Celtics vs. Cleveland
Cavaliers, Tuesday, October 11, 2005 7:30pm in Pittsburgh, PA
Tonight marked the first preseason game of the 2005-06 Celtics.
Cleveland was playing the second night of back-to-back games, having
beaten the Washington Wizards the previous night. the Cavs,
however, would be without the services of LeBron James, who suffered a
"pectoral injury" in the prior game.
Nope, I don't know what that is, either. But it sure sounds like
a reason to keep your best player out of a preseason game, hm?
Tony Allen is out following knee surgery, the C's hope he will be back
by the start of the regular season. Al Jefferson is out with the
ankle injury, but can now put a sneaker on his foot and move
around. He is unlikely to see any playing time before next week
at the soonest.
The pregame was all about rumor control over possible Pierce
trades. Trader Dan made a point of telling Tommy Heinsohn and
Mike Gorman he wasn't trading Paul. He told Paul and Doc Rivers
this. Danny Ainge did everything but walk into downtown
Pittsburgh with stone tablets with "Thou Shalt Not Trade Pierce to the
Clippers, Nor Any Other Team, So Stop Asking." etched in them.
This game marks the start of FSN's 25th year of Boston Celtics
broadcasts, all of them with Mike Gorman and Tommy Heinsohn doing play
by play and color analysis. Mike and Tommy are working together
for the 27th year, starting together in 1979 at Providence College
working basketball games. Happy anniversary to all!
The Celtics Lineup is largely new, so I'll list everyone as we all get
acquainted:
CELTICS STARTERS:
Guards: 13 Delonte West, 34 Paul Pierce
Center: 30 Mark Blount
Forwards: 12 Ricky Davis, 45 Raef LaFrentz
Then, we have off the bench:
0 Orien Greene
4 Ryan Gomes
5 Gerald Green
7 Al Jefferson (injured)
9 Justin Reed
11 Marcus Banks
20 Dan Dickau
40 Will Bynum
42 Tony Allen (injured)
43 Kendrick Perkins
44 Brian Scalabrine
50 Curtis Borchardt
The starting lineup for the Cleveland Cavaliers, coached by Mike Brown,
was (these links take you to their NBA.com player page):
Guards: 19
Damon Jones, 32
Larry Hughes
Center: 11
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Forwards: 33
Luke Jackson, 90
Drew Gooden
FIRST QUARTER:
The game began VERY quickly as the Good Guys--who, save for
Delonte West and Ricky Davis, seem to have discarded their
headbands--showed just how good they are. Boston won the tip, and
Delonte West scored the Celtics first hoop of the season just 17
seconds into the game. The Cavs came back and predictably handed
the ball inside to their Center. Last season, Cleveland did all
kinds of damage to Boston that way...as did every other team in the
league with a true Center. but this time, Mark Blount was there
to interfere with the shot, which missed and the Celtics were in good
rebounding position, with Paul Pierce snagging the ball then making the
quick outlet pass to Delonte West. Yes, I said Paul made the
outlet pass. Really. It's on tape and everything. The
C's spread out their offense and Paul was rewarded with an easy floater
down the lane.
Boston did get back on defense, but Hughes made a nice pass back out to
Gooden, who put it away for the first 2 Cav points of the game. Gooden
did draw a delay of game warning as, after making the nice basket, he
managed to accidentally swat the ball about three rows behind the
backboard. It would have gone about 15 feet farther had a fan not
had good hands.
But this forced the C's into the halfcourt set, which last season was
the kiss of death for Boston's offense. This time, Pierce did a
nice shake and bake move on Jackson, losing him and getting an open
look at a jumper on the side of the lane for two more. Back on defense,
Blount got hit with a foul, but it wasn't really his fault--Ilgauskas
set a screen behind Ricky Davis, and When Blount moved inside to catch
Larry Hughes coming around, Ricky came around Ilgauskas from the other
side and Blount had nowhere to go, both he and Davis were playing good
defense and Blount ended up plowing into Hughes to avoid Davis.
Hughes did lower his shoulder, but it's Mark Blount and he doesn't get
those calls.
