Playoffs- Cavs vs Celts Game 1 Notes

- So this game was playoff basketball in a nutshell: slower pace, harder fouls, emerging stars, unsung heroes, questionable officiating, ravenous crowds, and the ever important coaching adjustments. In other words, it was amazing, and being there to experience it in person without a doubt erased any qualms I had with getting up at 4 AM to fly out. This game was so good, that immediately after getting home from it, I rewatched it on Tivo. There are so many things that could be said about this game, but here are just five of the most important snippets I thought of…

- Rajon Rondo is the BEST player on the Celtics now. Yes, there are three future Hall of Fame players on that team, but I don’t care, Rondo showed in Game 1 that he is the man (at least for a while, but more on that later). He is lightning fast with the ball, yet seemingly in control and like a good point guard is always thinking one move ahead. I wrote a while ago, that as Rondo goes, so go the Celtics. However, in that same posting, I wrote that fortunately for the rest of the league, Rondo is the most dominant player on the floor for about 3 quarters, but then in the 4th he just disappears. This act of his to reduce his aggressiveness late and defer to the “Big 3” have really hurt the Celtics, and has been one of the main reasons they have lost so many double digit leads this season. There’s a good basketball adage that says “that while they might both be two points, there is a big difference between a first quarter basket and a fourth quarter basket,” and at least right now on this team, Rondo is for some reason shying away from taking and making the latter. Look maybe because he doesn’t have a true backup and has to play at such a high level to start the game without adequate rest he is not up for the challenge late, but whatever the reason, his lack of wanting to come through in the big moment has and will continue to hurt the Celtics.

- Mo, Mo, Mo, Mo, Mo… A lot has been made about the disparity at the point guard position in this series, and all of those concerns were validated for about the first 30 minutes of Game 1. Rondo absolutely abused Mo Williams, and that is stating it lightly. He just kept beating him, and beating him, and beating him, always leading to easy buckets for himself, his teammates, or giving himself to get to the line (which Rondo was great at as well last night). But then something happened. The best way I have heard it described was that Mo was like a kid on the playground who was just constantly bullied and bullied, until finally he just snapped, and it was almost like a light went on in his head that caused him to remember that he too is an All-Star talent. After stealing the ball and leading a 2 on 1 against Pierce, Mo Williams created possibly the most transcendent moment of the Cavalier’s season to date. A number of times in the last two years I have watched a similar play unfold where Mo will bait a defender into leaning toward LeBron and then finish with a nice finger roll, but this time something was different. This time as Pierce lined up his steps to go up and block the lay up, Mo Williams delivered the spark the Cavs needed, as he threw down over “the Truth,” gave him a “ya that just fucking happened stare,” and went on to score the next 10 straight points in sparking the Cavs comeback. Watching it live I couldn’t believe what had just happened, but almost instantly a shift could be noticed in the demeanor the Cavalier players and especially in the crowd. It’s hard to steal the spotlight when you’re a teammate of the two time defending MVP of this league, but last night, Mo did, and if the Cavs do go on to win this series, it will be because of more big plays by number 2 and the confidence that dunk provided.

- Mike Brown didn’t get outcoached. I don’t envy the job that Mike Brown has, and I try to keep my criticisms to a minimum because who knows if my solutions would be any better. But in the past, Brown has been noticeably outcoached in many of the big playoff series, because in the NBA playoffs it’s all about which coaching staff makes the best adjustments in a game by game basis, and in the past he hasn’t done that. Last night though, I think he handled the game very well. My lone criticism would have been to bring Z off the bench first for Shaq. If the Cavs make it past this round to meet Orlando or eventually L.A., they will need Z’s big body and his 6 fouls. But they do NOT need him against Boston. I love big Z but it was painful to watch him get abused on pick and rolls and get dragged out from the basket by Rasheed Wallace. After this four minute debacle though, Brown finally went small and fast (how you beat the Celtics) and played JJ Hickson, who had more points in 12 minutes than he did in the entire Chicago series. Another great adjustment was on the defensive end in switching the bigger Anthony Parker and occasionally LeBron James onto Rondo. Parker was able to at least slow down Rondo enough to allow the Cavs to scrape back into the game, and allowed Williams to regain his focus for the stretch run. And although I questioned the decision to leave Shaq in the game for the last 8 minutes, it turned out to be the right call. Shaq came up with three huge baskets, a great, message sending playoff foul on Rondo, and altered two or three other shots. While it was only one game, and Rivers and Celtics will inevitably come up with new wrinkles that Brown will have to tackle, he at least for now passed the first test.

- Besides the point guards, the matchup most talked about is that of the power forwards. Looking at the starters, KG and Jamison have very different games, with each one trying to impose their will on the other. KG is bigger and wants to take Jamison down into the post, while Antawn wants to spread Garnett out on the perimeter. Last night Garnett outplayed Jamison, and was able to effectively take him down low and score on him early. That being said though, KG also disappeared in the fourth quarter, and fatigue looked to be a factor, especially in a crucial point blank put back miss. Charles Barkley made a good point that Jamison appeared to struggle on the offensive end, because for the most part LeBron wasn’t his normal self and attacking as much initially. Jamison is a special type of player, because the Cavs don’t need to run plays for him to score, but yet he can still put up 20 a night. Yes, round in the stat sheet went to KG, but I expect Jamison to bounce back in a big way and be a major contributor to this series. He wasn’t terribly effective in the first few games against the Bulls either but he is the type of player that can adapt as seen by his scoring explosions in Games 4 and 5. However, the best power forward for the Cavaliers last night was actually Rasheed Wallace. When he entered the game in the 3rd quarter, my dad leaned to me and said “Sheed is either gonna end us now or cause us to come back,” and well we all know which one it was. He missed two wide open looks, committed a few dumb fouls 90 feet from the basket, and was beaten to three 50-50 balls by Andy Varejao, including one when Andy literally took it from his hands. I know Rivers likes having Sheed out there to stretch the floor, but at some point he has to realize that he is just hurting the team (though hopefully it’s not until the Cavs have the series under control).

- All of the above was important in determining the result of last night’s game, but overall, the Cavs are going to win this series, and hopefully a championship for one simple reason: they have LeBron James and the other team doesn’t. For the first half of the game LeBron indeed look tentative to take contact to that elbow, shoot a jump shot, and he even missed a few bunnies at the rim. All that being said though, after a quick 8 points to start the game, James locked up Paul Pierce, and in the last fifteen or so minutes, showed why he is the best basketball player in the world. He started making strong drives, getting to the free throw line, and came up with two dagger 3s to help cement the Cavs win. And besides just taking over the game on the offensive end, he also held Pierce to a 1-7 fourth quarter, which was no doubt influenced by Pierce’s weary legs from guarding LeBron for 40 some odd minutes. It is too much to ask Pierce to do. Two years ago he went at LeBron in one of the great showdowns in Playoff history in Game 7, but again that was two years ago. The career arcs of these two players are in opposite directions, and Boston cannot realistically expect Pierce to not only defend James the whole game and then be the clutch 4th quarter scoring threat they are used too. I imagine that he will fulfill that role once or twice in Celtics wins this series, but there is no way he can do it for 4 out of the next 6 nights. Or so I’m hoping.