SB Nation NBA Playoffs -- Semifinal Round
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Led by LeBron James, Cleveland was the best team all season, but it didn’t matter against Boston. The Celtics finished off the Cavaliers in Game 6 Thursday night, sending LeBron and company home for the summer with a 94-85 win. Read more at Fear The Sword and CelticsBlog.
The end of a season is never easy for a sports fan, especially if the final loss comes in the playoffs. So one could blame the of gloom and doom among Cleveland fans following the Cavs' season-ending 94-85 loss at Boston.
Fear The Sword, SB Nation's Cavaliers blog, poignantly channeled what many Cavs fans must be thinking right now about both the present and future:
Cavaliers fans, the pot of gold will, for another year at least, continue to rest just over that hill up ahead, the hill we can see, but never seem to completely scale. But for now, darkness has again fallen on a season, a season that both began, and ended, with a loss to Boston.
It is over, and whether or not Mike Brown will still be our coach after this,cor whether LeBron James will stay or go after this…those are questions for another day.
The question that weighs on every Cavaliers fan right now is will LeBron James wear a Cleveland uniform next season? Like many of its brethren, Fear The Sword, does not have the energy to address that right now.
Tonight, I need your forgiveness, because I cannot write anymore about this game right now. If you think that is irresponsible from someone who writes often and voluminously for this site, I can only fall back on this: I am a Cavaliers fan, and tonight, I am disappointed and a little heart-sick.
There will be a tomorrow, for you, for me, and for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Will tomorrow and the days, week and months that follow include LeBron? No one knows.
Boston, MA (Sports Network) - The Boston Celtics are moving to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years. LeBron James is headed to the off-season again without a championship and has possibly played his last game as a member of the Cavaliers.
Kevin Garnett had 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Celtics beat Cleveland, 94-85, in Game 6 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Rajon Rondo contributed 21 points, 12 assists and five steals for Boston, which gained the 4-2 series victory by winning the final three games.
James was limited to 3-of-14 shooting in Tuesday night's 120-88 loss. Two nights later, he turned the ball over nine times, but still finished with a triple-double of 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists.
The Akron native, the top overall pick by the Cavs in 2003 and the two-time reigning NBA MVP, is due to hit the free agent market on July 1 along with other superstars such as Miami's Dwyane Wade, Toronto's Chris Bosh and Atlanta's Joe Johnson. James has given no indication if he'll stay in his home state or head to another team. The Boston fans shouted "New York Knicks!" in the closing minutes, signifying a possible landing spot for James next season.
Slowed by an injury to his right elbow, James shot 11-of-35 over the final two games. The miscues by the Cavs also hurt, as they had 24 turnovers in Thursday's game, leading to 27 Boston points.
Paul Pierce scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half for the 2008 NBA champions, who will face Orlando in the East finals. The second-seeded Magic will have home-court advantage against Boston, which came into the playoffs seeded fourth. The Magic, who beat Boston in seven games in the conference semifinals last year, have won 14 straight games, including sweeps of Charlotte and Atlanta in the playoffs.
Mo Williams tallied 22 points for the top-seeded Cavaliers, who couldn't reach the conference finals for the second straight year. They lost in six games to Orlando in 2009.
It also means another year of title disappointment for Cleveland, a city that hasn't won a major sports championship since 1964, when the Browns captured the NFL crown. It's the longest drought for any city with at least three majors sports franchises. The Cavs made it to the 2007 NBA Finals before being swept by San Antonio.
(Sports Network) - You can blame it on the balky elbow, a shaky supporting cast or the numerous off-court distractions that follow the NBA's best player around on a daily basis.
Whatever the excuse, LeBron James will head to TD Garden tonight knowing his legacy in Cleveland is on the line, as the Cavs try and stave off elimination in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the underdog Boston Celtics.
Persistent rumors have James opting-out of his contract after the season for the lure of the bright lights in the big city, either New York or Chicago. So, the two-time reigning NBA MVP, who is coming off one of the worst playoff performances of his career during the pivotal Game 5 of the set in Cleveland on Tuesday, could be playing his last game in a Cavs uniform tonight.
Ray Allen went 6-of-9 from three-point range en route to 25 points in Game 5, as the Celtics used a balanced scoring attack and a strong defensive effort to rout the Cavaliers, 120-88, and take the 3-2 series advantage.
Paul Pierce, who had averaged just under 12 points in this series prior to Tuesday, added 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for Boston, which is on the verge of eliminating Cleveland from the postseason for the second time in three years.
Kevin Garnett posted 18 points and six boards, while Rajon Rondo had 16 with seven assists.
"We're a defensive team that can score the ball, and we have to hang our hat on that," Garnett said.
The Celtics now stand one game away from facing the Orlando Magic in the conference finals. Boston used its trademark defense to hold Cleveland to 41.2 percent from the field while winning the rebounding battle, 41-31.
"It was team defense," said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers. "I thought our guys -- Rondo, all of them -- they got into their space, they showed help the entire game. Every single guy was in the right spot the entire game, and I thought that was more than one individual. In terms of a group, this was one of our best defensive jobs."
Most notably affected was James, who ended with just 15 points and didn't record his first field goal until midway through the third quarter. He shot a miserable 3-of-14 from the field and was held under 20 points in a postseason game for the first time since scoring 12 on May 6, 2008 against these same Celtics.
"I think (the Celtics') defense had a bit to do with (my performance) because they're on the court and they're aggressive," James said. "I just missed a lot of shots I'm capable of making. You don't see it out of me a lot, so when you see it, it's a big surprise."
Shaquille O'Neal chipped in with 21 points, but the rest of the Cavs were largely held in check. Anthony Parker had 14 points, but Antawn Jamison and Mo Williams combined to shoot 7-of-18 and had nine points apiece.
"Tough game. It's a disappointing game," said Cavs head coach Mike Brown. "There was little that we did right throughout the course of the game. We can't dismiss this game. We have to look at it and see what we can do better next game. In Game 6, we'll learn a lot about ourselves, and that's what we have to get ready for."
The Cavs and Celtics split four games in the regular season while both clubs finished off their opening round opponents this year in just five games, as Cleveland dispensed of Central Division rival Chicago, and the Celtics sent the Miami Heat back to South Beach.
The teams have met four times previously in the postseason dating back to the 1975-76 season when Boston won the Eastern Conference finals over the Cavs in six games. The C's also won a first round series over Cleveland in 1984-85, and in the East semis in 2007-08. The Cavs only win in the postseason over Boston came in the East semifinals during the 1991-92 season, also a seven- game set.
A deciding Game 7, if necessary, will be back in Cleveland on Sunday.
The Cavaliers Quit At The End, Making This Loss Even Worse
Leave it to the brilliant Joe Posnanski to sum up the most bewildering part of the Cavaliers' Game 6 loss: the fact that they just quit in the last minute of the game. Sure, they were down nine, and a comeback was unlikely, but they didn't even fight until the end. They refused to foul Boston, then walked the ball up the court as if this was a regular-season game in mid-February. LeBron James didn't even touch the ball, and Cleveland's last possession of the season (and possbily LeBron's Cavs career) ended with Anderson Varejao of all people shooting a three.
It was truly a powerful, sad moment, and Posnanski summed it up so beautifully. This whole thing is a must read, but here's the best part.
May 14 10:31a by Mike Prada - 3 comments