Cleveland Cavaliers
Celtics Up 3-0 in East Finals After 94-71 Drubbing of Magic
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Orlando Magic, Sports | No Comments
The Boston Celtics are on cruise control. What an unbelievable post-season run. The Celtics are now just 1 win away from the NBA Finals after a convincing 94-71 win over the Orlando Magic on Saturday night in Boston.
I for one and am amazed at the resurgent Celtics. I thought that the Miami Heat might actually give the Celtics a run for their money like the Atlanta Hawks and Chicago Bulls have done in each of the last 2 post-seasons. But the Celtics made easy work of the Heat in just 5 games, and they have been pretty much unstoppable ever since. The Celtics took out the #1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers led by King Lebron James in 6 games – winning twice on Cleveland’s home court. And now they are making the defending East Champion Orlando Magic look like a CYO team from Westchester, New York. It is pretty embarrassing for this Magic team, especially since they were riding a 14-game winning streak (8 straight playoff wins) heading into the Eatsern Conference Finals with the Celtics.
On Saturday, it was much of the same for the Celtics as they raced out to an early 1st quarter lead – 27-12. How does a playoff team score only 12 points in a quarter in a series like this?! Pathetic. By halftime, the lead was 17 points, and the Celtics used a 24-13 3rd quarter edge to increase that lead to 75-47. Game Over! When you have quarters with point totals of 12 and 13, you’re not going to win a lot of games.
The Celtics used a balanced attack and tenacious defense to put the Magic away with ease. Ray Allen had 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Rajon Rondo added 11 points, 3 rebounds and 12 assists. Paul Pierce had 15 points and 9 rebounds, while Kevin Garnett chipped in 10 points and 6 boards. Bench player Glen Davis had his best showing this post-season with 17 points and 6 boards.
The Celtics can advance to the NBA Finals for the 2nd time in 3 years with a win over the Magic on Monday night in Boston.
Celtics Grab 2-0 Series Lead with 95-92 Win Over Magic in Orlando
Thursday, May 20th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Orlando Magic, Sports | No Comments
The Boston Celtics are just brimming with confidence right now. What a difference it makes to have a healthy Kevin Garnett on the defensive end for an entire post-season run. Although his stat lines have not been overwhelming, Garnett is the main reason that the Celtics have been able to limit the explosive offenses of the Heat, the Cavaliers and the Magic so far this post-season. Two more wins against the Magic, and we’ll be able to see if he can do the same against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the NBA Finals (as they did 2 years ago en route to the title).
The Celtics are now in a great position – having won 2 road games to start the series. If they can keep the Magic from winning 4 of the next 5 games in the series, they will advance to their 2nd NBA Finals series in 3 seasons. Paul Pierce led the way again in Game 2, scoring 28 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Rajon Rondo exploded for 15 points, 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Garnett scored just 10 points, but grabbed 9 boards with 2 blocked shots.
To put this into perspective, we can’t forget that the Magic had won 8 straight games this post-season over the Charlotte Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks and 14 games overall before running into the rejuvenated Celtics. In their 1st 8 post-season games, the Magic had scored at least 90 points all of them. In three of their 4 wins over the Hawks, they scored over 105 points in each game. 88 points in Game 1 and 92 points in Game 2 is not going to cut it. It won’t get any easier for the Magic, as they now have to go up against the Celtics on their home turf in the TD North Garden. It certainly isn’t over by any means – we saw the Celtics lay an egg against the Cavs at home in the previous series. But they are going to need a full team effort if they have any hopes of reaching the NBA Finals for the 2nd consecutive season.
Game 3 is set for 8:30PM EST on Saturday night in Boston.
Celtics Oust Cavs with Exciting 94-85 Win at TD Garden in Boston
Friday, May 14th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, Sports | No Comments
I think it was a much more exciting game than most people expected. The Cavs just didn’t roll over and give up as most critics expected, but a big 3rd quarter from the Celtics (25-18 edge) proved too much for the Cavs to overcome in the 4th quarter. A 2-point halftime lead for the Celtics ballooned into a 10 point lead after 36 minutes, and even though the Cavs stuck with the Celtics in the 4th quarter (18-18) they were never able to make a sustained run against Rajon Rondo and his club.
Once again, it was Rajon Rondo who controlled the tempo and game for the Celtics. Rondo scored 21 points and dished out 12 assists. And although he only grabbed 3 rebounds, he limited his turnoves to just 4 and also had 5 steals on the defensive end. Not a bad overall performance at all.
His play once again freed up Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to go to town on the undermanned Cavs. The Celtics just had too many weapons for the Cavs to handle.
