Game Notes: Celtics-Cavs Game 2
TEAM defense killed the individual star
By Sammy Newman-Beck
Jake is a little swamped with work and travel right now. He will return shortly…
Coming into game 2 both teams knew they had to play better. Their last game consisted of a combined 38 turnovers and an average of 36% field goal percentage. In this game, the Celtics answered that calling.
Pregame
Coach Rivers discussed varied topics including KG’s 1st team all NBA bid (Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Lebron James and Chris Paul are the others), the effectiveness of Zydrunas Ilgauskas (who holds Doc down in the game) and his son Jeremiah Rivers transferring (For those who don’t know, his son who is a Sophomore at Georgetown has elected to transfer…rumored schools include Indiana and Boston College. The main point of the night seems to be how can the Celtics continue to guard Lebron James.
“Sometimes he’s well defended and he still has a great look. He’s a great player,” states Doc. It’s a quote like that which reminds me of the infamous saying… “Sometimes you can play the best defense in the world and the player your guarding is still going to score”…oh the life of the NBA.
The question arises about the improvement of the Cavs since the trade. Doc expresses his approval of the trade and his thoughts on them improving; “The trade definitely made them better,” he states, “ and it made them bigger…their four’s and fives are big and good.”
Doc is then asked about James Posey—who Doc describes as being tired and sore from guarding Lebron…Rivers then goes on to compare King James to a football player.
1st Quarter
- Good ball movement for Celvland to start..
- Z hits jumper—one of many to come.
- KG gets dunk.
- Paul Pierce is covering Lebron…lets see what happens tonight for LBJ.
- Z hits tough fade away from the corner for Clevland…maybe he is as good as Doc says.
- Z hits another jumper
- Rondo turns fast break into fast turnover
- Z hits another jumper and is killing early.
- Cleveland out to early 8-2 lead.
- Lebron has 2 early TO’s…can we go for another double digit TO night.
- The game seems full of early fouls.
- Paul Pierce hits 3 and seems to be in the zone early.
- Both teams pick up defensive 3 seconds. Ray Allen shoots T and misses!!!
- Rondo makes a careless pass which leads to a Lebron steal.
- Pierce hits jumper in Lebrons face
- Rondo is careless with the ball…again!
- Ally Oop to lebron…yes bron bron!
- Perk has to work on his hands!
- Cavs 17, Celtics 9 with 3:50 left in 1st.
- Z hits jumper out of timeout and is 5 for 5 with 10 points early.
- Ray Allen still struggeling and scoreless.
- Paul Pierce looks to have complete control on the floor!
- Joe Smith make a nice move. 23-15 Cavs
- Loose ball foul on James Posey—things get a little testy
- The chant of Bulls**t rings out—the good ole Boston fans
- Ben Wallace is suffering from dizziness, his return is doubtful (never does return to the game…wonder what’s up?.
At the end of the 1st Cleveland is up 24-17. Z has 10 points on 5 for 5 shooting.
2nd Quarter
- Z hits another shot 6 for 6.
- Mr. Shuttlesworth is still quiet.
- Z finally misses!
- Ray misses a 3 and at this point I am starting to feel bad for the guy.
- Posey hits a 2.
- The Celtics are starting to gain momentum. 27-22 Cavs…9:08 remaining.
- PJ brown hits a 2….Cavs up 1. Time out Cavs. 27-26, Cavs, 7:53 left.
- Posey picks a pass which leads to a dunk.
- Lebron is struggeling as he takes a fade-away air ball no thanks to James “Lockdown” Posey.
- Ray Allen’s layup goes in and out!
- KG great no look behind the back pass to Leon Powe for a layup.
- James Posey goes to sub out and receives a standing ovation from Crowd.
- Lebron is OFF
- 34-30 Celtics with 3:50 left
- Lebron is currently 3 for 12 (the night ends much worse)
- Kg gets loose on the break and gets AND1 dunk….why did Delonte even foul him?
- Z gets his 3rd personal and heads to the bench.
- 37-30 Celtics with 2 minutes left.
- The momentum has officially switched to Bostons favor.
- Pierce misses both FT’s
- Sam Cassell has basically played the whole 2nd qtr and is doing quite well.
- Sam Cassell hits driving layup at buzzer
- At the half the Celticsare leading 44-36.
- Paul Pierce and KG have 9 points. Lebron has 11 on 3-13 shooting.…L.Powe and Cassell each have 9…Cassell played 20 minutes while Rondo played only 9.
3rd Quarter
-Ray Allen forces shot misses…gets steal and scores!!!! As a direct quote from He Got Game… “Thank You Jesus!”
-Ray attacks basket and gets fouled and hits both FT’s.
–Celtics get steal and KG hits trailing 2….Celtics 50, Cavs 36, with 10:51 left.
-Pierce gets another bucket.
- Z hits a bucket to quiet the crowd. 54-38 C’s.
