Not So Fast...

I don't know how many of you read my short post from yesterday (don't be lazy, just scroll down!), but I may have gotten ahead of myself in my attitude towards the game.  In all honesty, I expected Cleveland to win in Boston last night.  Perhaps I underestimated the importance of Ben Wallace to the Cavs, but I thought that Cleveland had a significant advantage over Boston because of the injury to Kevin Garnett.  Add to that the way Cleveland had been playing all season (significantly better than the team that took last year's championship Celtics team to the brink of the seventh game last year) and the Celtics' uncharacteristic inconsistency for stretches of this season, and it looked to me like it was a game that Cleveland needed to win and would.  

In retrospect, I was probably hedging my bets like any true Red Sox/Cubs/Cleveland/Jazz/Mariners/etc. fan would (old habits die hard) so I could avoid the disappointment of the inevitable loss and let down, but that only partially accounts for my bad pick yesterday afternoon.  The truth is that while I knew both teams were very, very close and that the game likely would be as well, I leaned towards Cleveland because it's infinitely more pleasant for me to eat my own words when the Celtics win (I'm totally torpedoing myself here).  I'd also like to excuse myself on account of the fact that the majority of the media out there thought LeBron and the Cavs would win, but then I'd probably have to commit seppuku on the spot.  I'm a bit disappointed in myself for falling into such an easy trap and not realizing that the Celtics would protect their house and rise to the occasion, but I've learned my lesson and will sprint to the bench the next time my sub comes in... or something like that.

But enough apologizing for myself, let's talk about the game!  First of all, the defense against LeBron James and therefore the Cavaliers as a whole was spectacular from start to finish.  The Celtics were physical, aggressive and energetic for the first time in a week, hounding LeBron wherever he went.  Rotations were crisp, help always seemed to be on time, and aside from some extremely hot shooting by Mo Williams (I still have a sinking feeling that this guy will KILL the Celtics at least once in the playoffs), the Celtics did a great job of disrupting Cleveland's offense.  The Cavs did shoot a respectable 45% from the field and 50% from behind the three-point line, but any time you force LeBron freaking James into 5-15 shooting and almost as many turnovers (4) as assists (5) or rebounds (6), then you deserve some recognition.

The defense last night was good, but the offense was what carried the Celtics to victory.  Against a defense that rivals the Celtics in most categories, the Celtics shot 54% from the field and compiled 31 assists on 45 field goals.  Most impressively, the Celtics took great care of the basketball last night, coughing the ball up only eight times for a paltry nine points for the Cavaliers.  While Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo deserve the bulk of the credit for taking care of the ball and running the Celtics' offense (19 assists and only three turnovers combined), Stephon Marbury deserves a nod of approval for his role in shoring up the Celtics' biggest weakness this year.  Although he's still knocking off the rust from his year-long hiatus, Marbury did a great job during his time on the floor, dishing out three assists in 16 minutes while only turning the ball over once.  While those aren't eye popping stats to say the least (especially when you throw in the 1-5 shooting to go with it), Marbury played well within the offensive system and has already improved the ball movement of the Celtics' second unit.  A lot of what I saw Marbury do didn't appear in the box score after the game, however one noticeable area of improvement did show up in the form of a "0" in Eddie House's line under turnovers.  I'm trying not to get excited too soon, but I can't help but feel like Marbury could be (strangely enough) just what the doctor ordered for the Boston Celtics this year.  

Oh yeah, and then there was Leon Powe.  Once again making his case for the put-me-in-coach award this year, Powe came up huge last night off of the bench, exploding for 20 points on 9-11 shooting, 11 rebounds and one huge block on Mo Williams down the stretch.  The undersized power forward from Cal punished the Cavaliers for relentlessly trapping Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and the other perimeter players for the Celtics, finishing strong around the hoop time after time and always appearing in the best spot for his teammates to find him.  In perhaps his best game since last June's NBA Finals where Powe exploded in similar fashion, Leon proved to be invaluable last night and contributed as much as anyone did to Boston's victory.

To say that Leon Powe made the most of his opportunities would be an epic understatement.  After Glen Davis was ejected for a flagrant foul on Anderson Varejao in the second quarter (which, by the way, was a hard foul but not worth an ejection.  At least it shouldn't be if Zydrunas Ilgauskas is allowed to keep playing after he instigated a scuffle after the play by bumping Davis into the crowd of photographers underneath the hoop).  This made the Celtics razor thin at power forward, as Boston was already playing without Kevin Garnett and Brian Scalabrine (I'll let you guys debate who of those two is more important to the team, har har).  But Powe stepped up in a big way, playing his heart out for 26 minutes (his season average is 16 per game, by the way).  Though Leon surely wouldn't have been as productive without his teammates creating opportunities for him, Powe deserves more adulation and respect than he'll get for doing his job flawlessly and helping his team to victory (on a related note, why the hell doesn't he start when KG is out or get more minutes off the bench all the time?).

