I often wonder what opposing teams, their beat reporters
and bloggers are saying about the Celtics after playing the Celtics.
Here's a dose of 'enemy chatter' from Cleveland.
Might as well start with the MVP, James, who accepted his trophy
before the game to much fanfare. Unfortunately for the Cavs, that was
the most heavy-lifting he did until it was all over.
Lethargic for much of the game, James turned in his weakest
performance of the playoffs even if his numbers read 24 points, seven
rebounds and four assists. The Celtics rotated defenders and played
standard defense, crowding the lane behind James and bringing double
teams. Only James didn't seem inclined to attack as he's done every
meeting with Boston this season.
Enough with the elbow. Screw the elbow. First of all, the Cavs
weren’t winning this game if LeBron had three healthy elbows. Second of
all, LeBron is 48 hours removed from taking over a game. Third of all,
LeBron didn’t play like he was hurt. He played like he didn’t have
control of the game.
He was waiting for his teammates to get involved early, and tried to
get the team back in it in the second. After the Celtics made their run
in the third, it was too late. LeBron going to the basket is like a
100-mph fastball. It’s great early in the count. If the batter is
thinking about the curveball or the changeup, there’s no way he’s going
to catch up to it. You almost always go to the fastball on a 3-2 count.
But no matter how good a fastball is, it’s going to end up in the
bleachers if it’s a 2-0 or 3-1 count and the batter is sitting on it.
That’s what happened in this game.
Give credit to these Cavs reporters and bloggers. They could easily make the case that LeBron's elbow is hurting him more than he's letting on, and it's preventing him from playing a consistent 48 minutes.
On Page 2, some harsh words for Shaq and Mo Williams.
falling. He’s not exactly making up for it on the defensive end, either.
He looks like he did at the beginning of the season. If he can’t score
when they single-cover him in the post, he shouldn’t be on the floor.
-18 in 19 minutes for Shaq tonight. Right now, Shaq’s thumb is the much
more significant injury than LeBron’s elbow.
-Mo was horrible. 1-9 from the field is not going to cut it, and he’s
yet to hit a three in this series. Part of it is that the Cavs aren’t
running their offense to set him up with open threes, but he needs to
figure out a way to be effective without going off for 12 straight
points after a dunk.
Cavs the Blog
Shaq's thumb? This blogger refuses to cite LeBron's elbow, but uses Shaq's thumb as an excuse? I say Perk's defense is a much bigger factor than a sore thumb.
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