BOSTON -- On Dec. 18, the rebuilding Boston Celtics traded off point guard Rajon Rando.

On Jan. 12, the club dealt leading scorer Jeff Green.

On Feb. 11, forward Jared Sullinger was supposed to be lost for the season with a broken left foot.

On April 12, the Celtics moved to within an Indiana loss of grabbing a playoff spot, trouncing the undermanned Cleveland Cavaliers 117-78 on Sunday.

And Sullinger even came back early to help the late run.

The win, Boston's third in a row and 18th in the last 27 games, left the Celtics in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and reduced their magic number for clinching a playoff berth to one -- pending the outcome of the Pacers' home game against Oklahoma City later in the day -- with two games remaining. They lead the eighth-place Brooklyn Nets by a game and also own the tie-breaker.

The Cavaliers, who will be the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference (and would play Boston if the Celtics are seventh), played without the resting LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith. They offered resistance at the start, but the Celtics (38-42) ran to a 34-9 second quarter and that was that.

Guard Isaiah Thomas came off the bench and led seven Celtics in double figures with 17 points, adding six assists. Guard Evan Turner had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists and forward Kelly Olynyk 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Boston started the game with a 9-0 run, then got hit with an 18-4 burst to fall behind 18-13 -- and then outscored the visitors 42-13 the rest of the half. Cleveland was 2-for-16 from the floor in the second quarter.

What was left of the Cavaliers turned the ball over 25 times. The Celtics had 20 steals, one shy of the club record, and they have reached double figures in steals in four straight games for the first time since 2005. Cleveland had one steal and the Celtics committed just nine turnovers.

The crowd, which paid the highest prices the Celtics charge under their flex ticketing plan, was bored by the third quarter but loved it as the lead built to 32 in the final minute of the third quarter.

Guard Iman Shumpert led the Cavs, who at full strength would rather face the Celtics than Brooklyn, with 15 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. Center Timofey Mozgov, the only starter playing in the game, had nine points and eight rebounds.

NOTES: This week marks the 50th anniversary of the famed "Havlicek stole the ball" in Game 7 of the 1965 Eastern finals. The team is having a breakfast Monday, with Havlicek, Tommy Heinsohn, Tom Sanders, Sam Jones and Mel Counts set to attend. ... New Hall of Fame and former Celtics player Jo Jo White was introduced to the crowd after the first quarter. ... The four players sitting it out for Cleveland average a combined 75.8 points, 22.3 rebounds and 17.7 assists per game. ... The Cavaliers end their regular season at home against Detroit and Washington Monday and Wednesday, respectively, while the Celtics are home for the Toronto Raptors Tuesday and at Milwaukee Wednesday. ... Former Celtic C Kendrick Perkins received a nice ovation when he entered the game in the second quarter. He failed to score in 19 minutes.