I caught the 4th quarter live and still have to go back and watch the rest of the game. Give the Cavs credit. They hit baskets when they needed to, had stretches of tenacious defense and overall played great team basketball. That was a tough loss to handle and I actually feel very similar to how I felt after Game 4 of Round 1. The scary thing is that Cleveland is coming together as a basketball team that is obviously better and deeper than Atlanta. Some other brief thoughts:

- I did not enjoy watching Daniel Gibson attack Sam Cassell at the start of the fourth quarter. That coincided with a number of truly awful Celtics offensive possessions.

- The "Celtics can't win a road game" storyline is warranted and slowly killing my enthusiasm. 

- There was a stretch in the 4th quarter where both teams played outrageous defense. Everything was contested and each team was forced to shoot jumpers they could not make.

- I can't even link to LeBron's cruch time dunk but will most likely see it one million times over the course of the next year. And rightly so. It was impressive.

- For all his struggles last night, including an ill-advised 3 with Boston down 76-73, Paul Pierce gave it his all on the defensive end.

- Back to Boston...

Coming later (most likely tomorrow): What's in a name? - A look at Ray Allen vs. Delonte West/Wally Szczerbiak.

In his recap of Boston's Game 3 loss in Cleveland LaRocque from ROOMOFZEN linked to Bob Ryan's article on the disappearance of Eddie House with the arrival of Sam Cassell, particularly once the playoffs started. Well this led to an e-mail exchange with LaRocque about Boston's point guards. I'll lead off with his e-mail and then jump to my response:

LaRocque from ROOMOFZEN: "So, I want to write something expressing the way I feel about our current point guard situation, but I can't.  I am too flip-floppy on Cassell.  Here is the way that I see things and I'm wondering if you agree. 

Cassell arrived saying that he was totally happy to be a role player and fit in with the offense.  Now, I really believe that he meant that.  But, I just don't think he has it in him.  The guy will always be a shoot-first point guard.  He's always been the guy that's known for taking big shots.  I think there is a place for him on this team.  In game 1, for example, when the offense was totally out of sync.  But, I don't like what I see happening.  First, it seems like Cassell is gradually taking more and more minutes away from Rondo.  Granted, Rondo went through a rough patch in game 2 and the first half of game 3.  But, he got things going in the second half of game 3.  When Rondo is in, we play the style that got us to this point.  We move the ball, he drives and dishes, we seem to flow a lot better.  But, the more Cassell plays, the more I see the team being reduced to a more predictable and stagnant offense. 

 

I guess what I mean is that I don't mind Cassell as a player.  I understand his style.  But, to me he should be spelling Rondo and being brought in for certain situations.  I feel like right now he's imposing his will a little bit on Doc and the team.  The results are more Cassell, less Rondo, and the Celtics abandoning the style that got them here. Keep in mind I'm feeling a little paranoid given the stakes of tonight's game."

Green Bandwagon: Everybody talks about what Eddie House doesn't do well. But what about the stuff he's good at? One of the biggest complaints was that he can't get the ball up against pressure and get into the offense. Well Cassell walks it up, wastes a ton of time and then let's it rip. Is that better? I think House firing jumpers, chest bumping everyone, swearing often and just being House worked well for a long time. Maybe House isn't a great defender. But is Cassell? The crazy thing is that Cassell is so hit or miss that we could be singing his praises in about 4 hours. And at this point it doesn't make a ton of sense to go to House. There's a reason he's played for 8 teams and couldn't get big minutes on a depleted 2006 Suns team come playoff time. The bigger issue is that Rajon Rondo is a mess right now. He needs to get back on track and kick start an offense that was downright bad in Game 3. I'll leave you with some KG to get fired up for this one:

[Green Bandwagon Note: I promoted this to the front page because I think reader Georgia makes some great points. I actually think LeBron is a tough match up because a lot of Pierce's offense starts with him putting the ball on the floor and heading to the hoop. And LeBron is so big and fast that he can make that difficult. And I'd love to see Pierce drop 30+ as long as he does it with the efficiency he's shown at points throughout the season. Still great FanPost.]

Paul Pierce needs to step up and go for 30 or 40 tonight.  I know they all talk about "Ubuntu," but tonight is the night when Pierce has to tell his teammates, "Get on my back.  I'm going to carry you guys."

He can do it because there's no one on the Cleveland's roster that can guard him.  Not even close.  Once Pierce gets his mid-range game going, there's no way LeBron or anyone else can keep him from driving.  And once Pierce starts driving, they'll back off or get in foul trouble.  And once they back off, Pierce will drill the 3.  And once his 3s start falling, it's over.  Just like that, Pierce can put this team on his back and carry them to perhaps the most important victory of the series.  He has done it many, many times before.  He now has to do it again.  He has to.