Coming back into play, the Cavs once more went inside to Ilgauskas, but
to no avail as the shot missed and there were four Celtics converging
for the rebound around Z. Raef Lafrentz won the battle, and the
Good Guys were off to the races once more. Raef immediately
handed off to West, who zoomed upcourt as the Cavs clogged the
lane. Raef trailed the play, came up open at the arc, and West
said, go hit this open three. Raef did as asked, hitting the shot
with no opposition, which led to a Cleveland timeout with 10:03 left in
the first quarter, and Boston leading it, 9-2.
Following the timeout, the Celtics again played good defense, though
Pierce still falls a little too far away from his man. This time, it
cost him, as he had to leap back at his man when the ball returned to
him, and got caught in the air. Hopefully,it'll serve as an
object lesson to keep a little closer. Still, an improvement on his
defensive play of last season. The Cavs got a shot off that
missed, and this time, there were three Celtics under the hoop alone to
grab the miss.
Yes, by golly, the Celtics are making OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS!!!
Blount took advantage, drawing a foul as he made the basket--sadly, the
refs called it before the shot, though in the act, so Mark got his two
at the line. The C's defense forced Cleveland into a quick
outside shot that missed at the other end, and Pierce once more was
there to rebounded and make the outlet pass to Ricky Davis, who
responded with a lightning fast low pass to Raef as he was going up to
the hoop. It was a very well executed fast break play, and the
Cav defense never stood a chance against it.
Raef took one for the team at the other end, drawing a charge, which
led another halfcourt set, Pierce had the ball in the middle with
a triple team converging...and PASSED THE BALL OUT to a waiting and
open Ricky Davis, who buried a three. Mark Blount took a charge
at the other end, but, as mentioned previously, he doesn't get those
calls. Pierce got called for travelling after getting the outlet
pass on the way back, but I didn't see him take steps. Back on
defense, Delonte West drew a foul challenging a shot, but justice
prevailed as Gooden missed the first.
Blount had to sit in favor of Kendrick Perkins, given the 2 fouls--but
keep in mind, Blount used to pick up fouls in a matter of seconds, not
minutes, so this is a great improvement. Meanwhile, Pierce and
Davis changed places on their previous play, with Paul nailing the open
three this time. This made the score 20-6 with 7:41 left in the
quarter. Jackson then made a long three on the next trip as
the C's defense clogged the lane. The next offensive trip did not
produce a boston score, but showed the C's are working on showing
movement and patience on their halfcourt sets. Perkins pulled
down an easy defensive rebound at the other end. Boston got a
phantom out of bounds call, and the Cavs finally got an offensive
rebound as Ilgauskas had one literally fall into his hands off a missed
three. Hughes miassed his attempt and Pierce snagged the rebound,
urging his teammates to go even as he got the ball. But the Cavs
defense was shoring up and the shots not falling quite so easily.
With the quarter just half over, the bench was slowly called in.
Brian Scalabrine and Dan Dickau were in the game, as West and LaFrentz
sat down. Dan Dickau looks young enough to need someone to drive
him to the games. Really, he looks like a little kid out
there. Though he was certainly fast enough to run back and keep
Larry Hughes from scoring on the break, giving the smart foul, making
sure the ball never got anywhere near the hoop. Justice prevailed
once more as Hughes missed the first free throw. Unfortunately,
he made the second.
The subs showed they had work to do, as they had trouble getting the
ball inbound off the made free throw. Once he did, Dan set a nice
screen for Ricky, who missed the shot. Donyell Marshall hit a
three at the other end, as Cleveland slowly climbed back into the
game. Ricky got called for an offensive foul pulling that low
backing toward the middle of the lane move that Antoine Walker used to
do. Defender flops, and it looks like you knocked him over.
Oops. Ricky took a moment to argue the call, but only more of a
"he flopped" than a tirade of any kind. Doc Rivers has been
telling the troops to let him argue the calls, and the team should
concentrate on playing. it seems to be sinking in. At the
defensive end, Perkins once more came up with a rebound and looped a
high pass to Dan Dickau that barely made it over the upstretched
fingers of Drew Gooden. Cleveland was obviously trying to jam the
fast break, betting they could win a halfcourt game much as they did
last year against Boston.