Lebron James did his best to force a Game 7 back in Cleveland on Sunday night, but it wasn’t enough. James had his 6th career playoff triple-double – 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists – and although he is the 2-time defending NBA MVP and his team is the owner of a season high 61-wins, that much-coveted NBA title still eludes James. “The fact that it’s over right now is definitely a surprise to me… I want to win. That’s my only thing, my only concern. I’ve always prided myself — it’s all about winning for me and I think the Cavs are committed to doing that. But at the same time, I’ve given myself options to this point. Me and my team, we have a game plan that we’ll execute and we’ll see where we’re at.”
Now it’s off to Orlando for the Celtics and off to the golf course for Lebron. Will he end up staying in Cleveland, or will he take a leap of faith and head for the Big Apple (New York Knicks or New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn) or the Second City of Chicago? Only time will tell.
Has Lebron Checked out of Cleveland? Rondo, Celtics Take Control of Series with Dominating 120-88 Win in Cleveland
Thursday, May 13th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, Miami Heat, NBA, Sports | 1 Comment
WOW — is the Lebron James era officially over in Cleveland. If you didn’t see the Celtics manhandle the Cavs 120-88 in front of their home town crowd on Tuesday night, you missed one sad, but amazing display. Have you ever heard of Lebron James getting booed at a home game in the State of Ohio in his entire hoops career dating back to grammar school? No way. But that’s exactly what happened to Lebron and his teammates as the Cavs embarrassed themselves in the most lopsided loss for the Cavaliers in franchise history. I guess what goes around comes around as the Cavs made a mockery of the Celtics in Game 3 at the TD North Garden this past Friday night.
In the 32-point debacle, James made just 3 of his 14 shots and scored just 15 points with 6 rebounds and 7 assists. For any player, that would be an excellent night, but for Lebron James it was a major disappointment. Couple that with the fact that he looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but on the court, it has left people wondering what is going on with the King – the 2-time defending NBA MVP. Have the Cavs told him that he won’t get a max contract? Does he know that he’s already leaving to join Dwayne Wade in Miami, Derrick Rose in Chicago or some mopes in New Jersey or New York? Did he just really have an “off night” as he has claimed? We’ll probably never know, but what we do know is that the Cavs have put together their best team in the James era and it still doesn’t look like it’s going to be enough to get Lebron (and the city of Cleveland) an NBA Championship. That alone could be enough for James to realize that he’s going to need to go elsewhere if he wants to get a ring on his finger.
The other side story is the emergence of Rajon Rondo as one of the best big-game players ever. Yes you heard me – ever. Look at his numbers from the Celtics 97-87 Game 4 win in Boston which the Celtics had to have if they expected to have a shot to reach the Conference Finals. Rondo poured in 29 points, grabbed 18 rebounds and still found time to dish out 13 assists — simply incredible. The stat line doesn’t even do justice as to how much Rondo took control of the game for the Celtics. He pretty much dictated every aspect of every minute of the game, and always seemed to be a step ahead of every one on the court, sometimes even his own players.
In Game 5, his numbers were “down” — 16 points and 7 assists — but his consistent play has made every other Celtics on the court that much better. In Game 5′s win, Ray Allen scored 25 points nailing 6 3-point shots from the perimeter. Paul Pierce looked like a new man as the Cavs defense focused on Rondo – 21 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists. Even Kevin Garnett got into the act with 18 points and 6 boards.
Stay tuned – Game 6 in Boston tips off at 8PM EST – Will the East’s #1 seed get bounced from the playoffs without reaching the NBA Finals for the 2nd straight year? And more importantly, will it be Lebron’s final game in a Cavs uniform? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
NBA Playoffs Update — Land of the Sweeps for Lakers, Magic & Suns
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 | Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, San Antonio Spurs, Sports, Utah Jazz | No Comments
Except for the epic Celtics-Cavs battle which resumes tonight in Cleveland, the NBA Conference Semi-finals have been a major disappointment. The Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns have all won in easy 4-game sweeps.
Orlando Magic – 4 games against the Hawks was about 4 too many. Couldn’t the Hawks have just forfeited the games instead and saved us the misery of having to watch these games? The Magic are clearly the hottest team in the NBA right now. They have won 28 of 31 games and are on a current 14-game winning streak. They have yet to lose in the playoffs after sweeps of the Charlotte Bobcats and Hawks. The Magic defeated the Hawks by an average of 25.3 points per game – which is believed to be the greatest margin of victory in post-season series NBA history. With Vince Carter and Jameer Nelson complementing big man Dwight Howard, the Magic look like they could advance to a 2nd straight NBA Finals. Carter had this to say about the Magic’s current level of play — “Guys are just focused. It’s unbelievable to see. This is my opportunity for a championship.”
