The Celtics led by four at halftime before a blistering 31-12 third quarter that left the Cavs and their fans completely stunned. Cleveland managed a 15-0 run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 10 with 4:33 to play, but the C’s woke up and rattled off their own 11-3 run to put the game away.
LeBron James posted 24-7-4, but didn’t look like himself for long stretches of the game. He turned the ball over five times and went just 10-for-15 from the free throw line. He seemed to be favoring that elbow, so speculation about his health will continue. Antawn Jamison went for 16-6, while Shaq played just 19 minutes and posted a measly 9-4. Mo Williams was the goat for the Cavs. He went just 1-of-9 from the field and scored just four points. (However, he did dish out seven assists.)
Rajon Rondo (13-19-4) thoroughly outplayed Williams and controlled the tempo of the game. Ray Allen (22-7) got hot, and Kevin Garnett chipped in with a solid 18-10.
And then there’s Rasheed Wallace. I wrote earlier today about Doc Rivers’ comments about Wallace’s defense, wondering why he’d bother trying to motivate Sheed through the press, but the big man responded with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting. To put that performance in perspective, Sheed scored 17+ points in just five games this season.
The Celtics have to feel great about heading back to Boston for Game 3 tied 1-1. They’ll have three days to rest their old bones and need to win both games in Boston to have a real chance to win this series.
One thing’s for sure — Cavs fans are a lot more worried now than they were a few hours ago.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