But this year's Celtics were spreading the floor and moving the ball,
which led to Dan getting a floater straight down the lane.
They're learning, people!! Perkins drew a foul stopping Drew
Gooden from plowing down the lane for an easy two at the other
end. The next offensive trip, Boston faced a much tougher Cav
defense, but Dan was left open for a three. Good try, but he
missed. Donyell Marshall beat out Scalabrine for the rebound and
up came the Cavs, who turned the ball over. At this time, Ricky
Davis sat in favor of Ryan Gomes (pronounced like "Homes", but with a
"G" instead of an "H"), with 3:33 left in the 1st quarter and the
Celtics still ahead, 22-15.
As play resumed, Dan Dickau appeared to be walking the ball over
halfcourt, when he suddenly reared back and fired a one-handed pass
down the middle to Pierce, who was waiting under the hoop, catching the
ball as he went up. Heinsohn called it a "Cousy-esque" pass, and
while I admit Tommy's occasionally given to hyperbole, he's
right. It WAS Cousy-esque. Following a foul at the other
end, timeout was called with 3;21 left in the quarter, and Boston
ahead, 24-15.
When time came back in, Gomes went in close to the hoop, got stripped,
recovered and got stuffed as the ball was deflected out of
bounds. He has that habit of bending down low when he get the
rebound, trying to explode back up. He's not that much taller
than his defenders, so it's not working so well here. He needs to
learn to keep the ball--and his arms--above his head. Scalabrine
kept taking outside shots that don't fall. This was his thing
with New Jersey--if he was hitting from outside, he was deadly, if not,
he was useless. Perkins also got caught with the ball down low
under the hoop, but he drew the foul. As he went to the line,
missing his shots, Paul Pierce sat in favor of Justin Reed with 2:42
left in the quarter.
Pierce looks thinner--maybe a little too thin--his face looked gaunt as
he sat on the bench, though Mike Gorman marvelled at Pierce's physical
condition. Meantime, Reed was annoying Jackson much as he'd
defensively annoyed his teammates in camp. Gomes rebounded the
miss, but I was annoyed to see Scalabrine parked in the far corner at
the offensive end, as he took--and missed--another outside shot.
For this, we could have kept Antoine. Gomes tried to rebound it
back at the hoop, but the pumpkin sailed out of bounds.
Somehow, the call went our way--honestly, the ref's calls were
mystifying tonight, yet Tommy was uncharacteristically silent--maybe
he's saving it up for opening night. Justin Reed got a good look
on teh inbound play, but it didn't go, and Perkins was called for that
teeny-tiny little push whilst getting the rebound. Ok, maybe not
so teeny. Or tiny. Marshall made us pay at the line.
On the offensive end, Gomes was again open,this time, a short baseline
jumper that bounced out. Reed pulled out the rebound as the C's
reset the offense. Scalabrine once more got the ball, and the
nicest thing I can say is he was inside the arc this time before
missing. Marshall thought he had a breakaway hoop, but Justin
Reed slapped the ball down. No easy hoops here!! At the
other end, Reed fired a missed jumper, Perkins got the rebound and
missed a baby hook shot, Gomes got the rebound and was fouled. When
play resumed, Scalabrine made a runner to the hoop and got two
points. Much easier than all those outside shots, no?
Eric Snow earned two at the other end. Dickau got caught in the
middle on offense and was stripped. Reed stopped Pavlovic from an
easy to, sending him to the line, where he missed both. Perkins
took the rebound, and the C's looked for the final shot, but got
nothing out of itas the first quarter ended with Boston still ahead,
26-20.
SECOND QUARTER:
The first quarter was a mix of good and bad. The good was that
our starting five worked phenomenally well. The bad news is that
for all their hustle, the bench group couldn't buy a basket. The
drawback is that with Ricky starting, there's no one coming off the
bench who is a proven scorer. Davis may prefer to start, but if
things don't improve, he will be sixth man again. Still, there
was no need for panic, yet, just concern and some scoring on the part
of the Good Guys.
