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Boston at Cleveland game 5, (2-2) 8 pm Tuesday

  • royal_k
    Hope everything turns out well for your dad devil. Stay positive and strong. Good luck to you and your family.

    BTW...congrats on the job. That's awesome!
  • hoops23
    mallymal614 wrote: I heard that Lebron has requested to guard Rondo. Any truth to that?
    He said he'd explore the option for Game 5 to see how it effected the game.
  • hoops23
    devil1197 wrote: As much as I love arguing with you guys, I'll be taking a break for awhile. My dad just was diagnosed with lung cancer so my time on here will be limited.

    Hopefully the Cavs can protect home court and Mo wakes up!

    GO CAVS
    I hope everything goes well devil, and as others have said, hopefully the Cavs can provide you and your dad a lot of time away from thinking about the awful disease.

    God bless.
  • hoops23
    Brian Windhorsts thoughts after Game 4 and heading into Game 5:
    BOSTON, Mass. -- Thoughts following the Cavs' 97-87 Game 4 loss to the Boston Celtics:

    • Shaquille O'Neal was upset after the game. He wanted to come back into the game in the fourth quarter after the Cavs fell behind when he got into foul trouble. During a timeout, Shaq went to the coaches. Mike Brown didn't put him back in. Shaq didn't talk to reporters afterward, likely because he was angry and probably didn't want to say something that might have been damaging.

    That's too bad.

    Rajon Rondo is playing very well and putting up numbers usually reserved for Hall-of-Famers.

    Tough luck.

    LeBron said it might be time for the Cavs to "explore" having him guard Rondo since Rondo's vanquished Mo Williams and a second-look at Anthony Parker didn't work as well as the first.

    That's nice of him.

    None of the above matters that much as to whether the Cavs will win the series with the Celtics. Oh, it will be written and talked about a great deal over the next couple of days. I'll probably address some of those issues more in depth. There's merit and analysis in there to be done.

    But all of it is secondary to the bigger issue the Cavs have created for themselves with an up-and-down four-game set thus far. It is still unclear whether the Cavs have within them the desire to win 10 more games. Sometimes it looks like a "yes" but quite often it looks like a "no."

    Most people, including yours truly, picked the Cavs to win this series in six games. That meant they would lose at least two. So for them to be at 2-2 is understandable. In reality, they did what they had to do this weekend and came home with the homecourt advantage back. Heck, Shaq and Parker both had pretty good games and getting the big man going has the potentially to pay off farther down the road.

    But beyond the tension over playing time, how to matchup with Rondo and the positives is the fact that the Cavs aren't playing like a team that intends to advance. Maybe not even a team that wants to advance.

    The Celtics did not play a great game on Sunday. They had the best player but collectively the Cavs executed nearly as well. In Game 2, the Celtics played very well as a team. It was understandable the Cavs lost that one. Not this time.

    Not when Kevin Garnett is beating people back off made baskets. Not when Rondo is getting rebounds after they bounce on the floor. Not when Anderson Varejao isn't leaving his feet as he's trying to get rebounds. Not when LeBron gets the corner turned and has a layup but instead passes the ball to the corner. Not when Rondo inbounds from the sideline with two seconds on the shot clock and then collects the rebound off the forced miss.

    The Cavs aren't going to make every hustle play; no one expects them to. They are called "50/50" balls for a reason. But to make virtually no hustle plays in Game 4 of a brutal playoff series is telling. Especially when they were just rewarded with a great win by doing all of those things two days before.

    No, that isn't how teams even win series; let alone championships. Forget anything else the Cavs have to deal with in the locker room. They have to deal with that first. Not just in Game 5 but in Game 6, too. And all that may come after it.

    • Believe it or not, Parker actually did a fair job handling Rondo. In the halfcourt, the Cavs weren't bothered by Rondo to a dangerous degree. He was 9-of-21, which is better than his career average but actually below what he was shooting in the previous three games. In fact, the Cavs' halfcourt defense was pretty good. Especially in the second half, when they held the Celtics to 38 percent shooting.

