Overview: The Celtics destroyed the Cavaliers in the third quarter of game two, outscoring them 31-12 in the period en route to a 104-86 victory. Rajon Rondo tied a franchise playoff record with 19 assists, and six Celtics scored in double figures.
Game Summary:
Call it what it was: an ass-kicking. The Celtics got their first lead when they scored their first basket, and never trailed by more than a point. They put pressure on the Cavs all game long — in the third quarter, the Cavs cracked.
Let’s take a look at what happened:
I actually liked what was going on in the first quarter. The Cavs attacked the basket on every possession, and were doing a good job of collapsing on Rondo and making the Celtics get their points from outside. The problem was that the Cavs were missing easy shots while the Celtics were making their jumpers. LeBron missed a layup, Shaq missed a hook, and Mo missed some open threes.
When the Celtics had the ball, they couldn’t miss from outside. They went 7 of 9 on shots outside the paint in the first quarter, including two jumpers apiece from Rasheed Wallace and Rajon Rondo. Whenever the Cavs looked like they were going to take the lead, the Celtics answered with a jumper. Boston ended the quarter with a Rajon Rondo three off the dribble to push their lead to four. It was that kind of a start for them.
The Celtics pushed the lead to double-digits thanks to nine consecutive points from Wallace, Glen Davis, and Tony Allen to start the second. The Cavs kept the game close, but the Celtics kept making enough shots and getting enough easy baskets to keep the Cavs at bay. To be frank, the Celtics were the ones keeping the Cavs in the game at that point — turnovers and silly fouls by Boston hurt them more than anything Cleveland was doing at either end.
Total and complete meltdown in the third quarter. That’s the only way to describe it. The Celtics got three layups from Antawn Jamison’s unsuccessful attempts to front KG in the post. When it wasn’t a layup, it was an open three or a contested Ray Allen jumper, which is like an open shot for most players.
The Celtics were scoring at will, and the Cavs were unraveling. Too many quick jumpers and bad possessions. Andy picked up a T and a flagrant foul out of frustration. When LeBron tried to take it over and go strong, the Celtics started to swarm him and force turnovers. When the dust settled, the Celtics were up 23 and you could hear a pin drop in the Q.
The Cavs were able to generate some hope when the Celtics went into a prevent offense and got a 15-0 run going. It was too little, too late. With 1:14 left, the scrubs were in and the Cavs had officially been blown out at home. The road to the Eastern Conference Finals now goes through Boston. The last time the Cavs won a road playoff game against an elite team was game five against Detroit. That took two overtimes and LeBron scoring 29 of the Cavs’ final 30 points. Wonderful.
Cavs-Related Bullets:
-Enough with the elbow. Screw the elbow. First of all, the Cavs weren’t winning this game if LeBron had three healthy elbows. Second of all, LeBron is 48 hours removed from taking over a game. Third of all, LeBron didn’t play like he was hurt. He played like he didn’t have control of the game.
He was waiting for his teammates to get involved early, and tried to get the team back in it in the second. After the Celtics made their run in the third, it was too late. LeBron going to the basket is like a 100-mph fastball. It’s great early in the count. If the batter is thinking about the curveball or the changeup, there’s no way he’s going to catch up to it. You almost always go to the fastball on a 3-2 count. But no matter how good a fastball is, it’s going to end up in the bleachers if it’s a 2-0 or 3-1 count and the batter is sitting on it. That’s what happened in this game.
The Celtics put the Cavs in a position where LeBron going 1-on-5 was the only option. When LeBron tried it, they pounced. When LeBron is on, he controls the flow of the game and makes the defense guess what he’s going to do. With Rondo controlling the flow of the game, LeBron wasn’t able to do his thing. He needs to come out early and take matters into his own hands in game three. It’s as simple as that.
-Shaq sucked. He’s getting position on those hooks and they’re not falling. He’s not exactly making up for it on the defensive end, either. He looks like he did at the beginning of the season. If he can’t score when they single-cover him in the post, he shouldn’t be on the floor. -18 in 19 minutes for Shaq tonight. Right now, Shaq’s thumb is the much more significant injury than LeBron’s elbow.
-Mo was horrible. 1-9 from the field is not going to cut it, and he’s yet to hit a three in this series. Part of it is that the Cavs aren’t running their offense to set him up with open threes, but he needs to figure out a way to be effective without going off for 12 straight points after a dunk.
-Jamison was the second-best Cav on offense. He hit some threes and floaters on offense, and never looked out of his element. His defense was an issue, but I’ll take it over what Shaq, Mo, and Parker are giving you. When the second-best starter is someone the Cavs got for a draft pick a few months ago, there are issues present.
-Hickson and Varejao were the silver linings. Hickson continues to make crazy and-1s, and Varejao looked like himself. Andy was making cuts to the basket and getting layups and fouls; he played 21 minutes and was the only Cavalier to finish with a positive +/-. Of course, he committed a stupid flagrant, left the game with back spasms, and started to have a tantrum in the third quarter. That wasn’t controlled frenzy and playing the mental game; that was being a sore loser. I’ll take my victories where I can get them tonight.