Curtis Borchardt made his entry to the game with the start of the
quarter, sharing the court with Dickau, Gomes, Reed, and Raef
LaFrentz. But it was a bad sign that Donyell Marshall somehow
rattled in a very shaky three to start the quarter. The C's made
a nice offensive set, moving the ball well to Borchardt under the hoop,
but the defense converged and turned Borchardt into Borscht as the ball
popped out. OK, someone was going to make that joke sooner or
later. Scalabrine saved it out to Reed, who sent up a shot clock
deep two that missed everything.
Reed rebounded the next Cav miss. At least the C's were still
playing decent defense, but the Cavs were settling for outside shots,
so that helped the Boston cause. Scalabrine missed another open
shot, just at the top of the free throw circle. It's annoying,
since when he played against Boston, he was hitting every thing he
tossed in the general direction of the hoop. Borchardt and Reed
worked for the rebound, but Borchardt was called for the foul
underneath. At the defensive end, Borchardt had to try to stop
Pavolvic after he blew by Gomes, but he didn't have the angle, and was
called for the foul.
Gomes missed an outside shot at the other end, and neither Borchardt or
Scalabrine--who, to his credit, was finally under the offensive
hoop--could put the ball in the basket. Reed and Dickau were
unable to stop Pavlovic as he zoomed down for two. This brought
the Cavs into a tie with Boston at 26 with 9:47 left in the half.
Scalabrine once more fired from the arc, and once more missed. By
this time, I was wondering if Doc Rivers had fallen asleep. I
thought it was long past time to put the starters back in.
Particularly, I thought Scalbrine needed to be chained to the bench for
taking those deep shots. A lot of energy and effort was being
wasted as shot after shot was missed. It wasn't a matter of one
or two players out of shooting rhythm--NOBODY could shoot. Give
them a rest and put the guys who could score back in. But it
didn't happen.
As I pondered this--by way of shouting, "PUT THE STARTERS BACK IN!" at
the tv--Cleveland scored another three, and took their first lead of
the game. After the C's blew a chance to put the ball
inside--which woke Doc up--timeout was called with 8:22 left in the
half and Cleveland ahead, 29-26.
As time came back in, so did Mark Blount, joining Reed, Gomes, Dikau,
and Borchardt. Aargh. Tommy pointed out that whilst this
group had nearly zero offensive output, they did have 17
rebounds. With all those misses, Tommy, my CAT could get 17
rebounds. I'd rather see a few more made shots.
Gomes added to the woes by trying to make a pass through two defenders
instead of taking the short open shot. He did redeem himself slightly
with--yes, another defensive rebound--but that led only to a halfcourt
set where Blount sent it to Gomes, who couldn't handle the high
pass. Reed tried too hard on defense and got called for a
foul. That led to his taking a seat for Ricky Davis.
Finally, I thought, some offense. Boston and Cleveland fought
hard for a rebound, but the Cavs won that battle and Dan Dickau got
called for a foul.
Gomes and Dickau sat as Pierce and West returned to the court at long
last. Raef LaFrentz came in for Borchardt. I ate a
chocolate chip cookie with relief. Unfortunately, by now, the
Cavs had confidence and were hitting their shots. A possible
break came when Blount was fouled taking a 15 foot jump shot.
Blount made both free throws, providing the Celtics with their first
two points of the second quarter with 6:10 left in the half.
On the other end, Ilgauskas blew by Blount under the hoop for
two. Boston managed to lose the ball before they finished setting
up their offense. Hughes missed everything on an attempted three,
and the resulting fast break led to Delonte scoring the first field
goal for Boston in the quarter, with 5:26 left off a Ricky Davis
pass. Ilgauskas tried to muscle in at the other end, drawing a
foul on Raef as timeout was called with 5:08 left in the half and
Cleveland leading it, 35-30.
When play resumed, Ilgauskas made both his free throws, and the C's
executed a halfcourt set that resulted in a Blount turnaround jumper
going in. Pierce drove Jackson crazy by drawing fouls on two
successive trips and ending up at the line. Pierce made both, but
Ilgauskas drew a foul on the other end, and also made both.
