Swamigp’s Weblog

LeBron James said confidently, in a press conference after the Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics, that “a LeBron James team is never desperate.” He lived up to that sound-bite in Game 6, leading his Cavaliers to a grind-it-out win, 74-69. James and the rest of his mates played terrific defense on Boston all night long and survived a few runs by the top seeded Celtics to live another day. LeBron scored 32 hard earned points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished 6 assists and did a great job on both Paul Pierce or Ray Allen. Lebron took care of the ball a lot better in a second half in which he scored 19 points. He committed 5 turnovers in the first half, part of a abysmal first twenty-four minutes by both teams, but only two in the final two quarters.

Overall Cleveland out hustled and outplayed Boston in this game, grabbing 16 offensive rebounds leading to many a 2nd chance point. Their hustle plays kept them in the game early and payed huge dividends in the second quarter, especially late in the period when they went on a 17-2 run over the final 5+ minutes to take a 9 point halftime lead. Despite Cleveland’s 12-37 shooting in the first half, they were able to gain control by crushing the Celtics at the charity stripe, making 15-18 free throws compared to 4-5 for Boston. LeBron kept their run going in the 3rd, scoring the first 7 points of the quarter to lift Cleveland to a 16-point lead, 49-33.

After Delonte West and Ray Allen traded baskets to keep the margin at 16, the Celtics went on a ferocious run of their own. They scored 13 straight points, to cut the once double digit lead to just three points with under 4 minutes remaining in the third. Cleveland closed the quarter very strong though, scoring the final six points to take a ninre point lead heading into the final period.

Again LeBron wouldn’t let up, scoring the first two baskets to take a 13 point lead once again. The Celtics had one last charge in them,. taking advantage of a cold spell by the Cavs. Boston scored the next 7 points of the game to dwindle Cleveland’s lead to 5 with plenty of time remaining. LeBron quickly struck back with a mini 4-0 run of his own to get the lead back to nine. After Boston’s Eddie House drained a three from the right corner to make it a six point contest it was the Cav’s Wally Sczcerbiak’s time to be the hero, hitting a 28 footer with 2 minutes remaining to increase the lead back to nine points. Boston wouldn’t quit in this low scoring affair though, posting the next six points to make it a one possession game with 23 seconds left, 72-69. The Cav’s weren’t gonna let this game get away entirely though as veteran Joe Smith sealed the deal with two free throws, forcing game 7.

The Cav’s could care less that they shot 32% for the game and only managed 74 points, the only thing that matters to them is what I am talking about: a win to force Game 7. West was the only other player for Cleveland to score in double figures, posting 10, including a buzzer-beating three, after stealing the ball from Rajon Rondo, at the end of the second quarter. Sczcerbiak and Zydrunas Ilgauskas combined to shoot 5-22 for the game but made big plays when they needed to be made. Ilgauskas grabbed 10 rebounds, five offensive and blocked swatted three of the Cav’s 7 blocks in the game to combat his 3-11, seven point performance. Ben Wallace was also tremendous in this game on the defensive end. His 6 rebounds and two blocks don’t do justice for the impact that he had on the win for Cleveland. He hounded Boston’s bigs throughout, holding Garnett cold for parts of the game, allowing his team to go on much needed offensive spurts.

The rotation of the big men for the Cavaliers also had a big impact on the outcome. They rotated in Joe Smith and Anderson Varejao for Ilgauskas and Wallace for offensive and defensive purposes throughout the game to get some fresh energy against Garnett. Either Smith or Ilgauskas, both of which are offensively talented, would be on the court with one of Wallace or Varejao, players who make the hustle plays. Though Kevin Garnett had a pretty good game for Boston, he was continually bodied against someone new, making it tougher for him to get into his offense.

When Garnett did get going that meant that Boston was on a run. He was in the middle of every big play for the Celtics, helping them make it as close as it was. Behind Garnett’s 25 and 11, Paul Pierce scored 16 points but shot only 5-15 from the field. Garnett, like LeBron didn’t get much offensive help behind him, but the difference was that LeBron’s teammates stepped up in spots when he couldn’t. The Celtics offense was oriented around a live or die scheme with Garnett. If he wasn’t scoring almost no one else was, evident with him scoring over a third of their team’s points. Ray Allen was again non existent, scing only 9 points on 3-8 shooting. Announcer Doris Burke made a great point during the game to explain the troubles that Boston is having on the road in these playoffs, saying something to the extent of “they may have been in the playoffs before individually in their career’s but they haven’t experienced it as a team until now.” Their lack of chemistry as a group was evident throughout, playing the game without very much chemistry, especially among Allen, Pierce and Garnett. Rajon Rondo, their Celtics unexpected star in game 5, scored just 2 points and dealt just five assists. If the Celtics want to escape with another game 7 win, hopefully not, they are going to have to control not only LeBron’s scoring ability but his overall leadership presence.

As LeBron said : “We know what we have to do.” Then go out and do it on Sunday in game 7.