-The Cavs shot 20 more free throws than the Celtics and made 11 more free throws than the Celtics. Splendid.
-How predictable was Delonte going hard to the basket with 1:39 remaining in a 16-point game? He never stops working out there. Also, that was his only basket in 31 minutes. I love his attitude, but would like to see him play better basketball.
Bullets of Randomness:
-I thought the Cavs did a much better job on Rondo in game two. He finished with 13 points and 19 assists. I, for one, do not welcome our new mutant point guard overlords.
-Pierce still can’t score on LeBron in isolation. Hooray?
-Seriously Rasheed, how were you not full of crap when you said you were saving it for the playoffs? Where the HELL did that come from?
-Man, Ray Allen is a great offensive player.
So here we are. Cavs have to win in Boston to keep the series alive. The Cavs can win in Boston; Boston isn’t a juggernaut at home, and the Cavs are better equipped to win on the road than they used to be. Still, this does not feel good. The Celtics still have to beat the Cavs three more times to win this series. The Cavs have a good chance to win every game remaining in the series. Time to get it done. Recent iterations of the Cavs haven’t won a big playoff game on the road in a long time. The Cavaliers have never won a championship. If they want one, they’re going to have to do some things they haven’t done before. It’s going to be a long couple of days, but this thing is far from over. Time to get it done.
Rasheed was full of crap when he said it. That is one good game amongst 6 horrible games from him in the playoffs. One out of seven isn’t saving it, it’s just what happens.
Love the recap, pretty much vents my frustrations entirely.
Jamison should be getting 15+ shots a night against Garnett. He should be wearing him out. Instead, we are two games in and Jamison has a grand total of 17 shots. Why on earth did we trade for him if we aren’t going to utilize him when it counts? Garnett had more shots tonight than Jamison has had in both games. I don’t understand it, and it needs to change. Instead of coming out and trying to get Shaq going, how about we come out and throw it to Jamison? What about that one for a change?
Oh, and I like HIckson and what he brings, but how does he still have the same problems he had from the start of the year? Two games with a grand total of 3 rebounds…HOW ON EARTH IS THAT POSSIBLE JJ??!?!?
Celtics fan here.
This is a strange series. Coming into it, I had picked Cavs in 6, which is still pretty reasonable but would not be shocked at all by the Celtics winning in the same number of games. Or more. Or less. I do think the teams are going to split the games in Boston.
Ultimately, I think the series rests with the Celtics, regardless of what the Cavaliers do. The Celtics are more capable of winning it and equally capable of giving it away. They’re better, but sloppier. I can’t tell you how terrified we all were in the fourth when you went on that 15-0 run. We’ve lost games like that all year. I credit Doc for beating our guys into submission in two successive huddles. That’s what won the game for us, IMO. The Celtics came out strong and pushed the lead back up. But that victory was hardly assured, even up by that many.
Your coach is an idiot (he types respectfully). If you ran a small lineup out there, using Hickson/AV, we’d have all sorts of problems dealing with it. I don’t get why we don’t see more of that.
Reasons for Cleveland to be optimistic – LBJ hasn’t unloaded the way he can yet. Pierce looks flat-out groggy out there (and we hate the fourth quarter ISOs as much as you love them). Rondo may get tired of getting hammered when he goes into the paint. Or he may get hurt. Frightening to watch. And Ray can be neutralized if you have someone who can cling to him. You did it two years ago – it could happen again.
Reasons for Boston to be optimistic – Rondo has been the best player in the series. That may not change and even if it does, he just shreds the Cleveland D. Also, C’s have gotten little from PP so far, after a good first round – that’s likely to change.
Zebra update – The refs don’t seem biased but the calls have certainly favored Cleveland the first two games (hate to make that an issue, but it’s interesting to watch how a team can go an entire quarter and not be called for a foul). Boston may get some home cooking come Friday night.
Anyway guys – good series, been fun watching your team. I quite like a lot of your team (Leon and Delonte, obviously) but also Lebron, who to me, wears the mantle of superstar with vibrancy and class and respect for the game’s history.
Cheers…
Normally I would disagree with RBD, but after watching the first two games, I think he’s right. This thing has become Boston’s to lose.
Now, if the Cavs come out with energy and take game 3, I may think differently. But, as of right now, we have no reason to believe it will happen.
Although, I will say the Cavs DO have the guy to cling to Ray Allen. His name is Delonte West. That guy was right with Ray every step of the way, and it is amazing to watch him maneuver through all the screens.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but EVERY TIME the Cavs have showed even the slightest bit of intensity, they have flat out dominated Boston. 2nd half in Boston and in Cleveland, 4th quarter in Boston, 2nd half in game 1.
However, at this point in the season, if the Cavs aren’t playing with intensity for at least 3 quarters of the game, then there’s a problem here.