    That number is correct. Boston actually only scored 43 points in the second half. That is winning basketball. Come to think of it, giving up 97 points and 45 percent shooting overall on the road probably is good enough to win in many playoff games. Even with Rondo's 29/18/13, it is good enough to win.

    But it is not good enough to give up 23 fast-break points and 16 points off turnovers with zero second-chance points.

    The Cavs and Celtics actually had the same amount of assists: 19. Focusing on the defense and who guards Rondo isn't as important as it may seem.

    • Often in the postseason you will see the role players have strong games at home. This was seen in the Bulls' series with Jamario Moon. Tony Allen had one of those games for the Celtics today. Allen made six of seven shots and scored 15 points and made everyone forget that not only did Paul Pierce have another bad game when he wasn't even guarding LeBron as much, but Pierce looked afraid to shoot for most of the second half. Allen and Glen Davis were a combined 8-of-10 shooting with eight rebounds. The Cavs' bench didn't score in the first half and finished 3-of-12 with six total rebounds.
    But yeah, he's a homer lol..
  • just_a_swimmer
    The only reason Lebron said anything about Rondo was because somebody in the press conference asked him if he wanted to guard him. He gave a good answer, a well thought out answer IMO. All he said was he would do whatever the coaches or other guys wanted him to do but he also would be concerned with the matchup's if he did but said he would do whatever.
    Now everyone in the media and on here is acting like he called out to guard Rondo and that is not at all how his comments came about.
    What is he suppose to say when asked if he would like to guard Ronda..... No that would make me too tired.
  • SQ_Crazies
    • Shaquille O'Neal was upset after the game. He wanted to come back into the game in the fourth quarter after the Cavs fell behind when he got into foul trouble. During a timeout, Shaq went to the coaches. Mike Brown didn't put him back in. Shaq didn't talk to reporters afterward, likely because he was angry and probably didn't want to say something that might have been damaging.
    He should be upset. I have no idea WTF Brown was thinking there. Quite literally as soon as he went out, we lost our ability to get stops it seemed. They immediately started attacking the front of the rim. If you noticed, when he was in there that didn't happen--Rondo would come down towards the baseline, but always off towards one of the sidelines. The closer he gets to the rim, the more fucked we are in a number of ways. We brought ourselves back in and Shaq picked up number 5 in the 3rd. HAVE to sit him, and I thought maybe Andy would be a nice spark off the bench to cap off our little run to get back in it. But I think it might have been the first play after Shaq sat down that Rondo streaked right down the middle of the lane to the front of the rim for an easy catch and lay in. From that point on, the C's got what they wanted. Shaq's value is soooooo hidden from all these idiots who want him off the floor. It killed us when he went off the floor.
  • wildcats20
    I thought for sure MB would come back with Shaq at the under 6 timeout in the 4th.
  • 2quik4u
    SQ_Crazies wrote:
    • Shaquille O'Neal was upset after the game. He wanted to come back into the game in the fourth quarter after the Cavs fell behind when he got into foul trouble. During a timeout, Shaq went to the coaches. Mike Brown didn't put him back in. Shaq didn't talk to reporters afterward, likely because he was angry and probably didn't want to say something that might have been damaging.
    He should be upset. I have no idea WTF Brown was thinking there. Quite literally as soon as he went out, we lost our ability to get stops it seemed. They immediately started attacking the front of the rim. If you noticed, when he was in there that didn't happen--Rondo would come down towards the baseline, but always off towards one of the sidelines. The closer he gets to the rim, the more fucked we are in a number of ways. We brought ourselves back in and Shaq picked up number 5 in the 3rd. HAVE to sit him, and I thought maybe Andy would be a nice spark off the bench to cap off our little run to get back in it. But I think it might have been the first play after Shaq sat down that Rondo streaked right down the middle of the lane to the front of the rim for an easy catch and lay in. From that point on, the C's got what they wanted. Shaq's value is soooooo hidden from all these idiots who want him off the floor. It killed us when he went off the floor.