Los Angeles Lakers – After pushing themselves to the limit against Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder in Round 1, they club needed an easy series to rest up for the Conference Finals. That’s just what they got when they got to square off against the Utah Jazz. Beyond Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams, the Jazz just don’t have the depth to compete with the Lakers. The Lakers seemed to be re-invigorated after their Game 6 win over the Thunder in Oklahoma City and that carried over into this series. Head Coach Phil Jackson summed it up best — “We had one of our better games tonight… This is the first really consistent game we have played, except for a six-minute stint in the 3rd quarter. We controlled the game and forced our will on our opponent.” The Lakers played good defense The Lakers played good defense (the Jazz averaged just 102 points in the series, well below their series average). The Lakers limited their own turnovers (just 6 on the road in Game 4) and they shot well from the free throw line. Although Kobe Bryant (32 points) and Pau Gasol led the way (33 points), 3 other Lakers players also scored in double-digits. Now it’s on to face the Phoenix Suns in what should be one of the best series of the 2010 NBA Playoffs schedule.
Phoenix Suns – The Phoenix Suns overcame their “San Antonio Spurs demons” with a convincing series sweep of the Spurs. Although the Suns had lost to the Spurs 4 times in the last 7 post-season schedules, they wouldn’t allow it to occur a 5th time. Amar’e Stoudemire turned in a solid effort against his west nemesis, averaging over 20 points per game in the series. Steve Nash also showed just how good a big game player he can be with 4 great performances against the Spurs’ Tony Parker. Nash scored at least 16 points in each game and he also averaged just under 8 assists per game to dictate the flow of the game in the Suns’ favor. It will be the 3rd Conference Finals for the Suns in the last 6 years and if they can knock off the #1 seed Lakers, it would be their 1st NBA Finals since 1993.
We’ll keep you posted how the Cavs-Celtics series turns out – we know we have at least 2 more games – tonight in Cleveland and Thursday night in Boston. Will we have a Game 7 over the weekend in Cleveland? Stay tuned…
Lebron James, Cavs Crush Celtics 124-95 in Boston
Friday, May 7th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Cavaliers, MLB, NBA, New York Yankees, Sports | 1 Comment
Ouch – the Cleveland Cavaliers crushed the Boston Celtics 124-95 tonight – it was the worst home playoff loss in the storied Celtics’ franchise history. How does a game like this get that out of hand?
It’s simple when Lebron James is on the court. The Cavs raced out to a 36-19 point 1st quarter lead behind 21 points from the 2-time reigning NBA Most Valuable Player. By halftime, the Cavs led the Celtics by 22 points. James finished the night with 38 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists. But he also had help from teammates Antawn Jamison (12 points and 9 rebounds) and Shaquille O’Neal (12 points and 9 rebounds).
It was not a night to remember for Boston sports fans. Just 4 days ago, Boston sports fans all across the country were going nuts as the Celtics and Bruins won big playoff games and the Red Sox ended a 3-game skid by cruising to an easy win over the Angels at Fenway Park. Tonight is was the exact opposite. While the Cavs were crushing the Celtics, just a few miles away, the hated New York Yankees were pounding the Red Sox 10-3 at Fenway and the Bruins lost a demoralizing overtime game to the Flyers in Philly. Paul Pierce who scored just 11 points in the loss was disgusted with his team’s play — “That was embarrassing. That’s embarrassing when you lose at home like that. We just let our guard down… You’ve got to know the Cleveland Cavaliers are going to come in here with all the urgency in the world. They took the fight to us early, and we didn’t respond to it.”
The Celtics still have a chance to even the score on Sunday with the afternoon affair against the Cavs. Guess it can’t get any worse than this…
Chicago Bulls Fire Head Coach Vinny Del Negro
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bulls fired head coach Vinny Del Negro on Monday night – it was a move long-expected (even as early as mid-December when the Bulls got off to another slow start).
GM Gar Forman and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations John Paxson announced the move at a Tuesday morning press conference at the Barto Center in Deerfield.
Del Negro finished each of his 2 seasons as Bulls head coach with a 41-41 record. He took the Boston Celtics to 7-games in the first round of the 2009 NBA playoffs, but this season, the Bulls only won 1 game in the 1st round against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had 1-year left on his contract.
Some of the news conference centered around John Paxson’s actions against Del Negro following a March 30th loss to the Phoenix Suns at the United Center. Supposedly Paxson attacked Del Negro for not obeying the club’s orders to limit Joakim Noah’s minutes because of a painful, lingering foot injury. While Paxson would not go into details about the altercation, he said he wasn’t proud of his actions — “I’m not at all proud of how I handled the situation. I felt that at the time, I was representing and standing up for a policy that we had put in place. I felt that way, but I was wrong in how I handled it.” While it’s great that he apologized to Del Negro, it still leaves a lot to be desired and even begs the question as to whether Paxson should still be in the organization.