I’m still pretty angry at this game. I mean, Mike Brown cussed during a post-game interview. That’s like Barney trying to right hook Fred Flintstone…..ah, you see, I can’t even write with sense at this point.
Great Recap…RBD is right about the small ball lineup, but that’s old news. We should know by now that it works. The only problem is Mike Brown is 40 years old, and Shaq is 38, and I don’t see Shaq telling Mike…’Yo, put me on the bench so I can rip up the Celtic backups at the start of the 2nd quarter and 4th quarter’. This whole, ‘get Shaq the ball at the start of the 1st and 3rd quarters seemed like a nice idea to begin with, and it does spark the potential of getting them into foul trouble…if they were a stupid team.
We need to set the tempo at the start of games. Get some transition offense going. Tonight, we shouldn’t have even gotten that 15-0 comeback. Bavetta called some pretty iffy things for us, as he’s supposedly notorious for doing (keeping it close).
Can we please just give Gibson a liiiiiitle bit of burn? Just a wee bit? Please!
@JK: Nice post. The appropriate level of disgust and disappointment, juxtaposed with an adequate amount of doubt and skepticism. I particularly liked the “enough with the elbow” point, as I think this has been overblown. To me it just seemed like Lebron was being passive and not dictating the flow of the game, which he’s done in plenty of games without the elbow injury.
@RBD: excellent and well thought out comments. That kind of contribution is always welcome here.
Vortex of Evil is deleting all of my long-winded comments!
I’m sort of glad the Cavs got it handed to them the way they did. Better to lose this way than for them to play really well and lose by like 2.
To a man they were bad, as a team they were bad, and some of the Celtics had career games.
It’s a series now, and a wakeup call.
Some serious adjustments need to be made, especially the disease that is “let’s get shaq involved against kendrick perkins” but mostly if the Cavs play with urgency and Dirk Nowitzki doesn’t dress up in a Rasheed Wallace suit again, the Cavs will win a game in Boston.
The team plays too slow! We should go with the small ball lineup and run it. Mo has to stay in front of Rondo. This team looks nothing like the team we looked like in the regular season. No great passing. No pick and rollgs. No Lebron creating for other players. We are playing horribly. Where is the coaching?????
This from Hollinger, written before the game:
“The good news for this weekend’s losers is that home-court teams that win the opener often lower their guard in Game 2 — they have only a 67.4 percent success rate in Game 2s after winning the opener.
The bad news? Only 12 of the 42 road teams (28.6 percent) to win Game 2 after a Game 1 loss went on to win a second-round series, which doesn’t bode well for Boston or Utah, even if they win Game 2. The numbers for the road team don’t improve much if you include all best-of-sevens, at just 29-64 (31.2 percent), although that figure includes two teams (Utah and San Antonio) that managed that feat in this year’s first round.”
Also PD Parr is right. Shaq should be a bench player like he was most of the season and when we went on our huge win streaks. He doesn’t work out there on the court with us.
Shaq was not a bench player when we won 13 in a row, so I don’t even understand the arguement you’re making siefer.
I’d love to pinpoint the problem from last night, but it was everywhere people. You can’t look here or there and say, yep, that’s it. It was a total lack of effort, which flowed on into LBJs presser, i nwhich he said it wasn’t a big deal and he lives in the paint and a whole bunch of other nonsense that didn’t sound like a player who seemed to care all that much. Shaq starting or not starting doesn’t change a team that simply doesn’t care.
Dude, Rich, I think “Shaq would be more effective as a bench player against Glen Baby Davis who he owns than against Perkins who was genetically engineered to make going to players like Shaq less effective, but that’s pretty much it” is a much more useful comment than “It’s everywhere people, the team just doesn’t care.”
The first one is a basketball related observation which makes sense. The second is crazy hand wringing and voodoo. If I wanted crazy voodoo sports psychology, there are plenty of places to get that.
Siefer’s argument is insanely easy to understand, although it’s overstated. Against a big, old, slow banging team with a weaker bench, why not run out small against their starters and run them to death, then run out Shaq against Fat Baby?
The answer is our Coach doesn’t know what he is doing. NOT that “ZOMG EVERYONE DOES NOT CARE.”
Sorry to call you out, but man, lock it up.
The reason I was unwilling to write off the Celtics as easily as others was Playoff Toughness.
The Celtics have a lot more of it than the Cavs.
Go down the starting five of Celitcs and find a player who you wouldn’t consider mentally tough. You can’t. And they’re proven champs, even if they’re older.
Now go down the list of Cavs and find a player who isn’t mentally tough. You can.
I’m not convinced that Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Antawn Jamison, and even Delonte West cannot match the mental toughness of the Celtics.
I think the Cavs will still most likely win this series, because they are the better team, but I doubt that they’ll win the championship.
Why? Because they’re soft.
BTW, I heard the Cavs have this one player who is really good, maybe the best player in the league. Maybe he should force the issue before the game is basically lost in the third quarter, you know, because he’s like the MVP and stuff.
