Swamigp’s Weblog

LeBron James drove past his defender at the top of the key and welcomed Kevin Garnett with a posterization that will resonate in Cavaliers lore. Running on fumes, Lebron joined his teammates after the sledgehammer after a disgruntled Doc Rivers called a timeout. Cleveland had increased its margin to nine, quite enough to put away the Celtics, a team that was once dominant on the road.

The Cavs defense smothered Boston big three all night while holding the entire Celtics team to 77 points, 12 in the 4th quarter to win by 11, 88-77 to even the series at two. Lebron shot miserably again, 7-20, but was emphatically clutch down the stretch. The resounding dunk on KG (who fouled him on the play but no call) was just one of he major contributions that he made in the teams’ effort. James finished with 21 points, 13 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks to drop the Celtics to 0-5 on the road in this years’ playoffs. Wally Szczerbiak added 14 points and Daniel Gibson did as well to go with his 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

It wasn’t the Cavaliers offense that was remarkable, it was their defense as they held the Celtics to 38% shooting for the game. Boston only made 5 field goals in the final period, mainly in part of the very effective all-around defense by Cleveland. Rajon Rondo, surprisingly, started to make shots for the Celtics, keeping them in the game until late. He, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett each finished with 15 points but couldn’t muster any offense whatsoever in the crucial fourth. After Garnett scored 13 points in the first half, he scored only 2 in the final 24 minutes, shooting just 1-5 in the last 2 periods, and 6-17 for the game. Allen struggled with his shot as well, as he has all series long, shooting 4-10 in this game, scoring 0 points in the 4th. The Celtics, as they have so far in each previous road game in these playoffs, didn’t show the intensity and firepower that they have shown passionately at the Boston Garden, struggling in every aspect of this game.

When LeBron wasn’t scoring, he was getting his teammates involved, dishing 4 assists in the final period. He was part of 15 of the teams’ 20 points in the final period. Cleveland’s bench dominated the Celtics subs by outscoring them 36-17, on 15-25 shooting. To go along with Gibson’s performance Joe Smith and Anderson Varejao combined for 20 of those points on 10-14 shooting, racking up 6 rebounds apiece. Boston’s bench was another story. Except for backup center P.J. Brown who had 8 points on 4-4 shooting and 6 rebounds, the Celtics got nothing. Leon Powe, James Posey and Sam Cassell scored 9 points together but shot 0-7 from the field. When Boston’s bench was on the floor, especially at the start of the 4th quarter, Cleveland took advantage. Before Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett entered the game nearly midway through the period, the Cavs had climbed to a five point advantage, 76-71. The Celtics offense didn’t do much with their starters on the floor, scoring just 7 points over the last seven and a half minutes of play.

The game was still surprisingly close late in the period, considering how Boston had played. It didn’t stay that way for long as LeBron and the Cavs rose to a game 4 victory.