Cavs 108, Celtics 88

Another day, another double-digit lead blown by the Celtics. It seriously is becoming very frustrating to watch this team.

I didn’t have high expectations when the C’s are missing a key component of their team – Paul Pierce was sidlined with an injury. But, when you have an 11 point lead on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who in my opinion are the BEST team in the NBA post-trade deadline, you don’t expect Boston to end up losing by 20.

(Begin Commish Celtic Rant)

And its sad too – it was a game where Rajon Rondo was poised to have a Steve Nash-esque night (14 points and 8 assists at HALF). The three guard offense employed by the Celtics tonight (Rondo, Allen, and Marquis Daniels) looked to have the Cav’s scratching their heads. But, there was no support from the bench again. Take a look at this comparison and it wraps up how the game went:

Celtics Bench:
Rasheed Wallace,  18 min, 3-8 FG,  9 points, -12 +/-
Glen Davis, 16 mins, 1-5 FG, 2 points, -12+/-
Tony Allen, 15 min, 3-8 FG, 8 points, -15 +/-
Nate Robinson, 17 mins, 2-6 FG, 7 points -14 +/-

Cavs Bench:
Anderson Varejao: 30 mins, 6-7 FG, 14 points, +18 +/-
Delonte West: 32 mins, 3-6 FG, 7 points, +27 +/-
JJ Hickson, 22 mins, 4-6 FG, 8 points, +27 +/-

Believe me when I say this – something radical has to change in Boston. The Tony Allen experiment? Scrap it. He’s had Ricky Davis-esque amount of chances to step up and perform. Rasheed is not the old Rasheed – he’s not getting down low and using his body to contribute. Nate Robinson should not have double the rebounds that Rasheed Wallace had in comparable minutes.

This one also falls on the coach, as well. I like Doc Rivers a lot, but your starters weren’t in foul trouble and with the exception of Rondo, they averaged around 29 minutes a game. As mentioned above via the stat sheet, your team is not deep. Go with your stars…

(Fin)

Nice game for LeBron with 36 pts / 7 reb / 9 ast, and Anderson Varejao stepped up big for the injured Shaq (thumb). Varejao had 14 points and 10 rebournds off the bench, but played some pretty impressive defense from the second half onwards. I wasn’t exactly impressed with Antawn Jamison’s play – 9 points and 4 turnovers – but I need a larger sample size of games to see if he is going to be that component that pushes the Cavs to the title.  I think he will be part of the solution and not the downfall, in my opinion.

Elsewhere in the NBA:

Nuggets 127, Warriors 112

With George Karl at home getting treatment for cancer, the Nuggets showed their support by collecting a win on the road against the Golden State Warriors. While Denver has surpassed all expectations against the NBA’s elite, they have had a lot of trouble against sub-500 teams all year.

Not on this night. Chauncey Billups outshot Stephen Curry, with Billups scoring 37 to Curry’s 30. Still, very impressive games for the rookie from Davidson, who despite playing on a TRBL team gives the crowd something worth the ticket price to watch.

JR Smith exploded for the Nuggets with 25 points off the bench, and Carmelo Anthony added 27. Anthony Morrow (20 pts off the bench) and Monta Ellis (22 pts) rounded out the leading scorers for the Warriors.

Bucks 112, Pacers 110

Milwaukee – you are so lucky you won this game. Fouling Indiana twice while they were shooting threes? In the last 10 seconds? Are you kidding?

If Indiana was clutch (which they are certainly not this season) and they hit all 6 of their freebies, this one would have went to OT. When you give your opponent an opportunity to score 44 points from the free throw line, that’s a problem as well. But, Milwaukee managed to win another game and push their record over .500.

Andrew Bogut (15 points, 10 rebounds) , Brandon Jennings (18 points / 7 assists), and John Salmons (20 points) led the Bucks. Danny Granger’s 21 points helped lead the Pacers in the loss. The Bucks had 7 players in double figures, while the Pacers had 6. At least they are distributing the ball around…

This is the Commish, and I love TNT Thursdays.