Tom Pestak wrote a long comment in the thread below this one (the preview that also includes a lot of post-game analysis in the comments) and I found myself nodding through the entire thing. It’s worth going back and finding it if you get a chance.
My thoughts:
I am scared that Mike Brown might not know which five players should be on the floor from series to series. It’s the main thing holding them back. If you play the right five guys, several problems go away:
*The tempo will dramatically increase.
*The perimeter defense will improve.
*Lebron will be practically forced to more agressive by virtue of the lineup he’s surrounded with.
I think the team should experiment with giving Moon a lot more minutes and giving far, far less – if any – to Parker and Shaq (I really like Tom’s idea of Shaq’s minutes coming only when Perkins is on the bench, which is less harsh than my “remove him from the rotation entirely” plan).
When Moon plays at the expense of Shaq/Parker, the pace can increase, the perimeter defense improves by virtue of better athleticism, and it becomes more likeluy that Bron is shooting and attacking, because Moon is a non-creator.
I would like to see Moon given 30 minutes, and the chance to stop Rondo. If he can, the series is over, in favor of the Cavs.
Moon-Rondo, West-Allen, Bron-Pierce, Jamison-Garnett, Varajao-Perkins.
With Hickson and Mo getting the vast majority of the remaining defense. It might be time to cut the fat and trim the rotation to the most effective 7-8 guys. Part of me wants to see what Boobie can do – is he a better perimeter defender on Rondo than Mo? – but how cold is Boobie going to be at the 3-point line after sitting for over a month?
What this series is showing is why the Cavs could’ve used an extra elite perimeter defender like Matt Barnes with their midlevel exception last summer, instead of Anthony Parker. The Cavs really need one more guy capable of guarding the Allen-Pierce-Rondo trio on their roster, which would allow them to play ultra small with LeBron on Garnett or Perkins. Right now, they can’t do that, because their perimeter defense liabilities basically force them to put Bron on Pierce. If Bron could guard KG or Perkins, he might be able to drift more in help side, which is his preference and specialty anyway (weak side help blocks and steals). Even if Parker is much better character guy than Barnes, all the locker room harmony in the world won’t help them win this series.
Barkley’s best quote of the postseason came a few days ago: “The Celtics’ best player in this seruhs is Mike Brown.”
TNT had all four coaches miked up last night. Man, does Doc Rivers sound good in a huddle. If I wear wearing tearaway sweatpants while watching the game last night, I probably would’ve torn them off and reported to the scorer’s table in my kitchen. He’s that inspiring.
Only so much you can tell as an outsider looking in, but I’d imagine he’s a GREAT coach.
Listening to the 1st quarters of the 1st two games was awful. I lost count of how many times I heard ‘(Shaq, LeBron, Jamison) put it up on the rim – NO!’ followed up by Rondo ‘put’s it on the floor, down the lane, to the rim-GOOD!’ I just hope that the butt whoopin’ and the embarrassment wakes them up because their coach can’t. Doc Rivers called out Sheed publicly and got what the team needed out of him. Let’s hope Brown does the same with Shaq and Mo and it works. If not we’re done in 6.
-All I know is Booby is a MUCH better defender than Mo, and a more reliable shooter. If the argument for starting Mo is that he can create of the dribble, it’s pretty much moot when he can’t keep the 1 guy who is single handedly killing us in front of him AND no showing on offense AND not creating for anyone else.
-Why Mo ever bites on a Rondo pumpfake is beyond me. LET him shoot. So what if he makes a couple, it’s a shot you can live with as long as you keep him out of the lane and playmaking. This guy is no Steve Nash, LET him shoot.
-KG didn’t score a bucket Rondo didn’t assist, in fact nobody not named Rondo scored a bucket Rondo didn’t create.
-Moon and Delonte do a much better job staying with Ray Allen than AP.
-Why are they not posting up Antwan and using him and Bron in pick and roll???? WHY???
David, if you think Shaq not being in the line-up is going to change the outcome of last night’s destruction, i dunno what to tell you. To point to a single problem and exclaim that that is the area of biggest concern, is going to miss way to many problems. Who here was saying Mike Brown shouldn’t start Shaq before the series? And now, after a game 2 loss, everyone is suddenly acting like they are John Wooden and that Mike Brown is a complete moron for starting the guy. After the game 1 win, who here was saying Shaq should be barely getting minutes in game 2? If you were saying that, then I’m sorry, but if not then forget about Mike Brown.
Anyway, if you want a specific basketball related insight as to what I think the team needs to do then I’ll give it. They need to go super small. Not small, but really small. LeBron should play a solid amount of minutes at the 4, with Jamison or Varejao at the 5. I say this because I’d like to see Mo, Parker/Moon, and West on the court at the same time. Moon and West can move off of and onto any of the 3 Boston perimiter players. Second, it means KG is either guarding LeBron or Parker/Moon. Third, if we use Jamison, it means Perkins gets to play out at the 3 point line.
