The Boston Celtics were on a roll, posting an 11-game winning streak and beating six teams in a row by 14 points or more. However, the talented C's ran into a roadblock on Tuesday night, falling to the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers, 105-104.

This narrow loss was Boston's first defeat in over a month, but it came in a particularly frustrating way. The Celtics were leading by 16 points heading into the fourth quarter and with nine minutes left in the contest, they even went up 22 points on a Cavs squad without five-time All-Star Donovan Mitchell.

But, the Celtics then went cold at the worst time, putting up just 17 points in the final 12 minutes. Conversely, Cavaliers forward Dean Wade came off the bench and outscored the Green Team with an astounding 20 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Following the disappointing loss, nobody was hitting the panic button for the Celtics. Yet, 2024 All-Star Jaylen Brown was obviously bothered by his team's late-game effort and mentality, per Jared Weiss of The Athletic.

“Everybody’s gonna have their perspective on it. Mine is that’s what happens when you don’t match the gas,” he said. “This is a mentality loss, I think.”

Jaylen Brown entered the final frame with 21 points and unfortunately finished the game with the same total. He played a little over five minutes in the fourth quarter and attempted zero shots in that span.

Despite the significant cold stretch in the fourth, Boston almost managed to steal the lead back. With 36 seconds left, center Kristaps Porzingis scored a crucial and-one to put the C's back up. On the other end, they nearly managed to get a game-winning stop before a putback dunk from Wade gave Cleveland a 105-104 lead.

Boston had one last possession with 19 seconds on the clock, but it resulted in nothing after star Jayson Tatum missed a potential game-winning jumper. Even though the refs initially thought he was fouled in the act of shooting, they overturned the huge call and Boston was left with practically no time on the ensuing jump ball.

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The Celtics have had issues with coughing up leads in the past, but that problem has been nowhere near as prevalent during the 2023-24 campaign. Boston will look to shake that habit for good before the playoffs begin in April, as it's still 48-13 overall and in first place in the Eastern Conference.

And if the Celtics really want to bounce back, there's no better time than their Thursday night matchup with the reigning champion Denver Nuggets. 2023 Finals MVP Nikola Jokic and co-star Jamal Murray outperformed Tatum and Brown the last time they met in January when Denver beat the Celtics, 102-100, and handed them their first home loss of the season.

Exacting revenge on the former champs would be a great way for the Celtics to prove their mettle and forget all about their untimely woes in Cleveland.