Game 1 Slips Away

Monday night's Game 1 was a brutally ugly slugfest of defense between the Cavaliers and Celtics. Honestly, it reminded me of the days of Fratello-ball for the Cavaliers, which I guess was fitting considering he called the game for TNT. Offensively the Cavaliers were just atrocious shooting the ball, finishing at 30.7% from the field. Considering that and the fact that they only mustered 72 points, you would assume that they got hammered by the Celtics. But they only lost by four, with LeBron having his worst game in quite some time, going just 2-18 from the floor with 10(!) turnovers.

But the Cavs kept things tight all night long with their defense and somehow managed to stay in the game despite their shooting woes and LeBron's meager 12 points. They held Ray Allen scoreless for the first time in 11 years for him. But a loss is a loss. They now find themselves down 1-0 in a game that could have easily been theirs. I'm extremely disappointed in how this one turned out. And I'm still trying to figure out why they decided to not double-team Kevin Garnett when he was isolated against Joe Smith with the score tied and under a minute left in the fourth quarter. Of course he scored and then LeBron missed a layup at the other end. Ball game.

The Cavs will have to dig really deep on Thursday night to pull out Game 2. I don't expect the Celtics to play nearly as bad in that one. But I also expect LeBron to respond after this performance. The Cavaliers have been down 0-2 before and rallied to win the series, but I think that will be a tall order this time around. I just can't wait for Thursday night so I can get rid of the taste of this one. There's really nothing else worth rehashing from Tuesday night so I'm done.

It was a tough night for the King, but he will respond

In less important Cleveland sports news on Tuesday night, the Tribe did pick up a nice win in the opening game of their final series at Yankee Stadium. David Dellucci hit a pinch-hit 3-run home run off of the overhyped Joba Chamberlain to give the Tribe a 5-3 win. It wasn't the win I was really hoping for last night but I'll have to take it. The Tribe currently sits just 1-1/2 games back of the Twins even after their awful start.