Davis made a nice passout to West, but Delonte came up short on the
shot. Ricky, figuring he couldn't do any worse, got the rebound
and fired up a three, which klonked off the rim and out of
bounds. Zydrunas Ilgauskas sat in favor of the only guy on his
team with a longer name, Martynas Andriuskevisius, who
immediately made his presence known by slamming home a rebound.
Raef schooled him at the other end, though as he made the basket, drew
a foul, and made his free throw.
Blount made a nice defensive move which led to a fast break, but
Delonte was too far under the hoop and his initial shot bonged off the
bottom of the rim, and back toward the floor. Luckily, Blount had run
upcourt, and snagged the wayward ball, getting it back to West, who got
it right this time. Raef drew another charge on the other end and
timeout was called with 2:16 left in the half and Cleveland leading,
41-39.
Following the timeout, the C's ran their halfcourt offense, but by now,
even Pierce's shots weren't falling. The Boston defense and
rebounding was keeping them in the game as Pierce went to the line once
more at the other end. One of two free throws later, Cleveland
had possession again, and would have had a 24 second violation had they
not been bailed out as West was called for a foul. Eric Snow
missed the first and made the second. We learned that Pavlovic
was injured and would sit the remainder of the game, as the C's had
trouble inbounding the ball again. Luckily, Snow was called for a
foul. Delonte missed one of two. The Cavs were patient with
their offense and ended up with an open three from Jackson. On
the final possession of the half, Pierce inbounded to Raef, but the
shot bounced away as the first half ended with Cleveland leading, 45-41.
HALFTIME:
The Celtics starters got off to a roaring start, helped by
Cleveland's near invisible offense at first. But as the Cavs
improved, the Celtics stagnated. The starters got a little tired
and cooled off a bit. At that point, the bench needed to come in
and maintain things, but while they played good defense, and ranfast,
they got no return on their efforts. Brian Scalabrine seems
determined to play himself out of a job. when doc finally put the
starters back in, they had lost the gestalt that worked so well in the
opening minutes.
In fairness, the Cavaliers also played well, after the opening 6
minutes. The Cavs, at one time, had been called "the Lowly
Cavaliers" for so long, people thought the city had changed it's
name. Ilgauskas was considered a has-been with feet that Bill
Walton wouldn't trade for, and a Cavalier fan was someone who couldn't
unload their season tickets. Now, they're a much better team, and
Ilgauskas is impressive. Now, people are expecting a playoff
spot. It might happen this year.
Statswise, for what little it counts in preseason, were about what
you'd expect with the score at this point. Cleveland's field goal
percentage was slightly better, 37% to 35%. The Cavs had taken
and made more free throws, going 14-21 to Boston's 8-12, though I think
our free throw percentage was slightly better. Cleveland went
5-12 from the arc, whilst the C's were 3-10, with too many of those
misses being bad shots from Scalabrine.
In order to have a shot at winning, I believed the Celtics needed to
send the starting five out once more and try to dominate as they had in
the opening quarter, then rotate a couple of subs with some starters,
and work the rotations that way. Doc Rivers has a tendency to
leave people in too long, giving them "a chance to get out of the jam",
but which can also lead to a disaster in a game.
The Celtics were rebounding and overall defending reasonably well,
considering youth and Doc's disinclination to emphasize defense.
But if Boston didn't start hitting shots consistently, this game could
quickly become a rout.
THIRD QUARTER:
The Good Guys began the second half with Paul Pierce, Delonte
West, Raef LaFrentz, Mark Blount, and Ricky Davis, as the Cavs brought
the pumpkin upcourt. Raef rebounded the miss and made a fast pass
to West, but the Cavs were back on defense in a hurry. A quick
cut to the basket resulted in two quick points. Several trips
back and forth only provided more of what we saw in the second quarter,
as Cleveland's defense tightened up, though they took some bad shots,
and while the C's played good defense, they had trouble scoring.
Ultimately, Cleveland was starting to pull away.