    footwedge disagrees
  • wes_mantooth
    Good luck devil....I know what you are going through...I lost my father to lung cancer about 5 years ago....prayers.
  • Hesston
    On the fence regarding Mike Brown I think Shaq should have been in there...they need to answer Tue night....THE pivital game in the series.
  • SQ_Crazies
    2quik4u wrote: footwedge disagrees
    LOL, no shit. Shaq could have a triple-double with 1 turnover and he'd run around citing 65% FT shooting and a turnover and how badly that is killing us. I'm telling you guys, he's setting it up so he can use Shaq as an excuse if the Cavs lose. Because he thinks he's a genius and buys into the false notion that the team that DOMINATED game 3 and had SEVEN fast break points needs to run like deer. When in reality, that is EXACTLY the kind of game the C's want to play.
  • 2quik4u
    haha
  • Footwedge
    devil1197 wrote: As much as I love arguing with you guys, I'll be taking a break for awhile. My dad just was diagnosed with lung cancer so my time on here will be limited.

    Hopefully the Cavs can protect home court and Mo wakes up!

    GO CAVS
    Prayers go out to you and your dad from the FootWedge family.
  • Heretic
    devil1197 wrote: Yeah, its been a crazy day. I graduated college on May 1st and he knew something was wrong but didn't tell anyone. My brother's one year wedding anniversary was May 2nd so they left for a vacation and my dad went to the doctor's this week. They waited until yesterday to tell us all together and he got the results from the tests back today.

    Oddly enough, I got my 1st major job offer today and accepted it. So its a bittersweet day.
    Hope the bad news part of this turns into good and your father comes out of this with health restored, man.
  • dave
    not doubt shaq should be upset, but didn't he draw his 5th on a pretty dumb foul where he could have just let a layup go? it was almost an and 1 i think. he needs to be a little smarter with some of his fouls, boston isn't going to put up 120pts, let a layup go if you have to.
  • SQ_Crazies
    dave wrote: not doubt shaq should be upset, but didn't he draw his 5th on a pretty dumb foul where he could have just let a layup go? it was almost an and 1 i think. he needs to be a little smarter with some of his fouls, boston isn't going to put up 120pts, let a layup go if you have to.
    I agree, but a few of his fouls were bail outs to protect the paint when guys got smoked too. The whole team needs to play with more intensity on defense. Even in the losses there have been stretches of it and we destroyed Boston during every stretch they put the effort forth. Either way, he hadn't fouled out--he needed to come back in at some point. Either that or leave him in until he fouls out. Don't waste him on the bench.
  • paul_banks
    Shaq needs to use a couple of his fouls on Rondo, getting his money's worth in the process. That might slow him down like it seemed to do in Game 1.
  • se-alum
    Cavs by 15 tonight.
  • vdubb96
    ^^^My god i hope your right!!!!!
  • 2quik4u
    Will Lebron guard Rondo?

    http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5180138&categoryid=2378529
  • SportsAndLady
    Can't wait for this game...I expect Cleveland to come out and dominate, but then again I expected that in game 2 (and it didnt happen) and I didn't expect that in game 3 (and it did happen) so who freakin knows.
  • just_a_swimmer
    I can't wait for this game.
    Go Cavs
  • thedynasty1998
    Tonight really scares me. There's no room for error and Lebron will be feeling plenty of pressure to respond. It's all on Lebron tonight (defensively and offensively).
  • I Wear Pants
    Cavs need to absolutely destroy them.
  • devil1197
    thedynasty1998 wrote: Tonight really scares me. There's no room for error and Lebron will be feeling plenty of pressure to respond. It's all on Lebron tonight (defensively and offensively).
    No, no its not.

    Its all on guys like Mo Williams and the bench tonight.

    We cannot have our two guards (West/Williams) go a combined 3 of 16 from the field.

    We also cannot have only 11 points from our bench either.