Right from the start, the Del Negro era had a bad feel to it.
It is an important time for the Bulls organization. Derrick Rose is a superstar in the making, and Joakim Noah is emerging as a star in his own right. Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson provide a good supporting cast, but if the Bulls can add one of the big free agents on the market this summer — Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, Carlos Boozer, David Lee — then they would instantly become one of the favorite teams in the weak Eastern Conference. Landing the big name free agent and finding the right head coach to take them to the next level will be keys to the future success of the franchise. Forman and Paxson will look great if they make the right moves over the next few months. If not, each could be looking for a job by 2011…
Bulls Season Ends with 96-94 Loss to Lebron James & the Cavs
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Bulls NBA season is finally over with their 96-94 to Lebron James and the Cavaliers on Tuesday night. The Cavs won the series 3 games to 1, but the Bulls played the top seed in the East surprisingly well.
Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 31 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists. Luol Deng had another good showing, knocking down 26 points and grabbing 6 boards. Never thought I would say this, but Joakim Noah had an “off” night with only 8 points and 9 rebounds. Crazy to think that that is a bad night for Noah – 2 years ago, we would be saying that Noah is showing some promise. Now that we know what he is capable of night in and night out, that seems like a poor effort for the 3rd year big man out of Florida.
Lebron James was relatively quiet, although he did almost net his 2nd triple-double of the series with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists.
Now the 2 biggest questions are who will replace Vinny Del Negro as the head coach of the Bulls for the 2010-2011 NBA schedule and will the Bulls be able to land one of the big free agents this summer? We’ll keep you posted as soon as we hear anything on either front…
Lebron James, Cavs Too Much for Bulls in Easy 121-98 Win
Sunday, April 25th, 2010 | Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, Sports | No Comments
Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were too much on Sunday at the United Center, as the Cavs cruised to an easy 121-98 over the Bulls. Lebron James notched a triple double in the win – 37 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists. Derrick Rose played well for the Bulls (21 points and 5 assists) as did Joakim Noah (21 points and 20 rebounds), but they did not have the help that they had in Thursday night’s impressive win over the Cavs. In that game, both Rose (37 points and 7 assists)and Noah (10 points and 15 rebounds) played well, but they also had a ton of help from Kirk Hinrich and Luol Deng.
Now it’s back to Cleveland where the Cavs will look to close out the 1st round best of 7 series. Don’t expect this one to come back to the United Center folks…
Big Night for Chicago Bulls & Blackhawks
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 | Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA, NHL, Nashville Predators, Sports | 2 Comments
It is a big night tonight for Chicago sports teams as the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks face “must-win” games in their respective playoff series.
The Bulls find themselves in a 2-0 hole in their 1st round NBA series against the #1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers. Lebron James of the Cavs torched the Bulls for 40 points in Monday’s contest. Another loss tonight will all but end the series – can’t see the Bulls coming back from a 3-0 deficit. While Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah have had great performances in both games, the Bulls are going to need more consistent play out of Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson if they expect to contain Lebron tonight and pull of the win. Tip off is 6PM Chicago time and the game will be televised on TNT.
The Blackhawks, meanwhile, find themselves in a 2-1 hole in Nashville. After a horrible, lifeless performance in Tuesday night’s 4-1 loss to the Predators, the Blackhawks must play with more urgency tonight. Brian Campbell – who was injured in a vicious hit about 40 days in which he suffered a broken clavicle and broken ribs – is expected to make his return on the ice tonight. Brian Bickell and Adam Burrish will also return to the line action. Could the return of these 3 players be the energetic injection that will propel the Hawks to victory?
After out-shooting the Predators in Games 1 and 2 of the series, the Predators out-shot the Hawks in Game 3 at home. The Blackhawks will need to apply more constant pressure in tonight’s game and they will have to move the puck around instead of trying to skate past the stingy Nashville defenders. The Hawks will also need a better performance out of goalie Antti Niemi. He was so good in the 1st 2 games, but will need to rebound from a sub-par showing in Game 3. It is do-or-die for the Blackhawks tonight in Nashville. Let’s hope they can put together a solid game like they did on Sunday at the United Center. If they can win tonight and even the series at 2 games apiece, I like the Blackhawks chances of advancing to round 2 and avoiding the upset. Tonight’s puck-drop is scheduled at 7:30 Chicago time in Nashville and the game will be televised on TSN2.
