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Cavs get contributions from several players
By Patrick McManamon
Beacon Journal sports columnist
Published on Sunday, May 11, 2008
CLEVELAND: One number screamed loudest Saturday night at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers beat the Boston Celtics for the first time in the Eastern Conference semifinals because they rediscovered their offense — and their shot.
And the number 11 was the giveaway.
That's the number of assists the Cavs had in the first quarter.
And it's an exceptional amount indicative of a near-perfect 12 minutes.
The Cavs had 13 baskets in the first quarter. Eleven — 85 percent — were set up by ball movement.
This was not any kind of frenetic pace or action, either. It was simply the Cavs running their offense, moving the ball and moving themselves.
They played offense the way they should, the way they did not in the first two games (aside from the first quarter of Game 2).
It really is amazing what a little ball movement can do.
And if the ball is moving, the offense is moving.
And if the offense is moving, a
team is getting good shots.
Which is probably a large reason the Cavs shot 53.6 percent for the game.
Ben Wallace set up Delonte West for an open 3.
Wally Szczerbiak and Zydrunas Ilgauskas took turns setting up baskets for each other.
West gave LeBron James the ball on the break, and James made a flying dunk when he was peering right at the rim.
Wallace made a jump hook off a pass from West and a dunk off a pass from James.
On and on it went, until the quarter ended with West setting up Anderson Varejao for a jump shot.
Yes, Varejao made a jump shot.
It was that kind of night for the Cavs, who shot 65.5 percent in the first half.
Time and again, the Cavs have told us that when they shoot and play defense well, they can compete with anyone. That's what they did.
And because they did, hope has returned to the series. The Cavs are one home win from tying things up at two games each.
Note, too, that there were a number of guys doing the work. Instead of standing around and watching James, the other guys contributed.
Wallace wasn't even supposed to play because of an inner-ear infection, but he started and provided a huge lift with his rebounding, hustle and (shock of shocks) scoring.
West had one of those games when he looked like a point guard, with 21 points and seven assists. Included were two drives to the basket that resulted in scores, one on Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett.
Szczerbiak contributed, especially in the first half (14 points), and Joe Smith (17 points) had an outstanding game off the bench.
James had another off night shooting (5-for-15), but he played a very patient, careful, thoughtful game. Let's call it smart. A smart game.
James did not force shots, passed well and generally made sure the offense worked — especially early, when the Cavs took their big lead.
If there was one adjustment the Cavs seemed to make, it was to understand how the Celtics were playing James off the ball.
One man would guard him, and two or three would zone up behind the defender.
The Cavs seemed to recognize where the open spots would be away from the ball, and James seemed to find them.
That had to come from between-game work, from the coaching staff. And it helped as the Cavs took a 19-point lead and cruised the rest of the way.
Another good sign for the Cavs came with about 6:30 left in the fourth quarter.
At that point, James took a pass about 4 feet right of the free-throw line. He dribbled, then rose up over James Posey to launch a high-arcing 18-foot jump shot.
It went right in.
This was probably the first time this series that James looked confident and certain taking a jump shot.
And when that jump shot went in, it gave the Cavs a 90-74 lead — and it showed that James might be back to himself.
James got untracked a bit, the offense worked and a lot of players contributed.
Most important, the Cavs won.
It's hard to figure how this night could have gone better.
Patrick McManamon can be reached at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Read his blog at http://www.ohiomm.com/blogs/mcmanamon/
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