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The Cavaliers - well, LeBron James - put on a good show to start Game 5 of this series, and the team is always a James explosion away from winning a playoff game (against any team, home or away), but it takes an incredible leap of faith to bet against a Boston defense that has consistently shut Cleveland down.
All it takes is the C's running two or three guys at James, before Cleveland even initiates the play, and the game is over. I know Boston hasn't won on the road in over a month, but if the effort is there and the double-teams are consistent, Cleveland hasn't a chance.
Usually I'd say that a win would be on the Cavs, that it would be up to Cleveland to set James loose off the ball, and up to LeBron to make quick decisions in transition and not settle for jumpers. But he refuses to do that. And his team refuses to make life un-horrible for James and whoever decides to tune in for Cleveland's games.
They haven't proven that they can pull out a tough playoff win if the opposition decides to double-team LeBron - I can't think of a single postseason victory in the Mike Brown era that saw the Cavs winning with James being double-teamed, save for a Game 6 Conference final victory last year that saw the Pistons essentially give up on the contest sometime in the third quarter.
But the Celtics, yeah, they've shown us that they can double-team like mad and win handily. It's bound to happen on the road at some point. The Cavaliers, and James, haven't shown us what we've been hoping for over the last few years, but Boston has at least given us tangible proof that allows us to create expectations over.
Will the Celtics finally pull off the defensive dominance on the road? Hard to say. It would make sense that the long overdue road win is coming, but nobody should be surprised if Cleveland pulls out the ugly win. It won't be a breakthrough win, however, because you can be confident that the Cavs will just end up pulling out the victory playing that same old way.
As always, Kendrick Perkins seems like a big key. If he's comfortable leaving his man to show on either a Cleveland screen and roll or isolation play (and, by "Cleveland," I mean "LeBron James"), then Boston will roll. Especially knowing that it's easier for Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen to leave their men in the corners (Daniel Gibson is out for the rest of the postseason with a bum shoulder) to help on Perkins' guy.
If Kendrick stays tight, or Mike Brown plays a lot of Joe Smith and forces Kevin Garnett to stay on his guy, then James should have enough room to operate and pull out the win. If the Boston bigs are confident enough to roam - something they weren't even comfortable with on the road in Atlanta - then Boston dominates.
It's a simple game, but that doesn't mean making the right choice is always easy. I can't blame Perkins and KG for wanting to play orthodox defense and being fearful of triple-teaming a guy 26 feet from the hoop, but I can blame them when their safe choices lead to another road loss.
Los Angeles Lakers at Utah, Game 6
Can't shake a nagging feeling that we'll see a Game 7 in this series. The Lakers, even with
Kobe Bryant working through a stiff back, nearly pulled out an overtime win (not exactly during overtime, but still ...) the last time they played in Salt Lake City, but Deron Williams seems like he's playing too well for the Jazz to lose.
Bench play will be a huge key. The Lakers pine guys have been pretty awful at times during this series, and Luke Walton hasn't seemed to have his wits about him recently. Luke is the guy that the Lakers send back on D once a shot goes up on the offensive end - think Rick Fox - to try and dissuade teams from running after a defensive board. If Walton is caught a step slow after the Jazz pull in a rebound, then Utah could have myriad transition chances.
Of course, this is dependent on the Lakers hitting shots, and the Jazz not trying to push the Lakers out of their lanes as they attempt to flash to and from the ball offensively.
If DerickFisher has the touch from long range, or the Lakers batch of skinny bench guards drop in those three-point bombs, then the Jazz are in trouble. Mainly because you know Los Angeles will be at least +10 in free throw makes in this game. Stop grabbing people. You do it on purpose, so you can stop it. Stop it.
Even with the Jazz digging themselves a freebie-driven hole, this is still an almost championship-caliber team that is good enough to keep this series going.
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP)—It’s do or summertime for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
One more loss, and a second straight Eastern Conference title is history.
One more win, and it’s back to Chowderland for Game 7.
