By: Norman Castro, EBC Sports International, New York Bureau
Nine Days. Nine Days seems like an eternity in an NBA season. Teams can be on a five game win streak or struggling to stay above .500. The Cleveland Cavaliers were resting. The Boston Celtics? Well, they were struggling tooth and nail against the now ousted Washington Wizards.
With momentum a huge part of the NBA and “rust” always being a factor that pundits talk about, it seemed like Tuesday’s game was going to be an intriguing match up. Did the Celtics have the same momentum 48 hours prior with big numbers from an unlikely star, Kelly Olynyk to take game one? Or did LeBron James and the Cavs continue their winning streak and move a step closer to a rematch with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals?
LeBron, was well, LeBron. He went 7 for 7 on the floor in the first quarter alone. With help from the gritty play of Tristan Thompson down low and a small resurgence of Kevin Love, who recently admitted that his scoring doesn’t matter as winning means more, the Cavs were in control from the gate. With a score of 61-39 at halftime in front of a sold out home court, the Celtics never seemed in sync.
Going into the early parts of the third quarter, things started to get testy on the court as Thompson and Celtics point guard Marcus Smart were going at it, at one point called for a double foul. The Celtics started to slowly show some heart, albeit the score never really reflected it. The Cavs looked fully in control, letting loose a flurry of fast three point shots that seemed to say it didn’t matter.
The final score of game one? Cleveland 117 Boston 104, a much more manageable score than some would say. The Celtics would need to regroup if they are to take a game away from LeBron and the Cavs. For starters, Boston will need to get Isaiah Thomas more shots off the ball. Thomas is amazingly quick to the point where he makes Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving look slow. It is hard to imagine a world where he scores 30+ points when he constantly is seeing double and triple teams, or a collapse defense. The Celtics need to run more screens similar to Stephen Curry and the Warriors and have him less be an Allen Iverson. The problem with this is the positional players around him. Will he get numbers from those around him that can produce to free up the double teams and the defensive switches for game two?
Looking toward to Game 2 tonight, the Celtics need to find more fight in them. Thomas needs game to showcase why people were so thrilled to watch him during the regular season otherwise LeBron will just continue to make history and continue to dominate. Then again, this is LeBron we are talking about and the Celtics are living in his world, the NBA playoffs.
