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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Love it Live: the predictable NBA playoffs


It sounds strange or extremely cynical but I'm not even looking forward to the Celtics-Cavaliers Eastern Conference Semifinal series.

I felt that way before last night's game 1 loss by the Celtics, 101-93 at Quicken Loans Arena and I'm sure it'll only get worse.

Cleveland is a great team, although not much better than Boston. The thing about it that's so frustrating is that you know the NBA wants LeBron to win. He choked last season and now he's on the verge of free agency without any rings. In the NBA, the home team always gets the calls, especially in the playoffs. And when you have a superstar well you better believe they'll get a call on every play.

Making LeBron even more of a fraud is the fact that he does lame shit like pretending his elbow is severely hurt. All last night and I'm sure for the rest of the series, we'll have to listen to how tough he is for playing through pain, etc. Ugh, give it a rest.

Haha, sorry just had to get that off my chest since I will be thinking it for however long the C's and Cavs are playing.

Another fact of NBA playoff games is that no lead is safe, particularly if the road team has it. So while I was psyched that Boston led 26-20 after the first quarter and 54-43 at the half, I knew Cleveland would comeback and probably win.

LeBron did his thing with 35 points, seven rebounds and seven assists but the player of the game for Cleveland was Mo Williams (20 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) who kept their team in it during the third quarter when the Celts tried to run away with it and LeBron was on the bench.

The loss overshadowed what was a great performance by Rajon Rondo (27 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds). During the broadcast, Reggie Miller rightly said that it should be a Big Four in Boston now, not Big Three.

Kevin Garnett had 18 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks, Ray Allen scored 14 and Paul Pierce had 13 points (but only five points after the game's first few minutes).

Cleveland took 10 more free throws (31-21) and they took it to the basket at will in the second half when they had to get points. The Cavs outscored the C's 36-24 in the third quarter and 22-15 in the fourth.

The Cavs had 26 points off the bench while the Celts only had 12. In all honestly, this was a game that Boston should have won. Cleveland and their home crowd were lifeless for much of the game and what are the odds that'll happen tomorrow night in Game 2?

If the Celts don't settle for so many jumpers (when they're ice cold like Pierce), they should be in good shape. I think the margin between these teams is much closer than the national media will tell you but you already know how it will end: with a Cavaliers series win.

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