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

JERUSALEM (AP) — The helicopter crash in which Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country’s foreign minister and other officials were killed is likely to reverberate across the Middle East, where Iran’s influence runs wide and deep.

That's because Iran has spent decades supporting armed groups and militants in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Palestinian territories, allowing it to project power and potentially deter attacks from the United States or Israel, the sworn enemies of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Tensions have never been higher than they were last month, when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers.

Israel, with the help of the United States, Britain, Jordan and others, intercepted nearly all the projectiles. In response, Israel apparently launched its own strike against an air defense radar system in the Iranian city of Isfahan, causing no casualties but sending an unmistakable message.

The sides have waged a shadow war of covert operations and cyberattacks for years, but the exchange of fire in April was their first direct military confrontation.

The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has drawn in other Iranian allies, with each attack and counterattack threatening to set off a wider war.

It's a combustible mix that could be ignited by unexpected events, such as Sunday's deadly crash.

Israel has long viewed Iran as its greatest threat because of Tehran's controversial nuclear program, its ballistic missiles and its support for armed groups sworn to Israel's destruction.

Iran views itself as the chief patron of Palestinian resistance to Israeli rule, and top officials for years have called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Raisi, who was a hard-liner viewed as a protégé and possible successor of Khamenei, chastised Israel last month, saying “the Zionist Israeli regime has been committing oppression against the people of Palestine for 75 years.”

“First of all we have to expel the usurpers, secondly we should make them pay the cost for all the damages they have created, and thirdly, we have to bring to justice the oppressor and usurper," he said.

Israel is believed to have carried out numerous attacks over the years targeting senior Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists.

There is no evidence Israel was involved in Sunday's helicopter crash, and Israeli officials have not commented on the incident.

Arab countries on the Persian Gulf have also long viewed Iran with suspicion, a key factor in the decision of the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize relations with Israel in 2020, and of Saudi Arabia to consider such a move.

Iran has provided financial and other support over the years to the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which led the Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the Gaza war, and the smaller but more radical Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which took part in it. But there is no evidence that Iran was directly involved in the attack.

Since the start of the war, Iran's leaders have expressed solidarity with the Palestinians. Their allies in the region have gone much further.

Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, Iran's most militarily advanced proxy, has waged a low-intensity conflict with Israel since the start of the Gaza war. The two sides have traded strikes on a near-daily basis along the Israel-Lebanon border, forcing tens of thousands of people on both sides to flee.

So far, however, the conflict has not boiled over into a full-blown war that would be disastrous for both countries.

Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq launched repeated attacks on U.S. bases in the opening months of the war but pulled back after U.S. retaliatory strikes for a drone attack that killed three American soldiers in January.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, another ally of Iran, have repeatedly targeted international shipping in what they portray as a blockade of Israel. Those strikes, which often target ships with no apparent links to Israel, have also drawn U.S.-led retaliation.

Iran's influence extends beyond the Middle East and its rivalry with Israel.

Israel and Western countries have long suspected Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons in the guise of a peaceful atomic program in what they see as a threat to non-proliferation everywhere.

Then-President Donald Trump's withdrawal from a landmark nuclear pact between Iran and world powers in 2018, and his imposition of crushing sanctions, led Iran to gradually abandon all the limits placed on its program by the deal.

These days, Iran is enriching uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%. Surveillance cameras installed by the U.N. nuclear agency have been disrupted, and Iran has barred some of the agency's most experienced inspectors. Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes, but the United States and others believe it had an active nuclear weapons program until 2003.

Israel is widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East but has never acknowledged having such weapons.

Iran has also emerged as a key ally of Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, and is widely accused of supplying exploding drones that have wreaked havoc on Ukraine's cities. Raisi himself denied the allegations last fall in an interview with The Associated Press, saying Iran had not supplied such weapons since the outbreak of hostilities in February 2022.

Iranian officials have made contradictory comments about the drones, while U.S. and European officials say the sheer number being used in the war in Ukraine shows that the flow of such weapons has intensified since the war began.

In this photo provided by Moj News Agency, rescue teams' vehicles are seen near the site of the incident of the helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Varzaghan in northwestern Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (Azin Haghighi/Moj News Agency via AP)

An Iranian woman prays for President Ebrahim Raisi in a ceremony at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People pray for President Ebrahim Raisi in a ceremony at Vali-e-Asr square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, May 19, 2024. A helicopter carrying President Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

FILE - People gather around a component from an intercepted ballistic missile that fell near the Dead Sea in Israel, Saturday, April 20, 2024. The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other top officials is likely to reverberate across the Middle East. Tensions have soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and Israel and Iran directly traded fire for the first time ever in April. (AP Photo/Itamar Grinberg, File)

FILE - Iranian worshippers chant slogans during an anti-Israeli gathering after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 19, 2024. The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other top officials is likely to reverberate across the Middle East. Tensions have soared since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and Israel and Iran directly traded fire for the first time ever in April. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)