Delonte made a lazy pass that resulted in a Cleveland hoop. Raef
picked up his fourth foul trying to stop Ilgauskas. Pierce got a
nice pass inside for two, but it seemed he was only delaying the
inevitable. The C's kept making small, but critical, mistakes.
Damon Jones showed that weird kick move he uses to knock
defenders away from the ball. His leg gets nearly horizontal to
his body, and I don't know why he's not getting called for that move.
The Celtics kept missing opportunities to close the gap, and when
timeout was called with 5:12 left in the 3rd quarter after Mark Blount
was fouled, the Cavaliers still led it, 59-51. As play resumed,
Dan Dickau replaced Delonte West, and the C's were just able to keep it
close, but neither really gain or lose ground. The score just
kind of wobbled back and forth as for every good play made by one
Celtics player, there was a corresponding bad one.
This was compounded by the C's continuing to miss good shots. No
one seemed immune. Still there was hope as free throws by Dickau
and a fast break hoop by Davis closed the gap at last as timeout was
called with 2:42 in the third quarter and Cleveland's lead down to
63-56.
Things got worse after the timeout as a Dan Dickau foul sent Jackson to
the line for three attempts, of which all were successful. On the
offensive end, Jackson stuffed Dickau's shot. Pierce and Davis
came out for Gomes and Reed as Cleveland marched to the free throw line
once more. As the quarter drew near it's merciful end, the C's
had Dickau, Scalabrine, Perkins, Reed, and Gomes on the court. No
further damage occurred as the quarter ended with the Cleveland lead
now 71-61.
FOURTH QUARTER:
The final quarter opened with Dan Dickau, Brian Scalabrine, Ryan Gomes,
Kendrick Perkins, and Justin Reed. Marcus Banks quickly came in
to help, replacing Dickau. Frenzied play and free throws by Reed
closed the gap to 73-67 with 9:22 left in the game. But the C's were
just not able to do enough to either score or prevent the Cavs from
scoring, and when timeout was called with 7:35 left in the game, the
Cavs lead was 80-69.
Another timeout was called less than a minute later as the C's closed
the gap a bit, to 80-73. Following the timeout, Gerald Green and
Orien Greene both checked in, sharing the court with Scalabrine, Banks,
and Perkins. Gerald Green did ok his first trip defending Jackson
downcourt. Orien Greene rebounded a missed Cav free throw.
He was called upon to hit a tough shot clock three, to no avail.
After a fine defensive play by Perkins, the refs had to debate over who
had possession. Once more, it went against the Good Guys.
Both Green and Greene committed fouls within seconds of each other,
though Greene tried foolishly to leap in the air at a jump shooter.
Scalabrine finally made a three, hoping everyone would forget all the
misses. Kendrick Perkins woke people up with a nice
block. Timeout was called with 2:25 left in the game and
the Cavs lead now 88-82. When play resumed, Reed and Gomes
returned, replacing Scalabrine and Perkins. On the ensuing play,
Reed hit the floor at midcourt going after the ball, and managed to
push it over to Banks, who dished off to Gerald Green for two.
Reed was rewarded the next trip up with a jump shot opportunity, which
he converted. But that was pretty much it, as the game ended with
the Cavs winning, 96-86.
COOKIES and CRUMBS
Cookies go to:
The starting lineup for it's first 6 minutes of play.
Tommy Heinsohn for being as nice to the refs as he's been all season.
Paul Pierce for passing the ball when he was supposed to.
Encourage this.
Crumbs left for:
The bench, which at one point was shooting 10%. Unacceptable,
even in preseason.
Brian Scalabrine, for those boneheaded threes. At least Antoine
had style.
Doc Rivers, who still waits too long to pull guys who aren't playing
well or smart. Like Scalabrine.
The overall play was uneven all throughout--I still don't know if this
is a good team that sometimes plays badly, or a bad team that sometimes
plays well. I'm willing to chalk some of it up to nerves,
preseason, etc. But by Friday, I expect to see things level out a
bit. The next game is on Friday night, a "home" game in
Manchester, NH against the Toronto Raptors at 7:30pm.
And that's the view from the doghouse.