Cavs Take It To Boston…Again

What a great day to be an Ohio sports fan, huh?  Evan Turner and the Buckeyes ran the Golden Gophers out of Indianapolis.  And our beloved Cavaliers chased the mangy Celtics out of Cleveland.

From the start, it really seemed like the Celtics were taking the Joshua Clottey – just cover your face and try not to get knocked out – approach into Sunday afternoon’s matchup.  But the Cavaliers prevailed in Pacquaio-like fashion with a 104-93 victory.

LeBron James began the afternoon as the Facilitator and picked up six assists before the end of the first half.  James opened up the third quarter in similar fashion but switched gears after getting poked in the eye by Kevin Garnett about midway through the period.  Cleveland’s King went off for 24 second half points while adding seven assists, eight rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals to the stat line.  He did, however, struggle from the charity stripe for much of the first half but was eventually able to find his groove.

Antawn Jamison spent much of the afternoon in foul trouble and was just 6-of-17 from the field for 15 points.  Stretch-4 added 12 boards in the double-double effort.  And Mo Williams knocked down four of his seven long-range attempts for 14 points while adding a steady six assists and five rebounds on the afternoon.

Anderson Varejao led the charge for the Cavalier bench and knocked down 6-of-8 attempts for 15 points.  The Wild Thing snatched six of Cleveland’s 17 offensive rebounds as the Cavaliers notched a season-high 25 second chance points.  Delonte West recorded just four points but contributed a team-best +22 efficiency rating while Jamario Moon posted a +14 rating.  Leon Powe, who can hardly run and/or jump, found a way to impact the game as he gave a solid six point-four rebound effort.  Mike Brown elected to go nine deep and was greatly rewarded from each of those nine guys against the Boston Celtics.

JJ Hickson did not have his best game on Sunday afternoon but I was most impressed with the Baby Bull’s tenacity to open the game.  Jeff Van Gundy and Marc Jackson had just finished talking about how Kevin Garnett was Hickson’s favorite player growing up and how Hickson was excited to be matched up against the Big Ticket.  But early in the first period, KG tried to punk our sophomore forward and gave him a nice little shove after the play.  Hickson didn’t sit back and take it but, instead, fired back at Garnett and (I believe) sent a message that he’s not going to back down from anybody.  That will be very important come playoff time.

And I love seeing them take it to the C’s even more than I love seeing them beat up on the Magic.  With the Celtics down about 12 points late in the fourth quarter, Garnett had his shot swatted by Anderson Varejao twice before drawing a questionable foul call.  Then he had the nerve to turn around and talk a bunch of junk to Andy before heading to the free throw line.  You’ve got to love beatin’ up on a guy who runs his mouth even when his team is getting pounded into the ground.

Anyways, Cleveland improved to 29-4 at the Q and 52-15 overall this season.  They’ll take on the Detroit Pistons in the Palace on Tuesday night.

SEVEN MORE DAYS UNTIL Z COMES HOME!