Another away-from-home gut check for the Celtics resulted in still another throw-up performance.
2008 NBA Finals
Thursday's Game 1
Analysis
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The responsibility for Boston's fifth consecutive road loss was equally divided between the hometown heroes and the road wimps.
Here's the breakdown:
Cleveland
The Cavs effectively countered Boston's screen/rolls with a switch-and-swarm defense that held the Celts to 38.6 percent shooting. Except for a couple of lapses by Ben Wallace early in the game, the baseline rotations of the Cavs' big men were right on time. Indeed, the only defensive liability for Cleveland was Sasha Pavlovic, who was repeatedly abused by Paul Pierce. On offense, LeBron continued his shooting woes — 2-13 from mid-range and beyond — but when the game was on the line late in the fourth quarter, he nailed an 18-footer, then bulled his way to a resounding dunker. Overall, LBJ was 7-20, 13 assists, three steals, two blocks, four turnovers, and 21 points. Not quite a super-human effort, but good enough to totally control the end-game. Ben Wallace made a couple of hustling plays on defense, but was otherwise invisible. Zydrunas Ilguaskas — 3-10, seven rebounds, two assists, nine points — was another non-factor. Wally Szczerbiak was solid early — 6-11, 14 points — and managed to play adequate position defense. Daniel Gibson — 5-9, six rebounds, four assists, 14 points — killed the Celtics by turning kick-back passes from LeBron into swishes. Delonte West got poked in the eye and had a rather subdued game — 3-8, one assist, two turnovers, six points — but right out of the gate he repeatedly got into the middle against Rajon Rondo and made a couple of sensational buckets that helped the Cavs get off the mark. Anderson Varejao — 6-8, six rebounds, 12 points — was a stand-up defender, and even hit a jump shot. The Cavs shot 45.5 percent primarily because the Celtics' defense routinely overreacted when LeBron threatened to power his way into the paint. On several such sequences, the Celtics surrounded with him with all five defenders. No wonder Cleveland wound up with so many uncontested perimeter shots. Here's an obscure stat to ponder: In the Cavs' half-court sets, LBJ received 40 passes when he was stationary and only seven passes when he was in motion. Subtracting the shots that he took (1-3), James wound up cashing in four of his dimes after he caught the ball on the move.In any case, it was the Cavs' nasty defense coupled with the Celtics' powder-puff offense that won the game.
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| Paul Pierce and the Celtics are now 0-5 on the road in the playoffs. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images) |
Boston
Except for a couple of weaves that turned into either handoffs or reverse cuts that generated good looks for Ray Allen, Boston was never able to get into any kind of rhythm on offense.
With their S/Rs smothered, they frequently over-handled and had to resort to individual efforts. That's why the Celts managed only 16 assists on 27 baskets to the Cavs' 24 and 35. Pierce was AWOL — 6-17, 13 points — forcing a number of shots and missing a couple of layups. Ray Allen ran himself to daylight only on a limited basis — 4-10, three assists, 15 points — and did a poor job on defense, particularly when he was supposed to be tracking Wally World around weak-side screens. Rajon Rondo was the most energetic of the Celts — 7-14, four assists, two steals, three turnovers, 15 points — and even made half of his eight jumpers. But Rondo also forced several shots and made at least a half-dozen poor decisions with the ball. Sam Cassell — 0-5, 4 points — was a minus at both ends of the court. Then there's Kevin Garnett — 6-13, 10 rebounds, four assists, 15 points. He posted up five times and attacked the basket only once — a hard drive that suddenly turned into a fadeaway, contact-avoiding flip shot that badly missed. In the fourth quarter, KG was 0-2. During the two losses in Cleveland, Garnett has exposed himself as being strictly a finesse player who leads the league in fakes-per-shot.What must the Celtics do to protect their home-court advantage in Game 5?
Try Tony Allen behind Rondo at the point. Set up screens on both boxes and run Ray Allen through snake routes a la Rip Hamilton. Post Pierce against LBJ. Get KG the ball at the foul line so that he can't be doubled, and where he can maximize his quickness. And encourage Garnett to attack the basket, take the resulting hits and get to the stripe. Get more ball- and player-movement into the offense, and implement more alignments where the ball can be reversed. Maintain more defensive balance when LeBron drives by sending only one helper and staying in touch with the likes of Gibson, Szczerbiak and West.If the Celtics think that the Cavs will automatically go belly-up in Boston, then their season won't survive the weekend.
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