The problems it would cause for them on their defensive end would be huge. They wouldn’t be able to match up anywhere. However, you could easily point to one area where we would be lacking, and that is defending Perkins. But, Kendrick Perkins is a not a great, or even good offensive machine. He is effecient, but he doesn’t score in bunches or anything of the sort. I’d be ok with Jamison matching up with him for a short period of time just to see what happens, and if it doesn’t work bring Varejao in. Either way, it allows, no it forces us to push the pace instead of walk the ball up the court.
But, again, I can’t say that there needs to be this huge line up change, there just needs to be a change in personality next game before anything else. I’m not even close to the only person who feels like the Cavs just didn’t care last night. Colin summed it up best when he said “if they don’t care, why should we?” No magical line-up change is going to suddenly make a team who didn’t care, to start caring.
Also, less drastic change would be putting West in the line-up over Mo. I feel apathetic towards it, because I can see the downfalls. But Parker on Rondo and West on Allen has been better than Mo on Rondo and Parker on Allen. It just severly limits the offense though (of course, Mo going 1-9 limits it too).
Regardless of what lineup we use….itd be great if this team has a ton of energy and cares about winning for 48 minutes…not go thru motions for a little bit then decide to pick it up when in a dire situaiton….maybe i dont understand professional basketball…maybe theres games in which the players arent going all out knowing its a long series…but man…to me this is the playoffs…whether you’re talented like Lebron or just a hard working scrappy guy like Delonte..at the very least all I ask for is effort and getting in the face of the opponent…there were way too many instances in which the Celtics were doing practice drills to run their offense…like Rondo tossing it out to KG who was wide open for a layup…just ridiculous..
And i think we are the worst team when it comes to defending screen/roll or pick/roll…seriously the Magic abuse us with that and now the Celtics are too…
@RBD Honestly I think Boston needs more fans like you and I love that you posted with respect on an opponents wall. Every Cleveland fan sees what you see, but seemingly the cone of blurred vision extends just past the Cavs bench and into the third row.
What it comes down to is playing to your strengths. Boston has done an excellent job of realizing our weakness at the beginning of games and setting the pace, putting the Cavs on catch-up duty. They know their role here.
Cleveland has come out flat twice and has almost no idea what to do when they get there. If LeBron has an off game, we have got to get creative. If we come out hot with a fast line-up, two things will happen. 1. We will be in the drivers seat. 2. The aging Celtics will be in rough shape by the halftime whistle. It makes no sense to try to play slow on a team that is ancient and lacking depth. The Cavs need to play fast, physical, young and aggressive ball until the Celtics are tired, then we call in the big guns and make them pay.
I still believe. Lets do it Cleveland.
My biggest and easiest fix: Stop force feeding Shaq who is playing against one of the very best post defenders in the league, and instead take that time to give the ball to Jamison to abuse, yes abuse, Garnett. Every single time Jamison puts the ball on teh floor he is by Garnett in a dribble. Why on Earth the man has a total of 17 shots is beyond me. Garnett has 41. He is 17-41 to be exact, not exactly lighting the world on fire, but yet he has outplayed Jamison ONLY because Jamison isn’t seeing enough of the ball. At the start of the 1st and 3rd quarters, give the ball to Jamison on the perimiter and let him go to work on Garnett. Stop going at the Celtics very best defender over and over..that makes no sense at all. It’s basically like Boston running isos for PIerce against LeBron late in the game. That plays right into the Cavs hands. Well, giving the ball to Shaq to go 1on1 with Perkins is EXACTLY what the Celtics want. Give it to Jamison isntead and good things will happen.
On a side note: Who would feel about 100x about the day and last nights game if somehow, someway, the Hawks beat the Magic in game 1. I personally feel there is less than 3.8% chance of that happening, but man would it make last nights game a whole lot easier to swallow.
the biggest problem was obviously the cavs attitude.. they had no sense of urgency and think they can come back anytime they want to.. this probably works against teams in the regular season, but this is the playoffs… and o ya shaq has sucked, he isnt a good matchup against the celtics, we only got him for the magic and lakers, NOTE TO MIKE BROWN: PLAY HICKSON AND MOON MORE, they’re the athletic energy players that are useful against the celtics, while you do this trim parker and shaq’s minutes, try to tire out garnett and pierce by running some lebron and jamison or mo and jamison screen/pick and rolls, and dont try to get shaq going at the beginning… try to get lebron to score, so the celtics have to respect him, then let him spread the ball around, instead of trying to get everyone else going casue it isnt working, maybe lebron dominating will pump the rest of the team up, and coming out of the 1st half, try to get jamison going.. the 3rd quarter is usually when he gets most of his points
Everyone keeps calling Andy’s flagrant stupid, but I thought it was hilarious. Keep smashing into these guys. Buncha limberdicks.
