THAT was a rough game to watch. Ugly from the start to finish. I'd like to credit both teams defensive efforts, but I'm not sure that was totally the case.
- Cleveland turned the ball over 17 times, only to be topped by Boston's 21.
- The Cavs shot barely over 30% from the field.
- Both teams were a combined 8-32 from three-point range.
And generally, the ball was on the floor with a mess of players falling over it. The worst stat of all, however, was Lebron James going an embarrassing 2-for-18.
James should and will take all the blame for his lackluster effort. The Cavs aren't going to win any game against a decent team when he shoots this poorly. Here's where I believe Mike Brown's inability to coach comes into play. Usually, he can just sit back and let his superstar run the show. But on a night when points are going to have to be manufactured from other players, Brown made no effort to draw plays up down the stretch for Szczerbiak who was starting to hit, or at the very least try and get James on a post-up on the block. Instead, he allowed LBJ to dribble around the top of the key and forces drives on double and triple teams.
It was brutal. 2-for-18 brutal.
And for all of this, the Cavs still had a chance to win.
We're going to have a long series - no chance Lebron plays this poorly again. I also doubt he'll have so few fouls called on his drives when this series visits Cleveland. On the otherhand, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were equally poor Tuesday night. That might not happen again, either.
The good news is that Kevin Garnett demanded the ball in the final seconds and made a game winner. I'd say I'm looking forward to Game 2, but after watching this I'm not so sure.
Last night was hard to watch. The game had no flow, partly due to the ref's large amount of offensive calls. Granted, I don't think that would've made any difference in the end. Both team couldn't shoot, and Boston won because they had the only player that showed up last night.