C's fend off late rally, earn split in Cleveland

By Peter F. Stringer
Celtics.com
May 4, 2010

CLEVELAND - As they marched back into the locker room after knocking off the Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena Monday night in Game 2, the Celtics were fired up about tying up the series 1-1. But they certainly weren't happy about nearly giving away a 25-point lead in the fourth quarter.

As the guys turned into the locker room, one player's voice could be heard above the others.

Doc Rivers said he needed more from Wallace after Game 1, and Sheed delivered with an emotional and effective performance in Game 2.
Gregory Shamus/NBAE/Getty

"Yeah, we won the game but we've got to finish the [expletive] game off!"

By the time the media entered 15 minutes later, the mood had lightened dramatically, and why not? The Celtics are returning home tied with the Cavaliers 1-1, and if they hadn't blown a double-digit lead in Game 1, they could have very well been flying home early Tuesday morning with a 2-0 series lead.

"I'll take it. We had a shot in Game 1. But we can't live in the past," Rivers said. "You can't get it back. Nothing you can do about it."

Heading home to Boston with a split from the road, Rivers has to like his team's position. Game 3 is Friday night at the Garden.

If you can forget about that 15-0 Cleveland run over about six minutes in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Celtics might have played their best end-to-end game of the season on Monday night. Rajon Rondo tied his postseason career high with 19 assists, while Rasheed Wallace (7-for-8, 17 points) had his finest hour as a Celtic, knocking down 3s and doing work in the post to give the C's a huge lift in the first half.

"Coach called upon him to step up and he did," said Paul Pierce. "That's the reason we brought him in. He can be an X-factor in this type of series. He has championship experience."

Ray Allen, who dropped 10 of his 22 points in the third quarter as the Celtics built the bulk of their lead, spent a good amount of time defending NBA MVP LeBron James. With Pierce, Garnett and Tony Allen all facing foul trouble heading into the third quarter, Ray gave the Celtics a much-needed lift as the team was running out of options for how to keep James at bay.

Things certainly got hairy as the Cavs made their late charge, knocking 15 points off a 25-point Celtics lead that stood at 91-66 with 9:08 to play. The Cavaliers started their run with a James threeball and held the C's scoreless over the next 5:39.

Pierce said that the Celtics stopped moving the ball on offense, and admitted that the team may have gotten a bit tight when things stopped going their way in the middle of the fourth.

"Once we swung it around and got a couple of layups we were able to put the game away," Pierce said. "You know they're gonna make a run, you can't expect calls on the road. Everything was pretty much against us and that's the way it should be when you're playing against the best team in the NBA, against the MVP in his house."

As for James, he was held to pedestrian numbers for most of the night before finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, impressive figures for most mortals but decidedly below average for a man who'd just officially been named league MVP by the Commissioner just hours before.

James came alive during the run and resurrected the Q's crowd in the process, but at the end of the day, the Celtics staved off the Cavs' comeback attempt, which had it been successful, would have rivaled the Celtics' epic 2008 NBA Finals Game 4 rally.

"I don't know if we handled it well but we sustained and got stops. I told the guys that the clock is still moving. We just need somebody to make one shot," Rivers said. "That got us going again. You knew they were going make a run and they got one."

The C's had a third quarter run of their own, as they hit 10 of their first 13 field goal attempts of the second half and outscored Cleveland 28-9 in the first 10 minutes of the third.

After giving away a Game 1 lead on Saturday night, the C's were far more physical in Game 2. Perhaps they even more liberal than Rivers had hoped when he said after Game 1 that he wanted his charges not to worry about fouling out; by halftime, Paul Pierce, Tony Allen and Kevin Garnett all had three personals.

But the physical style seemed to stymie the Cavs' offense, particularly that of Mo Williams, who burned the C's in Game 1 but was bottled up on Monday. Williams was just 1-for-9 from the field for four points to go with his seven assists.