LeBron was pretty nonchalant at the post-game press conference. He didn’t really seem to mind the fact that we dropped this game… in fact he was actually smiling near the end of the fourth quarter. Apparently, LeBron is not worried about our chances.
To be honest, I am not that concerned about the Cavs. If we lose game 3 (or if it comes down to the last shot), I will become genuinely worried. But right now, I still think the Cavs will take it in 6 (splitting the games in Boston, winning game 5 decisively, and then pulling out a close one in game 6 on the road).
John – Great post.
I agree with the lack of effort being the key. Even saw it during the Bulls series when the Cavs would get up by 8-12 points and take a possession or two off. Can’t have that in the playoffs, and especially can’t have that as you advance in the playoffs. And frankly, it seemed like that was the case in the 3rd quarter. How many times did the Celtics score on an open layup inside 3 feet? Someone missed an assignment or rotation and left a guy in a green jersey all alone stnading under the basket. We need more energy and effor than that.
Which brings me to the comments about Shaq…if he can’t make 60% of his shots inside the paint and he’s not going to hustle on the defensive end, then his minutes need to be cut. Give the majority of minutes at C to JJ and Andy. Now id Shaq can show some energy on the defensive end and go 4-7 or 5-8 from the floor, then keep him in there. But 4-12 and 4-10 and not challenging the other C’s on the defensive end (remember that 8 ft jumper he didn’t even come out on Perkins on??) isn’t going to cut it.
Personally, given the hot headed nature of the Celtics (Garnett, Wallace, and Davis in particular) I’d like to see a little more hard fouls from the Cavs bigs. Take a page out of the late 80′s/early 90′s playbook and get these guys focused on whining to the refs and the Cavs tough physical play. No doubt Boston won’t be able to control themselves and T’s will start flying…just the sort of momentum the Cavs will need on the road.
Anyway, I feel good we can take 1 in Boston and we can move on from yesterday’s disaster…but we need more effort and energy.
I’m proud of you for not panicking, Krolik. Your attitude is perfect: it was an ass-kicking, but just one game. If anyone really thought we could coast to a championship without taking any hard punches, they have been jolted awake now.
Bottom line: we know we can win in Boston, we did it this season in convincing fashion. If the Cavs show up with their A game, and decide to live or die on Rondo jumpers, I still feel pretty good about this series.
Given how well they shot the ball (unlikely to happen again, it seems to me), and what a gigantic hole we dug for ourselves, the fact that we were within striking distance with 4 minutes left was really kind of remarkable. Great signs from JJ on offense, although he really manages to disappear on defense so completely sometimes that I literally wonder where he’s gone.
One other note: did anyone else feel perversely happy about Sheed’s success in this game? As those shots were going down, I was just thinking how great it was that this would mean he would be seeing more minutes and having more opportunities to screw up. Then he kept it together for a whole game!? Who saw that coming? But I still feel kind of good about it. Pulling one game out of a hat is one thing; breaking the terrible habits of two entire seasons for much longer than that is another. I’ll still be happy to see Sheed in Game 3.
JK: “When the second-best starter is someone the Cavs got for a draft pick a few months ago, there are issues present.”
Get used to it – Jamison being our second best (albeit offensive) starter is not something that should cause shock. He is in Cleveland precisely because Shaq, Mo and Parker are inconsistent both offensively and defensively.
Oh, and also: I think Rasheed read your blog posts about him…
RBD, excellent unbiased posting. I don’t think anyone here disagrees with your thoughts.
Not sure how a team competing for the Championship allows itself to get outscored 31-12 in the 3rd quarter. I just think that if you set goals that high, you can’t sit back and watch yourself get beat down like that.
Like Shiban says, there’s this complacency about the Cavs – a lazy arrogance that they can turn it up and overcome lags… It worked in Game 1, so maybe more than one felt it would work in Game 2.
I’ll like to see how the Cavs come out in Game 3 – i feel whoever shows up in Game 3 wins this series.
Rich, I agree entirely about the Jamison/KG matchup. There were a couple times in game 2 where Jamison blew by Garnett on the perimeter, but the Cavs just haven’t been going to him. It would have the added effect of wearing down KG to reduce his effectiveness on the offensive end.
That being said, the effort here was the real problem, and I can’t really blame that on Mike Brown. He’s doing everything he can to get them into it, but when your superstar is walking up the court behind your point guard every possession in the first quarter, the team is going to come out flat. This is on LeBron if you ask me. He can call himself a “no excuse player” all he wants, but I’ll believe it when I see it. If he wants to win this series, he has to step up, and his teammates will follow.
Eh. Glad they lost. They need to realize the Celtics will not simply let them win, and that they need to have a PLAN on offense, and PLAYS. Thought the first play they ran for Jamison was great, then they didn’t run it again. It’s obvious he’s the 2nd best offensive player on the team, so let’s get him about 15-20 shots a game. Possibly the worst coaching I’ve seen by MB since his rookie year. Didn’t realize how quickly things were falling apart and was as lackadaisical as everyone. He needed to pull Shaq 3 minutes into the 2nd. It wasn’t working. Total lack of composure by Andy on the flagrant, even though it was a total BS call, the kind the Celtics never get. Hickson played nice, but dear God, can you learn to camp out on that turn around shot by ‘Sheed? It’s his only shot. Make him go to the other shoulder. The whole game was a total brain fart by LeBron. You can’t decide you’re going to start competing when you’re 23 points down in the first.