After squandering a 14-point lead at Boston in a hail of missed free throws and getting entangled by the Celtics’ spiderweb-like defense in Game 5, LeBron James and his teammates are down 3-2 and facing elimination from the NBA playoffs on Friday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
They’ll go into Game 6 short-handed.
Guard Daniel Gibson, one of the club’s best perimeter shooters and a star in last year’s postseason, separated his left shoulder going for a loose ball early in the fourth quarter of Game 5 and will need a minimum of one week to recover.
The Cavaliers may be done before he’s well.
“It’s something we didn’t want to happen,” James said following a light workout Thursday. “It’s kind of the tale of our season—a guy goes down in the heat of a playoff series. He’s very key to our team. It’s not good seeing a guy who is that key to your team in a suit.”
Gibson underwent an MRI on his shoulder after the club returned from Boston. He was not available for comment. As a few of his teammates got in some extra work, the second-year guard struggled to slip a T-shirt over his head before sitting on a courtside bench alongside James.
Gibson made two 3-pointers and scored 14 points in Cleveland’s win in Game 4. In last year’s Eastern Conference finals, he scored 31 points—25 in the second half—as the Cavs put away the Detroit Pistons in Game 6 to advance to their first finals.
For them to force a Game 7 in Boston, the Cavaliers may need someone else to come off the bench and come through.
“We’re not looking for a spectacular game from anybody,” said James, who scored 35 points on 12-of-25 shooting in Game 5. “We just want to continue to do what we’ve been doing in the two wins we’ve had at home—guys stepped up. We’re not looking for a guy to go out and score 30 points or anything like that.”
Cleveland coach Mike Brown said he hasn’t decided whether to play reserves Devin Brown or Damon Jones in Gibson’s spot. He may just give extended minutes to swingman SashaPavlovic, who played only 10—his average for the series—in Game 5.
The Cavaliers spent most of Thursday reviewing film before practicing their free throws. They went only 28-of-41 (68 percent) from the line in Boston and missed 10 in the second half, but what bothered them most was a lack of intensity in the third quarter, when the Celtics outscored them 29-17.
Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who scored just six points on only five shots in Game 5, couldn’t explain Cleveland’s passivity after leading 43-29 with less than four minutes to go in the first half.
“We had them on their heels,” he said. “(In the second half) It just seemed like we really weren’t into it. We came out a half-step slow.”
And the Celtics blew right by Cleveland, especially point guard Rajon Rondo, who scored 20 points with 13 assists, two steals, two blocks and just one turnover in 42 minutes. Late in the first half, the Cavaliers left Rondo, not known for his outside shot, wide open and he knocked down two 3-pointers as the Celtics closed with a 14-3 run that gave them momentum they would carry into the second half.
Boston coach Doc Rivers doesn’t expect the Cavs to give Rondo so much room next time. And, he doesn’t want the youngster to get trigger happy, either.
“If they’re going to leave him open, I want him to shoot it,” Rivers said. “But I don’t want him to look for it.”
The Celtics, as has been well documented to this point, are still searching for their first road win of these playoffs. They’re 7-0 at home, but 0-5 traveling outside Boston’s city limits. They’d like nothing more than to get No. 1 in Cleveland, where the Cavs are 4-1.
Boston isn’t the only team having road woes. So far in the second round, home teams are an eye-popping 19-1, a statistical testament if there ever was one to securing home-court advantage during the regular season. The only team to win an away game has been the Pistons, who won by a point in Orlando and are awaiting the winner of this series.
Rivers joked that the Celtics could try something drastic to snap the club’s slide with their suitcases.
“I guess we could bring the scorekeepers, and bring all the wives on the road,” he said. “We’re not going to do that. We’re just going to show up and play basketball.”
No team has won an NBA title after losing its first five road playoff games or by winning just its home games.
The Cavaliers last faced an elimination game in last year’s finals, and they didn’t fare well as the San Antonio Spurs completed a four-game sweep. Despite the club’s precarious situation, Brown, his coaching staff and Cleveland’s players were remarkably loose as they prepared for what could be their final game of the season.
“You can’t panic,” guard Delonte West said. “This is when it gets fun. This is when you see what your team is made of.”
