Garnett leads Celtics past Cavs in Game 1

Lebron James, 12 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. You would think with that line that Lebron was passive in Game 1 against the Celtics. Think again. He had one of the worst performances of his career, shooting 2-18 from the field, including all 12 jumpers he took as well as a crucial, potential game tying lay-up. To go along with the abysmal shooting he accounted for a triple double in the worst possible ways. James committed 10 of his teams 17 turnovers, as he was defended superbly in the 76-72 Cavaliers loss. His lay-up with 8 seconds left that would have tied the game at 74 rolled off the rim sending Cleveland into a 1-0 hole in Boston. Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the Cavs with 22 points and 12 rebounds. As a team, despite Ilgauskas’s respectable 8-18 shooting, the Cavaliers shot 30% for the game (23-75). They were in the game late because of the equally awful performance by the Celtics.

Boston was led by 28 points by Kevin Garnett (who finished 3rd in the MVP voting) as the Celtics shot 40% for the game. The other two components of the Boston Three Party, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, combined for 4 points in the game, all coming from the Truth. Allen, as well as James, summed up the ugliness of this game, as he was 0-4 from the field for 0 points in the contest.

Despite 11-38 shooting by the Cavs in the first half, they were only 4 at the break, 41-37. They were helped out by 12 turnovers committed by the Celtics in the first 24 minutes. Lebron made Cleveland’s first shot of the game but his second didn’t come until 5:33 left in Game 1. Cleveland’s abysmal start, 4-19 in the first period, led to a 25-15 lead for the Celtics capped off by a three by James Posey at the horn. After going up by 12 early in the second, Boston went scoreless for the next 5+ minutes, fueling a 7-0 run by Cleveland to get back in the game.

The same thing happened to start the third quarter, with Boston scoring the first two buckets of the half, gaining a 8 point lead, before going ice cold. The Cavs went on a 14-0 run over a 6 minute span to gain the lead. Boston then woke up, scoring 7 of the last 8 points of the period to take the lead back at 53-52 heading into the 4th.

The first 4 minutes of the quarter was a seesaw battle between both teams until Boston’s Sam Cassell hit a three with just under 8 minutes to take a 4-point lead, 64-60. After Cassell hit another jumper to widen the margin, Cleveland came back with 5 straight points, a three by Wally Szczerbiak and the aformentioned second field goal by Lebron. Garnett answered with a shot to put Boston up 3 points with 5 minutes left. At this juncture in the game, with the low input on the offensive end, Cleveland needed to find a way to get three points. They found it at the 2:17 mark with the score the same. Daniel Gibson hit a three on Lebron’s ninth and final assist of the game to tie the game. After Garnett missed a shot with under 2 minutes left, Ilguaskas hit a 20-footer with a minute and a half left to put the Cavs in front. Boston came back with 4 straight of their own, on a jumper y Garnett and two free throws by Cassell. Ilgauskas answered with a tip in off a Lebron miss to tie the game at 72 with 39 seconds left. Garnett jumper that put the Celtics ahead 74-72 with 21 seconds left gave Cleveland and Lebron one last chance.