Cavs (44-14) at Celtics (36-19) 2/25

[DinTN]

At let we got an easy one Saturday.. I  guess that is a bright spot... 

Should be, but with this team  

[GreenFaith1819]

So they give Varejao the tech and not Perk, because Var pushed Perk and Perk didn't respond knowing if he did he would also have gotten a tech, possibly a fine and short suspension.

In a perfect world two techs should go to Perk and his coach says "If you're just gonna let guys push you and not do anything about it I think I can find a girl at UConn who could do your job."

Modern sports.....I just don't get it sometimes...so different from real life

I'd deduce two TPs for this post.

LoL..well, I look at that as Perkins is maturing as a NBA Player....just because you Can Squash a man like a grape doesn't mean that you do it.

[tenn_smoothie]

little Fratello is correct - Rondo, for some unknown reason, tries to feed the post from near the top of the circle.

anyone who knows the game understands bad fundamentals - it is a horrible passing angle - but Rondo does it routinely and he throws it in there almost arrogantly as if "i'm Rondo, i can get away with bad fundamentals."

well Rondo, no you can't. your turnovers are killing this team.

He has 1 turnover in 3 quarters... try again, dude.

are you counting all the deflections, stalled offensive possessions, missed opportunities and wasted dribbles ??


you obviously never played the game, DUDE.

Its ironic that it says "Rajon Rondo" under your name.

I'm sorry but the guy had 11 assists tonight, just 2 turnovers - the first of which didn't even occur until the 3rd qtr (and wasn't really his fault, it was a terrible pass that he managed to save but bobbled). If anything, his aggressiveness allowed us to take that lead early on. The only complaint that I have on Rondo tonite was that he played too many minutes - and that's really on Doc.

So yea, off all the things to take from this loss Rondo's "terrible carelessness" with the ball is NOT one of them.

his carelessness and dribbling away offensive possessions were contributing factors in this loss - Celts should have been up by 15 at half, but wasted away too many chances to increase lead in 2nd quarter, much of which was Rondo's responsibilty.

you can quote the boxscore all night - some of those wasted possessions don't show up there.

[GreenFaith1819]

Well, I'm of the mindset that Pierce would've helped, myself. Not to take anything away from CLE - they are a great team, but I'd like to see them beat us at full strength.

And as for Doc - does anyone think that maybe he is just experimenting with the rotations?

If I hadn't seen the same sort of bonehead rotation in the playoffs with him, I'd say it was a possibility.

Well, the interesting thing is that evidently Danny Ainge still approves of Doc Rivers....this is why he is still allowing Doc to experiment with these lineups....to us they may not make sense, but maybe Doc and Danny sees things differently...

As Fans, we want to see our Celtics Stomp CLE, but maybe Doc and Danny can see a Bigger Picture out of all of this..

[Celticsbloke]

I may be laughed out of celticsblog for saying this but i'm fully confident that the celtics, if 90% healthy will have no problems with this Cleveland team in the playoffs.

I like that....Pierce will make Lebron work on defense..

I wouldn't say "no problems" but yeah, if we can get that final piece - PP - squared away then I think our chances are good against the Cavs. Its the quick, athletic teams like the Hawks that worry me!

[Q_FBE]

At let we got an easy one Saturday.. I  guess that is a bright spot... 

Is any game easy this year (The only dumb question is one that never gets asked).

[Celticsbloke]

Charles Barkley guaranteed the Cavs would come back and win this game.  Very astute observation as it was quite obvious that the Celtics had played their best basketball but couldn't put Cleveland away.

Painfully obvious that this would end up being another blown lead and the C's would get obliterated in the 2nd half again.  

The Portland game unfortunately was an aberration.  There was hope that it could be the start of a major turnaround but obviously not.  The C's still can't keep big leads and finish games strong.  

Nothing has changed...

You may have noticed, Paul Pierce didn't play tonight.  Last I checked, he's a fairly big part of the team.

But I don't think the outcome of this game will be different even if Pierce played. Based on his performance these days.

Well, Pierce's performance these days is because he's injured.  A healthy Paul Pierce absolutely makes a difference in this game.  It would have resulted in different rotations, and presumably a more rested Rondo.  Also, he could have helped with the offensive stagnation in the second half.

I mean, it turned into a 20 point loss, but this game was basically even at the start of the fourth.  I don't accept that Pierce couldn't have helped.

Agreed, we were still only down 4 at about the 5 min mark, then boom, Mo is able to make two wide open threes and thats the game.

[twinbree]

I feel terrible saying this but I think I'm becoming numb to losing. I'm mainly befuddled by the offense and the rotations tonight but not particularly bothered by the blowout even thought a loss usually ruins my night. Although knowing Pierce was getting healthy and watching my tennis faves win nail-biters tonight may have helped my mood.

[Drucci]

Just saw the game... very frustrating loss, obviously.

Once again we had the game in control and we let it slip totally away in the 2nd half. I was expecting it to be close at the end because it was obvious we weren't going to shoot 70% for the entire game but talk about a dropoff!

The 3rd quarter was OK, we had to expect a Cavs run and it occurred then. But getting outscored when LeBron was on the bench in the 4th was inexcusable. Mo Williams killed us but he was wide open on every single shot, the defense just plain sucked. Our offense wasn't better but we didn't get any stops and let a good shooter totally free beyond the 3 point arc...

Ray disappeared in the 2nd half but the Cavs really improved their defense on him, he couldn't do much (like two years ago). Rajon disappeared in the 2nd half once again and that is really intriguing... he doesn't have the "age excuse" so why does he disappear in almost every game in the 2nd half after dominating in the first? I know teams adjust to him but still, he has to use his speed more.

The Cavs stayed in the game thanks to LeBron and Mo Crybaby Williams (can't stand him really) killed us. It sucks to lose because of Williams in the 4th and after having a 14 point lead in the first half but I'm not so mad, we did well against the Cavs for about 3 quarters without our Captain.

Now let's hope the C's refocus quickly and don't take their next opponents lightly, starting with the Nets.

PS : Powe didn't fare well when he played most of his minutes at the end of the game. Blocked by Shelden and then airballed a shot over Shelden!

He will need time to get back to his former self.

[Mike-Dub]

At let we got an easy one Saturday.. I  guess that is a bright spot... 

I should get TP's subtracted from this post...

How wrong was I  . 

Shoulda been easy but any thing can happen on any given Saturday when the C's are playing I guess  .