Ray Allen
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.
NBA Update — Celtics Top Magic, Lakers Top Suns in Game 1 of Conference Finals
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 | Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, NBA, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, Sports | No Comments
Here’s a quick update on the NBA Conference Finals –
The Boston Celtics defeated the Orlando Magic 92-88 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Sunday. The Celtics had another balanced attack on both ends of the court. Ray Allen led the way with 25 points and 7 rebounds. Paul Pierce chipped in 22 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists. Rajon Rondo had 8 points and 8 assists, while Kevin Garnett scored 8 points with 11 boards. The Celtics held on for the win despite being outscored 30-18 in the 4th quarter.
Game 2 is tonight in Orlando at 8:30PM EST on ESPN.
The Los Angeles Lakers crushed the Phoenix Suns 128-107 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday in Los Angeles. Kobe Bryant went nuts in the 3rd quarter and finished with 40 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. The big surprise was Lamar Odom – 19 points and 19 rebounds. Pau Gasol scored 21 points and Ron Artest chipped in 14 points.
Game 2 is Wednesday night in Los Angeles at 9:00 PM EST on TNT.
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.
Game 2 Not So Kind to Bulls as Celtics Rout Bulls 118-90
Saturday, October 31st, 2009 | Boston Celtics, Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, NBA, Sports | No Comments
It was a tale of 2 different nights – less than 24 hours after a successful Bulls home opener win over the Spurs on Thursday night, the Bulls took it on the chin against the Celtics in Boston on Friday night. The Celtics used a 29-18 advantage in the 2nd quarter to open up a 15-point halftime lead. A 12-point advantage in the 3rd quarter gave the Celtics a 27-point lead after 36 minutes – game over.
There was a lot of anticipation heading into this game because of the way the 2 teams battled in the 1st round of the playoffs just 6 months ago. The Celtics won that series in 7 games, but the Celtics did not have Kevin Garnett in that series, and the Bulls had Ben Gordon who has since left the Bulls for the Detroit Pistons.
Paul Pierce (22 points), Ray Allen (20 points) and Kevin Garnett (16 points) led the way for the Celtics, while Rajon Rondo chipped in 8 rebounds and 16 assists as the general of the team. The Celtics have looked great so far in their 3 wins this season and Head Coach Doc Rivers is really pacing his older players’ minutes in order to keep them fresh for the long haul. Having Rasheed Wallace coming off the bench doesn’t hurt either.
The Bulls looked a little bit lost after a full team effort on Thursday. Joakim Noah looked the best – 16 points and 10 rebounds. Tyrus Thomas also had a solid game – 10 points and 8 rebounds – as did Kirk Hinrich who scored 10 points and dished out 7 assists off the bench. Derrick Rose scored 10 points, but he only had 2 assists and no rebounds. And Luol Deng only played 19 minutes because of foul trouble, scoring 4 points and grabbing 5 boards.
Looks like much will be the same for the Bulls in 2009-2010. This is an average team that will look great one night, only to look dazed and confused the next night. Buckle in for a long ride Bulls fans – but hopefully they will be able to win enough games to qualify for post-season play for a second year in a row.
