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Cleveland picks up right where it left off with loss to Boston
By George M. Thomas
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Wednesday, Oct 29, 2008
BOSTON: The Cavaliers tried to crash the Boston bling party Tuesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden, but eventually lost 90-85 to the Celtics in the season opener.
The Cavs lost to the Celtics in a hard-fought, seven-game series in the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring, and it didn't go unnoticed who they would open the season against when the team opened training camp.
Before the season, the Cavaliers downplayed their opening opponent. Given that it's the first game, gauging intensity level is problematic. However, after showing some intensity to begin the game, the Cavs returned to some troublesome habits.
The team opened a lead early and expanded upon it with a 10-0 run in the first quarter and never trailed in the half. LeBron James added an exclamation point with two thunderous dunks. The Cavs went into the locker room at halftime up 50-43 and shooting close to 47 percent from the floor to the Celtics' 40.
But they slipped into an all-too-familiar pattern after the break, only scoring 13 points to Boston's 24 in the third quarter. The team shot an abysmal 37 percent from the floor and turned the ball over four times in that quarter.
The Celtics began the quarter with a 9-0 run and from that point seemed to have the game in hand.
''Mentally and physically, we have to make sure we turn it up also,'' Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ''And what I mean by that is we've got to take care of the ball, drive it even harder, set screens better.''
It didn't improve from that point as the Celtics, keyed by Tony Allen's five points on successive possessions, began to pull away in small spurts. Allen served notice before the season that he would ably replace the departed James Posey off the Celtics' bench. The Cavaliers did nothing to dissuade that notion, allowing him to pile up 11 in limited duty.
The Cavs scratched back and found themselves within striking distance in the fourth but could never quite get over the hump. The Celtics answered scores and played a stifling defense that held the Cavs to under 43 percent from the field, including 19 percent from the 3-point arc for the game.
At times in the game, it looked as if James couldn't find his rhythm. He hit on 9-of-21 shots for 22 points. The loss didn't discourage him, however.
''We played well; the effort was there,'' he said. ''There's some things that we could change, but all in all, we played well. But they played better and they got a win.''
The Cavaliers suffered other problems — primarily turnovers. Brown preached during the preseason that he wants the team to stay at 13 or below, but the Cavs gave Boston too many opportunities by turning the ball over 20 times and didn't take enough advantage of the Celtics' 16.
''Looking at who they are, which is a defensive team, we can't have (21) turnovers on their floor,'' Brown said. ''Whether the personnel is the same or not the same, they're still doing what they do.''
James said that the turnover issues came from a combination of things.
''We had unforced turnovers in the second half and we let them speed us up,'' James said. ''We missed some great opportunities where we had turnovers and we just had miscues.''
Brown said that part of that comes from a slight change in offensive philosophy and an emphasis on pushing the ball up the floor.
''We are trying to play the game faster and, yes, we're turning the ball over, [but] we've got to get to the point where we understand that we don't want this to be a rat race. We'll lose a lot of games if it's a rat race.''
Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas scored 15 points in the game.
All's forgiven for J.J.?
Brown said he'd moved forward after disciplining first-round draft pick J.J. Hickson for missing the team bus in Columbus last week.
''He has to continue to learn and grow on the court, but while we're going to give him some time to learn and grow on the court, the little things that he has to take care of off the court will always be there.''
Brown didn't play Hickson. Reserve Lorenzen Wright got in instead. Brown said it's because Wright had been playing better.
Gibson's new 'do
Guard Daniel Gibson has cut the Batman logo into his hair.
''It's Halloween. It's that time of year, so I thought I'd do something different,'' he said.
George M. Thomas can be reached at sportswriterabj@sbcglobal.net.
BOSTON: The Cavaliers tried to crash the Boston bling party Tuesday night at the TD Banknorth Garden, but eventually lost 90-85 to the Celtics in the season opener.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Fairlawn, OH
Posted 07:10 AM, 10/29/2008
With Mike Brown and Danny Ferry leading the way, might as well push a fast-forward button to April. The Cavs will do no better than last year - and only if they can stay away from injuries.
The ONLY thing the Cavs fans should accept is an NBA Championsip. Cavs management seems to believe success is in putting butts in the seats and putting in "a good showing". Pathetic.
Akron, OH
Posted 07:17 AM, 10/29/2008
For those who didn't watch this game then I'll let you know this is the same team as last year. The only difference is we added another one dimensional player in Williams. Mike Brown managed to make the team play offense for about a quarter and then went back to letting LeBron play PG......yeah another year of that!!! Oh, did I mention that LeBron's defense looked absolutely awful........along with Williams. A team like this is not going to challenge for a title, too many players who can't compete at both ends of the floor. Let's see, Varejao-Wallace can only play defense.......Williams-Gibson-Szerbiak(or however you spell it....he's garbage anyway)-can only play offense. Bottom line is the same as last year's, need a new coach and actual basketball players who can play both offense and defense. Ugh..........
Posted 09:11 AM, 10/29/2008
Why do you guys always blame Mike Brown and never Lebron? It's not Mike Brown's fault that Lebron struggles with the easiest shot in the game.
Posted 12:54 PM, 10/29/2008
I blame the whole team, coach, and management.
It take a team effort to win and lose.
Posted 03:37 PM, 10/29/2008
My goodness! It was just one game. There are 81 to go. Get over it. The Cavs lost. In the end, barring injuries, they'll be playing the Celtics for the conference championship. This team is much deeper than any in previous years. An NBA title is a very real possibility. Go Cavs!
Posted 04:18 PM, 10/29/2008
The Pistons have had a better record than the Cavs in like 10 seasons in a row at least, so I'm not sure it's a given the Cavs will play the Celtics for the East. Orlando was better than Cleveland last year, and if the Cavs don't win the division it likely means another 2nd round matchup with Boston having home court. But then again, many Cleveland fans assumed the Indians were a lock this year based on a previous year. We saw how that turned out.
Posted 06:23 AM, 10/30/2008
ARE YOU PEOPLE SERIOUS!!!!!
Look at what took place in the game the CAVS had one of there worse games ever.They couldnt control there turnovers the had over 20 of them,and the celtics won by how much! All we had to do is cut that by half and your comment wouldnt be hate if would be praise.!! There aint much room do jump on the waggon in March and April. HATE WILL ONLY SLOW US UP!!
somewhere near you, OH
Posted 06:42 AM, 10/30/2008
Cadavers...
LOL!
