Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 1: Cavs vs. Celtics Open Thread
May 1, 2010Cavaliers Defeat Celtics With Second Half Surge, Mo’s Flight
May 2, 2010While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com
On not playing Shaq: “Shaquille O’Neal had massive trouble all over the court, proving mostly ineffective against Kendrick Perkins’ active defense and either clueless or immobile on defense. Shaq’s backstop defense on Boston’s slashers (Rondo, primarily) was simply nonexistent, save for a hard foul on Rondo midway through the fourth. Although Shaq scored 11, every possession run through him seemed wasted, or at least misguided…With James, Williams and Jamison typically on the court with O’Neal, why even bother? At some point in the series Shaq’s artful but slow-mo post play might come in handy. Like, when LeBron loses his legs in a freak carp shoot accident. Not a minute sooner.” [Tom Ziller/Fanhouse]
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Different perspective on going to Shaq late: “The most important move of the night, however, turned out to be Brown’s decision to go back to Shaq in the fourth. The Diesel had been largely ineffective through the first 36 minutes, scoring just five points on 1-for-6 from the field, and grabbing a total of one rebound in more than 10 minutes of action…Still, Brown called on O’Neal with 10:29 to go in the game and the score tied at 81. And down the stretch, Shaq had three of the biggest buckets of the night, the highlight being his up-and-under move on Kendrick Perkins, which gave the Cavs the lead for good with 4:46 left. His hard foul on Rajon Rondo also seemed to pay dividends. After scoring 44 points in the paint through the first three quarters, the Celtics had just eight in the fourth.” [John Schumann/NBA.com Hang Time Blog]
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Celtics attitude: “Tonight, I think I’ve figured out why it was true, and is true. The Boston Celtics are still championship contenders, because they think they can win the title this season. They still believe, and that’s not the type of vapid nonsense, that fake analysis, that I usually like to toss out. The Celtics do believe, and that’s what sets them apart from, really, just about any other team not mentioned above. Now, the reality of the situation is that Boston could be outright swept in this series with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But at the very least, watching this team go through its sets, and watching its players compete, it’s clear that the Celtics believe. Wherever that takes them.” [Kelly Dwyer/Ball Don’t Lie]
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On Rajon Rondo: “You know what the difference down the stretch was? Rajon Rondo isn’t the most experienced player on the Celtics. He’s not their locker room leader. He played the smallest role of anyone in the “big four” in Boston’s 2008 title run. He’s the least complete offensive player of the Celtics’ top players. He’s also, by a wide margin, their best offensive option against the Cavaliers. Down the stretch, all those cliches about what separates fourth-quarter baskets from first quarter-baskets clouded the Celtics’ thinking down the stretch. They’re having an alpha dog crisis. If they figure it out, they have a great chance of taking this series. If they don’t, they’ll be doing the Cavs a huge favor. Fortunately for Cavalier fans, the Cavs are not having an alpha dog crisis.” [John Krolik/Cavs:TheBlog]
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Recommended viewing if you missed it late last night: “Mo Williams recorded his first dunk as a Cleveland Cavalier in Game 1 against Boston on Saturday night. The dunk, over Paul Pierce, wasn’t just a novelty. It sparked a 21-9 Cleveland run to close out the third quarter, during which the Cavs erased an 11-point Boston lead and finished the quarter up a point. The dunk was spectacular, but Mike Brown’s reaction when asked about the play was even more entertaining…” [Truehoop]
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Browns QB situation: “Most assume that McCoy will be the third quarterback behind Delhomme and Wallace, with Ratliff being the odd man out. However, Mangini said that’s not necessarily true. ‘It’s not about Colt,’ Mangini said. ‘I’ve kept four (quarterbacks)in the past. If you have guys who you think have a chance, you try to keep them around. I’m not opposed to carrying four quarterbacks,’ Mangini said. ‘(Ratliff’s) done a good job and I anticipate that he will keep improving.’ Mangini was asked if the reason to keep four quarterbacks is so McCoy wouldn’t have to play if Delhomme and Wallace were injured. ‘Ted Marchibroda said ‘You never say never’, but we don’t anticipate Colt playing this season.’ Mangini insists that he’s on board with playing the veteran Delhomme and his abysmal 2009 season was just one of those seasons.” [Fred Greetham/OBR]
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Tribe lefty is confident: “Sipp is doing all right inside baseball at the moment. In his last eight appearances, he’s allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings out of the Indians’ bullpen. Overall he’s made 10 appearances, seven of them scoreless, for a 3.24 ERA. Lefties are hitting .125 (1-for-8) and righties .167 (3-for-18) against him. He’s been erratic in the strike zone, walking six and striking out eight. But he’s a long way from the inconsistent left-hander who seemingly had everybody worried in spring training except manager Manny Acta and himself. ‘I kept telling people it was still early,’ said Sipp. ‘I don’t know if anyone else panicked, but I didn’t. If I felt good, that’s what I was going off of. I wasn’t going off results in spring training.’” [Paul Hoynes/Plain Dealer]
(Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)
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Full recap and impressions from the Cavs game coming shortly from our embedded reporters at the game last night.
3 Comments
You want to really enjoy your Sunday morning? Take a look at some comments from pathetic Celtic fans here: http://www.redsarmy.com/home/2010/05/recap-mo-steals-the-show.html#comments
Pretty hilarious. You’d think these people had been waiting half-a-century for a title. Jeesh.
You know, John Hardworker and his family went 50 miles through blizzard to see that game, and LeBron didn’t make a windmill on that fastbreak cuz he tried to rest his elbow? Mark my words there’s gonna be an investigation by NBA.
So, Kelly Dwyer likes the fact that the Celtics believe they can win? That sounds like damning praise to me. Similarly limping attempts at pushing the old Celtics bandwagon forward can be found by the trusty source of dogmatism disguised as “analysis” — Kenny Smith. Smith wrote at Yahoo.com that the entire series will come down to LeBron’s elbow. Translation: “I, Kenny Smith, no longer know how to justify my dogged favoritism for the Celtics by means of basketball analysis, so I will just hide behind the presumption of injury and make it seem that the elbow is King.” (Smith also has said that if Cleveland doesn’t win the Finals, LeBron will leave Cleveland after the season, which means that LeBron’s next career move depends on his elbow. Have elbow, won’t travel.)
Kenny Smith also stated that he thinks Rasheed Wallace is the — brace yourselves, folks — “X-factor” to the series. How this shell of a former player is anything other than dead wood at this point to the Celtics’ organization is beyond me, but here again, Kenny comes up limping in his increasingly desperate attempts to make excuses for the Celtics. This is the team whose sub-par 4 months of basketball Kenny Smith wrote off by saying that they would “turn it on” when the playoffs start.
So, to review the illuminations of one Kenny Smith: The Celtics played more or less poorly for four months, but they will turn it on in the playoffs enough to push the Cavs to 7 games and, if the Elbow acts up, they will beat the Cavs with Rasheed looming as the series “X-factor.” So, you’ve heard Kenny, Rasheed! Time to turn it on! It’s you vs. LeBron’s elbow! Get after it, now! Keep that killer playoff instinct you have been famed for. All of Boston (and Kenny) need you! Only the Elbow stands in your way.
Incidentally, that other quack who clamored that the Cavs will win only if LeBron stops shooting 3’s can also eat his hat this morning.
The “Big Three” scored 2 points in the final 12 minutes of the game. It’s maybe time that they were rechristened as “The Fading Trio.”