Mo’s inability to feed the post is starting to become a glaring problem. Shaq doesn’t repost because he’s afraid he won’t get the ball back. How has playing with a post offense become a completely lost art in parts of the NBA?
I’m convinced Reggie Miller is the color commentator that will narrate my time in hell. He’s worse than Isiah. At least Isiah was so dumb he was entertaining. Reggie just beats every point into the ground.
Re: Reggie Miller… Even his voice itself and his delivery is just so painful to listen to. Like an overexcited 12 year old. He has gone through the same description of Jamison’s shots at least three times in the playoffs so far: “Is it a FLOATER? Is it a RUNNER?…”
Crab dribble or jump stop?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm0k2rqEeJQ
Also, I’m active on another forum and the Boston fans there believe Stern is trying to rig the series… Saying that the refs are biased towards the Cavs. Opinions?
I have not been able to put my finger on why, but GOD YES Reggie Miller is the most annoying human on the planet when he talks on my TV.
Seriously, makes me re-evaluate my old opinion of him against the Knicks. If Reggie was making types of comments he makes on the air, in that warbly voice, at Spike Lee, then I KIND OF get where Spike was coming from.
AND RICH:
Thanks for your more recent posts. I didn’t want to go after you or anyone else personally but I am used to so much perspective on these boards. I think that people need to remember that the Cavs are going to lose and look bad some of the time and the key is that they learn from it and work it out. Panicking and freaking out is exactly what the team doesn’t need to do. They need to execute confidently and bring the energy up, and probably make some adjustments in the rotation, but it’s not like we just discovered the Celtics are better than the Cavs. I still believe that the Cavs are the better team and that will show over the course of the series. Just my 2c.
But I also get that as a fan I turned off my TV, groused at my wife, and had to call my Dad this morning, first question being “Dad, the Cavs are OK, right?”
So I was a little unfair to talk to you and really, everyone about not panicking as a fan.
Hopefully some of my comments will do what all of you guys have with me throughout the season, which is help me understand the game and enjoy the parts of being a fan that are fun, and make me feel better about the crappy stuff that happens. Our perspectives, sometimes different, hopefully make us all better.
Peace.
“Boston fans there believe Stern is trying to rig the series… Saying that the refs are biased towards the Cavs. Opinions?”
That’s idiotic for several reasons.
1. If they are trying to rig the series they are doing a horrible, horrible job so far. They could’ve bailed out the cavs on many occassions last night even though the cavs still out-shot the Celtics. Which is to say, they could’ve seen to it the cavs out shot the celtics even more.
2. A Lakers-Celtics rematch would be about the only thing as awesome for ratings as a Lebron-Kobe showdown, and Stern knows it. So why taint the process that gives you either one, you make money either way.
3. Conventional wisdom has it that Lebron is more likely to leave cleveland if he sees he can’t win a championship there. If Stern is a maniacal, series fixing, money grubbing genius as these meatheads would suggest, there is only one logical thing for him to do. INSURE Lebron loses and leaves Cleveland to go to one of the Large Market teams who have basically GUTTED themselves to get him this Summer. Evil Money Grubbing Stern wants the horrible, horrible Knicks OR Nets to get Lebron and compete. How much more money would the NBA make if they had a competitive team with the league’s best player in New York City? DUH.
In sum, I can come up with wildly speculative but plausible (if you are stupid) reasons it would make WAY MORE SENSE for David Stern to want to see the Cavs knocked out.
Please note that I think the idea of David Stern fixing series in the NBA is like believing people never landed on the moon. Whatever short term gain he got out of it would be far outweighed by the fact that he would undermine the popularity of the sport he was commissioner of so much that he would go down in history as the Shoeless Joe Jackson of Basketball history. What does he get out of this that is worth it? One Lebron-Kobe finals, which si slightly more profitable than a Celtics-Lakers finals? That makes no sense.
My point was only to illustrate that if you decide to make up a theory (Refs fixing games for Cavs) then you can make up crazy reasons why it makes sense without any proof to back it up. Bonus is that you don’t have to use any facts, you just speculate about stuff. QED.
There is a greater chance of LeBron throwing the series for reasons unknown than there is a chance of Stern rigging the series.
@Eric:
Its not a travel IF the pro-hop is still allowed. For those that have been watching basketball for at least 10 years, the pro-hop was made famous by Allen Iverson. AI used it all the time.
Now, I don’t know if the NBA outlawed the pro-hop (I think the NCAA did). If it is still allowed, then no, it was not a travel.