Pierce has always been a big game player.  In his first ever playoff game, Pierce came out and gunned down the Iverson-led Sixers that went to the Finals the year before.  He then dropped his playoff career high 46 points in the elimination game.  And who can forget "The Comeback" or the dagger he drilled in Al Harrington's face a year later?  Even when he had his meltdown against Indiana a few years ago, Pierce was still our most potent threat and delivered at least in numbers.  So it's puzzling, troubling and alarming when I watch Paul Pierce, with Wally Szczerbiak in his face, keeps passing the ball to Kendrick Perkins in the post being guarded by 7'3" Z Ilgauskas.

Paul Pierce needs to step up.  He needs to demand the ball and abuse their defense like he knows how.  No more mediocre offensive numbers from Paul.  I am demanding greatness from a player who considers himself great.  So, let's see it, Paul Pierce.  It's your time.

Kevin Garnett earned a spot on the NBA's All-Defensive First Team along with Kobe Bryant, Marcus Camby, Tim Duncan and Bruce Bowen. Congrats to KG. 

via media3.washingtonpost.com

And yes that's a picture of my favorite block of the season. Check it out here. Talk about setting the tone...

After three games a number of story lines have emerged from the Celtics and Cavaliers round 2 series:

- The woeful shooting in Game One
- Boston’s defense in the first two games
- Cleveland’s defense in Game Three
- Kevin Garnett’s stellar play
- Zyrundas Ilguaskas' shooting prowess and the Cavs' strange decision to ignore him at times
- The contributions of the Cleveland’s late season acquisitions in Game Three.
- LeBron James’ struggles from the field: 13-58 (22%).

I'll add one more. LeBron’s reactions to any kind of contact. To be fair this started in Round One when Brendan Haywood fouled LeBron hard and the physical pounding the Cavs’ superstar endured received a great deal of attention. Mike Brown even argued that Cleveland’s meal ticket rarely gets the benefit of the doubt:

"He knows he's going to get hit, and unless he gets absolutely clobbered, they're not going to call the foul.'' - Mike Brown

Fast forward to Round 2 and the play is still physical. However, this time around Sam Cassell has called the NBA out for protecting LeBron in ways it never protected Michael Jordan:

"I know Michael Jordan is sitting at home right now pouting because they didn't protect him. There wasn't no bigger star than him, and he took some banging. But he got through it. That's why he got considered the best player to pick up a basketball." - Sam Cassell

Disregarding the fact that Jordan is probably gambling, golfing, filming a commercial or doing any number of things that don't involve pouting or running a team, it's fitting that Cassell brought up MJ, as it segues nicely into a passage from Sam Smith's stellar The Jordan Rules:

"The Pistons advertised their "Jordan Rules" as some secret defense that only they could deploy to stop Jordan. These secrets were merely a series of funneling defenses that channeled Jordan toward the crowded middle, but Detroit players and coaches talked about them as if they had been devised by the Pentagon. ‘You hear about them enough – and the referees hear it, too – and you start to think they have something different,’ said Bach. It has an effect and suddenly people think they aren’t fouling Michael when they are.’ – Sam Smith The Jordan Rules, pgs. 8-9.

Continue reading this post »

I'm not frustrated with the Celtics losing this one. It would have been nice to see them pull it out. But it's tough to beat a team on the road when said team is up against the wall. Game 4 is the big one. There is a big difference heading home 2-2 against Atlanta and doing so against Cleveland. And that difference is LeBron James. Other reactions:

- As I said I'm more or less okay with the loss. But I don't like the fact that Boston was never really in it. The Celtics never managed to put the fear into the home town crowd. That would have made me feel a lot better.

- Ben Wallace is not the Ben Wallace of old and he's certainly not worth $15.5 million. To put that in perspective that's over $2 million more than LeBron makes. However, Wallace still contributes and he did some excellent things tonight.

-  Delonte West  (21 points, 7 assists), Wally Szczerbiak (16 points) and Joe Smith (17 points) were also key. That hurt.

- Take everything good I said about the Celtics defense after Game 2 and apply it to the Cavs tonight. Great performance. And those two blocks LeBron had on Rajon Rondo were outrageous. Meanwhile, didn't it seem like the Cavs move around on offense a lot more? At points it seemed like they had 2-3 guys running off picks. And yes it's not possible to have 3 guys running off picks at one time

- Here's the deal with LeBron. He's so big, strong and fast that when he gets up a head of steam it's nearly impossible to stop him. No one in his right mind would step in front and take a charge. Credit Pierce with doing that. And trying to wrap him up like James Posey did is a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, LeBron has to do what he has to do. But I find his act is getting old a bit. For example if he and Eddie House are both in the air there is absolutely no way House can knock him down. I really believe this. It seems like LeBron took a page out of Dwyane Wade's book. Of course LeBron has 6 inches, 34 pounds and boat loads of muscle on Wade.

