LeBron's dunk over Garnett was unbelievable. The crowd at the Q was just waiting to explode. Looking for ANYTHING to go nuts about. I mean LeBron could have just made a jumper. But he did THAT!
I'm going to make a poster out of that dunk.
I had to turn off the uninspiring post-game show.
Charles Barkley was just lamenting that neither team gets easy baskets.
Then he said the Celtics aren't a good defensive team.
Or, NICE TO SEE SOME TEAMS THAT ACTUALLY PLAY DEFENSE. TAKE NOTES GOLDEN STATE, WASHINGTON, AND TORONTO
The Cavs outplayed the Celtics the entire game, and earned a much-deserved win by playing excellent defense, and making just enough plays to get the W. LeBron James' shooting percentage is still down, but I think credit really needs to be given to to the Celtics Defense. Twice LeBron had open looks for 3 and he hit both of them. The Celtics are a VERY GOOD defensive team and everytime the shot clock winds down, the Cavs pass it to LeBron and look for him to bail them out. Whether it's Posey or Pierce it seems they are instinctive of this and put enough of a body on LeBron to make him fade away and throw off his balance. In the 2nd half he didn't want to get called for anymore charges (from the ref 30 feet away from the play) so he basically hoisted up a bunch of fade-away 3s as the clock was ticking down on the Cavs bad possessions. He said after the game that he and the coaching staff just decided he needs to shoot himself out of the slump. I think he needs to spend more time crashing the boards. He LIVES outside the 3 point line, and as the most athletic player in the NBA, he should not be doing this. I go crazy when LeBron is just sitting there while other guys are shooting. I don't know if the he is trying to conserve energy, or if the coaches want him to be back on D, but it seems like if he picked his spots, he could crash the boards a lot.
The media coverage of the Cavs is simply pathetic - it always has been. I give lots of credit to the TNT announcers - Doug Collins and Kevin Harlen always do a great job. Other than that, it's the same old story. Cavs win = Other Team Lost. LeBron's struggles are highlighted night in and night out.
In this game, he had 13 assists, a few steals, a few blocks, and he has played outstanding D on Pierce this entire series. He was 7-20 and still clearly the best player on the court. Plus he threw down a dunk only HE could throw down.
His shot selection could be better, but the Celtics defenders are doing a great job of keeping him off balance, and out of rhythm.
As far as the Cavs role players - it is really encouraging to see Boobie Gibson healthy again. He is confident driving, and even though the Celtics are chasing him off the 3 point arc, he is finding ways to score.
The Cavs are a good rebounding team. Even though they lost their best rebounder in the trade (Gooden) they really got a solid rebounder in Delonte West. He has a great nose for the ball and saves the Cavs a lot of possessions with his great leaping ability. He came up big again tonight even though it didn't show up in the box score.
When the role players play well, the Cavs ceiling is much higher than last year's team. Varejao finally played decent tonight. If he could get back to 2007 form I think the Cavs would be the undisputed team to beat in the East. This series feels somewhat similar to the series with the Pistons last year. Not quite the same, but that dunk on Garnett felt eerily similar in context to this dunk:
Once again the Cavs showed they cannot impose their will on a team. A few times I thought they could have broken the game open, but they didn't. Part of the problem was in the 2nd quarter, the refs were calling HAND CHECK FOULS AWAY FROM THE BALL and the Celtics got into the bonus early - allowing them to slow the game down and stay close. Then when LeBron got his 3rd foul, they went on an 8-0 run. Also, RayRay finally hit a few shots. But the Cavs really just played better the whole game, and finally had something to show for it in the final 3 minutes. Some nifty passing by the Cavs. I haven't really seen that at ALL since the trade. So maybe these guys are getting more familiar with where they are in space.
Ben Wallace had a few nice touch passes, LeBron found Joe Smith with a sweet no look dump off in traffic, and Joe Smith found a cutting Varejao for a bucket late. Cavs really need to play well in game 5. They don't necessarily have to win. But they have to believe that they can beat Boston on the home court. The Cavs don't believe Boston can beat them on their court. But Boston has the home court advantage. I don't think the Cavs will need a miracle from James in game 5 like last year against the Pistons - but he is going to have to limit turnovers and find other guys for some big shots if the Cavs want to win.
Curse is not the word for Cleveland Sports - this is a design that has been well-executed . I love God, but He is NOT a Cleveland Fan. Interestingly , after that period(the one after Fan), Fox Sports notified me that I had 666 characters remaining. Now, I'm rethinking whose architecture this "curse" really is...
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