Every Celtic played well in this game 5 blowout of the Cavs

Every Celtic played well in this game 5 blowout of the Cavs, every single one. What a team. What great coaching. What a satisfying win.

balance/ experience/ DEDICATED D/ celtic hoop...the offense just BUSTED SHIT

Next game will be interesting, Cleveland knows they can win in Boston, but are they demoralized by tonight or do they bounce back?

bobc

we mash on their nuts.

jeb

The X factor in this series is Mike Brown - he is flat out a HORRIBLE coach.

No Show Mo was yapping to Rondo? What a pretender he is. Scores big points against lesser teams and ALWAYS folds under pressure. Same with Sideshow Bob...NO SHOW.

Lebron can go back to blaming the elbow now.

Ray Allen was ON FIRE...hit some high difficulty shots. Ray was the one that sucked the life out of the Cavs. He was throwing daggers all night long.

Sheed has played very solid D in this series and has kept his mouth shut.

Baby and TA are really playing great ball.

Glad to see the Captain back and in reasonable form. KG looked great, so did Rondo.

Celtics will close it out on Thursday...no doubt about it.

BTW...tonight was the LAST game for Lebron AND Mike Brown as Cavs in Cleveland. You can take that to the bank.

kleen

bbd mopped the floor tonight. It was a classic TEAM celts win...perfect storm.

WOW

KG - Mr. Consistency.

Points in this series: 18-18-19-18-18

Steve,

I don't know how his shooting stats were tonight, but he just looked to me to want the ball and had confidence when he got it. Good quick confident moves down low, we know he can hit the jumper. We are are a different team when he is on.

Cleveland: 8 home losses this year including the regular season, 3 of them to Boston.

Let's hope we don't need a 4th one.

bob -

KG's shooting in this series:

9 for 20
8 for 21
8 for 11
6 for 11
8 for 14 (tonight)

39 for 77, 50.6%.

Steve, what source do you use for stats? You are always quick with a multitude of them.

One of my favorite moves by Doc tonight was to take Rondo out of the game with 3:55 to go after his spat with Mo Williams, who was probably looking to incite Rondo to pick up a 2nd T. Smart coaching, saving Rondo for game 6.

The playoffs represent a different season for several reasons. I think the most important one is that teams get a real good read on one another over as many as seven games. So there are very few major surprises on the order of Rondo's breakout in Game 4.

Consequently, the playoffs are very largely a matter of adjustments and counter-adjustments. But adjustments are chancy because they can run the risk of getting the adjusting team out of its normal pattern and backfiring. So it behooves each team to try to force the other team to make more adjustments.

That's what's happening in this series. Yeah, Bron on Rondo was only a cameo; but just the discussion of that radical change illustrated the consternation that's going on among the Cavs. Throwing Z in there helped momentarily; but it slowed the Cavs down in a game where control of the pace was very important.

And credit has to go to Doc. Even after the terrible loss in Game 3, he didn't panic and over-adjust. Certainly he tweaked some things, but his basic message (as far as I know) was that they just had to play better. That's what they did in Game 4 (obviously led in that respect by Rondo). While message board coaches were talking about starting Tony or limiting Paul's minutes, Doc said, in efffect, "Nay nay!" He knew that Paul is a proud warrior with greater ability than he was showing. And the game plan quite obviousy called for gettingi Pierce out of his funk.

Even while Paul was missing in the first quarter, I'm absolutely certain Doc continued to encourage him to be aggressive. And as that aggressiveness began to pay off, it spread to the defensive end as well.

Meanwhile, Mike Brown panicked as early as the third quarter, basically abandoning whatever the team plan was in favor of going for bombs by bringing Boogie into the game. That, and the insertion of Jamario Moon, interrupted 40% of whatever chemistry the Cavs had.

So the lesson for Mike Brown has to be that, during the adjustment "season," it's possible to over-adjust. Before the game, I felt that the Cavs' key to the game was not being preoccupied by Rondo but rebounding a lot better to limit the Celtics' transition game and second chances. So what happened? Celtics: 9 offensive boards, 32 defensive boards...Cavs 7 offensive boards, 24 defensive boards.

So, while Mike has been panicking and probably over-adjusting, Doc has been focusing on getting the most out of the Celtics' assets and, where it was needed, encouraging them to play up to their capabilities.

Sam

Sam
Speaking of adjustments,everyone Mike Brown tried had boneheaded written all over it,Gibson and Illgauskas?oh really,good one Mike.The one lineup that I've been waiting for and scared of all series is Shaq,Verajao,Jamison,LBJ and Mo/Delonte,with Jamison on Pierce and Mo or Delonte on Ray and LBJ on Rondo.That BIG lineup can board and would have been worth a shot.
cow

bob,

For stats, just go to Yahoo Sports, click on NBA and it will lead you most anywhere you want to go. And I check the in-game stats fairly often as the games progress, in addition to copying and pasting each end of quarter stats and emailing them to myself just after each period finishes. It's often very interesting to compare players quarter-to-quarter as well as both teams' performances quarter-to-quarter.

For basketball history there's no better site than this one:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/

Enjoy.

The first of many:

http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2010/05/a_season_at_the_abyss_boston_c.html

This series and the one against Miami have convinced me - perhaps one of the slowest learners in basketball fandom - that Doc is a really, really good coach. Game by game he's worked wonders, as he has done over the course of this entire injury plagued season. This playoff series underscores what a great job Doc and the team did in the 2009 playoffs without KG.
Once again, all I can say is
The few. The Proud. The Celtics.

Another angle
yes when weve played well I don't think Cleveland can match up. That said Bron is clearly a very good player but something is going on and I don't buy the injury angle either. Although that may be a part I think it's a lot like Tiger, the mental part is just not there now. I just wonder how much the pending free agency plot has eroded his mindset to play hoops right now? I do not think he is the sharpest tool in the shed and has surrounded himself with nothing but yes men telling him how great he is but also feeding him who knows how much advice on what to do about free agency.

Where is Dr. Phil?

beat

Beat: I'm still fearful of Lebron breaking out at some point. For the CAVS' sake it should be sooner. In the last 2 wins there has been a total team effort from the Celts. Everyone who played contributed to the victories. That's very gratifying. If Cleveland doesn't pull this out, I'd bet both Mike Brown and Mike Woodson will be looking for new jobs come Summer. Pierce really came alive after the first quarter. Hope it's a harbinger of things to come for him. I guess Rosalie, Mom Allen, and Shannon are stoking Ray's fire! Good Luck C's!-MD!