Apparently Stern wants Lebron to stay in Cleveland.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5160221
cleveland is a terrible sports city, whiny fans…Whiny sports writers, I mean…face it……cleveland sucks and i don’t know why the rock n’ roll hall of fame is there……no one says ” i wanna go to cleveland for vacation” lmao!
” mitch says:
May 4, 2010 at 10:58 am
cleveland is a terrible sports city, whiny fans…Whiny sports writers, I mean…face it……cleveland sucks and i don’t know why the rock n’ roll hall of fame is there……no one says ” i wanna go to cleveland for vacation” lmao!”
Cleveland fans bitch about a loss because their team didn’t play hard. Boston fans bitch about a loss because the refs were clearly cheating for the other team. You be the judge…
Don’t feed the trolls :)
http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/2010/05/03/nba-playoffs-cavs-celtics-game-2-the-lebron-james-travel-that-wasnt/
@mitch, Re: Cleveland Sucks
Hey! Joakim! Good to see you. I guess you have plenty of time to troll the cavs boards since you are not playing basketball at this point.
Peace!
I haven’t figured out why the so called “experts” were calling that a travel last night. Just because the jump you make is bigger and farther, doesn’t mean it’s atravel. A jump stop is a jump stop no matter ho high you jump. He dribbled on his very last step and then jumped landing on both feet. A jump stop. Legal. So incredibly hilarious to listen to announcers like ALbert and Miller who should know way more about the game totally have no idea about that call at all.
Celtics fan here and just want to point out that there are always idiots who will post that the series is rigged, etc but I don’t think that is a common refrain at all among the Boston fandom. I do think, though, that it is pretty surprising that the Cavs have shot 30 more FTs than the Celtics through two games but these, things tend to even out over the course of the series. Just be prepared to have the whistles go against you a bit in Boston.
I do find it interesting that many people want the Cavs to go small and run more. While I think there is some merit to trading playing time among players (Moon over Parker, anyone over Shaq), I don’t think that you all are suddenly going to become a high-flying fast break machine. The Cavs have been successful playing their style all year long and it would be pretty shocking to see them all of a sudden morph into the 2008 Suns.
The Cavs problems through two games are pretty simple to see – Lebron is not being assertive enough and they can’t control Rondo. The first can be fixed while the second cannot, in my opinion. Still, if Lebron plays like his MVP self, then the Cavs can certainly still win the series. But, all should agree that the Celtics still have some fight in them, though it certainly didn’t look that way in the regular season.
Jim, I’m a Cavs fan but I live in Boston, and while I think you are right that serious Celtics fans aren’t saying the series is rigged, a lot of casual fans do more than their share of complaining about foul calls…probably due to some overexposure to Tommy Heinsohn. While I do think the Cavs have had some calls go their way, Doc Rivers acknowledged that he wants the Celtics to keep fouling, so I’m not too surprised about the discrepancy.
As for the small lineup, the Cavs had quite a bit of success, particularly offensively, playing small and fast this season when Shaq and Z were out, so it’s not exactly unprecedented. And given the success that teams like that (ie Hawks) have had vs Boston, a lot of Cavs fan want Mike Brown to try that style more.
While Antawn clearly cannot guard Garnett in the post, and the fact that the Cav’s have no answer for Rondo offensively, I think that the Ray Allen match-up right now is our biggest issue. I mean seriously, the Celtics run one play for him (double down screen as he comes baseline from strong side to weak side), run it 7 or 8 times a game, and he makes a dagger three at the end of it every time. This guy, while arguably the best shooter in the league, is basically one-dimensional as a player, and we cannot figure out a way to guard him. He isn’t a very good passer, doesn’t look to drive, takes maybe 1 pump fake a game, and yet manages to completely kill one of the best defenses in the league. Every time it seemed like the Cav’s were starting to get something going Allen knocked down a contested jumper over AP and completely killed the momentum. Putting Moon or Delonte on him more will certainly be an upgrade over the 7 inch vertical of AP, but Mike Brown needs to tell his bigs to bump him hard off those screens. Take a step out, disrupt his timing with your hip, and make him work a lot harder. Rondo can’t drop 19 assists without finding open outside shooters, and it’s an easy way slow down one of the Celtics best players.
Also, I love LeBron, he is the best offensive player in the league, but what is with the possessions when he just dribbles and head-fakes one step inside the 3-pt line for 13 seconds then bricks a fall away jumper off the front of the rim with 2 on the shot clock? They are wasted trips, get no one else involved, and don’t utilize his athleticism or passing ability. He has one the highest basketball IQs in the sport, and yet single-handedly makes the stupidest basketball play I’ve ever seen 4-5 times a game. Even when they go in I’m disgusted. Mike Brown needs to do his job, and not worry about displeasing his superstar. THERE IS A VERY GOOD CHANCE HE’S LEAVING IF WE LOSE MIKE BROWN. IT’S OKAY TO TELL HIM NOT TO DO SOMETHING EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE. So effing frustrating.