I said yesterday afternoon that this game would have atmosphere and intensity, but ultimately would be only one of 82, mattering as much as a Tuesday night game against the Grizzlies.  Although I said that before the Celtics won, I'm still sticking to that sentiment despite the rest of the sports media hyping this game as a huge statement win for the Boston Celtics.  I know, I know, everything counts in a playoff race this tight, but getting too high or too low on any one game is a recipe for let-downs and stumbles down the stretch of this season.  Sure, the Celtics have put the onus back on the Cavaliers to play harder down the stretch and to defend their home court when these two teams meet again on a Sunday afternoon five weeks from now, but realistically, Cleveland was already going to do that.  Now they just have that much more motivation to focus and maintain their intensity throughout the rest of their regular season games.  Is this what the Celtics really want?

Don't get me wrong, it was great to see Boston come out with some serious championship swag and put Cleveland in their place on national TV, but winning this game doesn't mean that the Celtics will beat the Cavaliers in May.  There's still a long way to go between now and then, and Boston will have to work just as hard if not harder than Cleveland to emerge victorious once again.  While it was reassuring to see the Celtics contain LeBron without James Posey, anybody who follows the NBA even a little bit knows that he and the Cavaliers will be back bigger and better the next time these two clubs meet.  That's the bad news, but fortunately, the Celtics have more room to improve at this point than Cleveland does.  If (and keep in mind, this is a big IF) Kevin Garnett can come back to full strength and Stephon Marbury continues to improve and play within his role in the Celtics' offense, then Boston could be well on his way to another championship.

Keep Your Eyes on the Road

The Celtics have the Kings tonight in Boston, which should be an easy win for the NBA's best team, right?  You'd think so, but these are the types of games that can kill you as a team for a variety of reasons.  Most people call a game like this a "trap game," and even the most professional and disciplined of teams can fall victim to them at times throughout an 82 game season.  I don't think it will happen to the Celtics tonight, but in the NBA, as Kevin Garnett can tell you, "anything is possible!!!!!!!!!"

In my mind, the main reason that there are trap games in the NBA is because even the worst teams are still talented enough to rise to the occasion on any given night and topple even the mightiest of titans (even Jordan's Bulls lost every once in a while).  So even though the Kings are an abysmally bad team (they're worse than the Warriors AND the Clippers for cryin' out loud), they could still play spoilers tonight and end the Celtics' winning streak at 8.  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again, and if that blind squirrel has Kevin Martin to shoot and make plays for it, I'm not prepared to rule anything out.  

While I don't believe that the Celtics will lose this evening, there are a few specific reasons that do give me pause and may be bordering on cause for concern.  As I said, the first reason to be wary is Kevin Martin.  Now he may be inflated by the good-player-on-a-bad-team (for further case studies see Zach Randolph circa 2006) to a certain degree, but this kid can flat out play, and despite his funny looking form can fill it up with the best of them in the league.  He's been hobbled by injuries this year and is languishing in the purgatory that is Sacramento, California, but he can still be effective even against some of the Association's toughest defenses (against Cleveland last night Martin posted 35/7/7 on just 17 shots).

Secondly, the Kings lost to Cleveland last night and had to endure a triple-double from LeBron James and an astounding 43/8/11 from Mo "I'm putting Cleveland over the top this year" Williams.  But the Kings only lost by seven points, and managed to hang 110 on the tough-as-nails Cleveland defense, showing that they can hang with some of the NBA's elite teams and players.  Now, I'm not calling this a moral victory (I'm not big on those in general), and frankly, I think that this game was only going to be as close as the Cavs let it be, but that kind of mentality is the crux of the trap game problem.  What if a few buckets here or there go the other way, or a crucial call goes for the Kings?  Sacramento could have easily won last night because of Cleveland's failure to take them seriously, and while it's unusual for the Celtics to underestimate an opponent, it has happened before (seven game series against the Hawks last year, anyone?  Even I counted the chickens before they hatched on that one...).

And finally, tonight's game is a shot at redemption for the Kings, who were obliterated 108-63 by the Celtics earlier this season in Sacramento (their rear ends are still a little red from the whupping they got back in December of 2008).  In their last meeting, the Kings shot 28% and made only 19 field goals in the game (that's the fewest in the shot-clock era in Kings history), got pounded on the glass 53-31 and turned the ball over 18 times which turned into 25 points for Boston.  That game was a smack-down of epic proportions, and after being embarrassed in front of the dozens of fans in ARCO Arena, you'd better believe that the Kings are going to give the Celtics their best shot tonight.

Normally, I'd also point to a nationally televised game against Detroit this Friday as a potential pitfall for the Celtics, however this team is too good to look ahead and the Pistons aren't the same team they were last year, so I doubt very much that the Celtics feel the same way about Detroit now as they did last year.  I fully expect the Celtics to win tonight and continue their streak of dominant play through this week and into next Thursday's match-up with the Lakers in Boston on February 5th.  Come to think of it, I'd say that next Sunday's early game against McHale's Navy (that's the Minnesota Timberwolves, by the way) is a much better trap game scenario for the Celtics, because the Wolves are more talented than the Kings and have been playing great basketball since the New Year.  Oh yeah, and they have Al Jefferson and co. who could have a classic "revenge game" against their former team.