- Ray comes off screen to hit jumper and is warming up.
- Lebron misses another wide open 3 pointer.
-Wally gets fast break bucket.
- Time Out Celtics…56-42..C’s with 5:54 left
- Lebron finally hits a jumper to cut lead to 12.
- Ray Allen one dribble pull up AND1.
- Anderson Varejao gets his typical hustle bucket with a tip in.
- Rajon makes a bad pass and gets another turnover
- Leon Powe gets a monster dunk! 63-46, Boston, with 3 left
- Varejao fouls Rondo shooting a 3 and he hits all 3 FT’s to push the lead to 20.
- Pavolic nails a 3 from the corner…where has he been all year?
- Lebron misses layup…currently shooting 4 for 18
- At the end of the 3rd Boston is up 71-50.
4th Quarter
- Just realize Cassell did not play for the whole 3rd quarter..hmm.
- Lebron turnover leads to Posey for 3!
- Cassell enters game for Rondo—spoke too soon.
- I realize Powe is getting a ton of minutes
- Ray Allen hits 3…76-54 Celtics up with 10:10 left
- James Posey is looking the the GLOVE in his prime and creates another turnover
- Z hits crazy fade away with no time left on shot clock. He is 9 for 11 with 19 points the only thing looking good for the Cavs right now.
- 86-62 C’s with 4:20 left…when do the starters get pulled?
- Pierce, KG and Posey head out with 3:29 left
- Glen Davis is a hacker as he gets a cheap foul with 1:46 left.
- Glen Davis picks up an offensive foul on the next play with an illegal pick and roll
Final Score is Boston 89-73 over Cleveland.
Lebron shot 6 for 24 with 7 turnovers….ouch.
Quick question for Doc…why did Eddie House go from 19 minutes per game in the regular season to about 1 minute per game in the post season.
Look, I understand Cassell needs to get some run, but Eddie does too!
10 Responses to “Game Notes: Celtics-Cavs Game 2”
May.9 at 2:33 pm
youngmuggsy says:
wait i thought kg was completely responsible for strong d in boston, now you’re saying team defense is the key. so many contradictions from the slam team.
May.9 at 2:44 pm
Sam Rubenstein says:
I wrote the team defense line… last night that’s what it was. KG has provided intensity that leads to team playing harder that leads to playing better defense. And he played good defense himself. So both are accurate.
May.9 at 2:52 pm
Eboy says:
“I heard you on the wireless back in Fifty Two”
May.9 at 3:13 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
The fact that the Cavs have exactly one player who can create his own shot off the dribble is a problem. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of changes (if any) they make during the offseason.
May.9 at 3:14 pm
RayAllensJ says:
Not sure why Eddie needs more minutes…Celts traded for Cassell to specifically address the issues of non-pg Eddie House committing turnovers at an unprecedented pace and generally failing to run any type of consistent offense. Obviously Sam isn’t running the smoothest offense ever witnessed, but he’s definitely an upgrade over House as a pg - maybe House could play 5-6 minutes at the 2. Completely unrelated: I think one subtle effect on LeBron is getting him over-confident. The Celtics are quick to heap praise on him and make excuses for his poor play, always maintaining that he will turn it around. We’ve seen this season that LBJ really responds with zeal to criticism and the perception that he is overrated - see courtside fan chit-chat during the reg season and stevenson in the washington series…also he responded well to the Pistons and their talk about guaranteed victory and shutting him down…he really seems to play better when he thinks he is being slighted, not when he knows everyone is sure that hes the greatest player on the court.
May.9 at 3:38 pm
Spaceship Jay says:
Where have you been? they already made their blockbuster trades. They traded Suck for Suck just slightly more
May.9 at 6:53 pm
albie1kenobi says:
the fact that doc rivers said the cavs trade made them better shows that he’s afraid to give cavs bulletin board material. either that or he’s a terrible coach/player evaluator.
May.10 at 12:37 am
neaorin says:
Russ is 100% right (as always). I don’t know about the offseason, but that trade left Ferry with $25mil+ in expirings next season (and it could be even more the season after that, depending on what they do). I wonder who’s gonna be the 2009 version of Pau Gasol. Anyway, this series isn’t over, the Cavs have been down 0-2 before and won. Celts still need to prove they can win away from home.
May.10 at 9:51 am
David says:
Just think of how good the Cavs could be once Lebron has his own version of Scottie Pippen playing next to him. They wouldn’t need much of a third option - Wally or Delonte would suddenly seem amazing. The same way that Odom’s much better now that Gasol’s on the Lakers, or Peja’s career has had a resurrection or Hedo suddenly seems great.
May.10 at 10:13 am
Capital says:
I know what you mean about House but no one on the Celtics has the composure of Cassell. Celtics work best when they chill and let the offense run its self. House jacks and jacks up 3 balls. He’s a good shooter but Cassell proved that he could handle this offense as well as Rondo…but in a different sense.