- Ray Allen was invisible in the first quarter. That's not good.

- As Mike Gorman said, if the Cavs are 10-19 from beyond the arc the Celtics are in trouble.

- LeBron also shot shot much better from the outside. That was key.

- Hey the Pistons, Hornets and Lakers all lost after taking the first 2. It's nothing out of the blue. Although the Celtics did get beat down. Like I said before, Game 4 is huge.

- Man Andderson Varejao is easy to hate.

- I thought Bennett Salvatore's charge call on KG and quick T on Doc Rivers shortly thereafter were petty calls. And that kind of stuff early on can make a difference.

- The C's looked a step slow all night.

- Memo to Paul Pierce - Don't leave your feet and look to pass. Bad decisions.

- At times the Celtics overpassed. And a few times it hurt them.

- Credit Cleveland and its coaches with making the necessary adjustments. The ball is now in Boston's court.

- In the back of their minds the Celtics have to think about Detroit going up 3-1. If Boston really wants/expects to win it all it can't continue to go 7. It would be nice to see the C's close it out in 5, 6 at the most.

- Watch film, stay loose and come out fighting on Monday. That's it for now.

As the Cavaliers look to regroup at home Brian Windhorst offers a blueprint to get the offense back on track. You should definitely read his plan, which essentially boils down to the following: Go with what worked against Detroit last year. And even with the eerie similarities between LeBron's first two games then and now and Boston's struggles on the road in Round 1, I still feel good about this one.

Last night I heard something along the lines of, "No team has ever come back and won a series after going down 3-0. I'm not sure if that's true but it sounds reasonable. Now I'm not one to buy NBA conspiracy theories or referees intentionally trying to favor one team. But the Cavaliers will be at home. LeBron has shot 23 free throws so far and I wouldn't be surprised if he approached that number tonight. I'm just saying.

It bothers me that the Celtics won 66 games in the regular season and have done what it takes so far, particularly in Game 2, and yet everything is about LeBron. I'm probably guilty of this as well (see poll below). So I want to turn things around and touch upon Kevin Garnett's brilliance. He was even good in game one when seemingly everyone struggled. I'll leave you with the highlights from Game 2. Pay attention to the play around the 51 second mark where two Celtics hit the deck and KG ends up dunking. Just awesome.

Wicked Good Sports
Headed to Cleveland.
Parquet Pride
What They're Saying in Cleveland.
HoopsVibe
Has the NBA Gone Soft? Green Bandwagon Note - Sam Cassell does have a point when he talks about Michael Jordan taking a beating. The "Jordan Rules" were really just about the Pistons hitting MJ early and often. At the same time I'd hate to see a series decided because someone was injured. As much as I champion Kevin McHale taking down Kurt Rambis I'd be furious if Marvin Williams hurt Rajon Rondo.
Cavs.com
Guarded Optimism. Green Bandwagon Note - I did not know Rondo and Daniel Gibson have history.
Bleacher Report
From possible disaster to Blessing.
SF Gate
Celtics' Powe rises to challenge again. Green Bandwagon Note - The Powe info is brief. Still Powe is awesome.
Inside Indiana
Report: Rivers to enroll at Indiana. Green Bandwagon Note - Intriguing. I knew he was leaving Georgetown.
Perk is a Beast
Post Game Interviews
Red's Army
Hostile Environment. Green Bandwagon Note - Check this out for the link to Bill Plaschke's over the top/reactionary article on Pau Gasol.
Loy's Place
We've been here before and so have they.
CelticsBlog
The open road.
Boston Globe
Posey keeps ticket requests all in the family.
Celtics must find a way to win when they're away.  Green Bandwagon Note - The way Posey handles ticket requests in the definition of a veteran move.
Ball is in their court.
Boston Herald
Wallace doubtful for Game 3.
Ready to remodel.
James hopes home is where his shot is.
On defensive end, true kings hold their court.

At the risk of simply posting whatever Ball Don't Lie has up I had to link to this classic Celtics/Pistons YouTube clip. Bill Laimbeer...wow. It inspired me to make the following comic. In hindsight I wish it were funny.

Two posts ago I complimented the NBA on its marketing strategies. Well this is ten times better. Head over to NBA.com and figure out your nickname. Hat tip to Ball Don't Lie.