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Photo: John Kuntz/The Plain Dealer
Rajon Rondo was in downright domination mode in tonight's first half, and there seemed to be no stopping him. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were flashing double digit halves as well. On the other side, LeBron James was struggling with his shooting, missing several layups and neglecting to take outside shots. The supporting cast wasn't doing much better either. With a lack of effort on defense and creativity on offense, the wine and gold found themselves down double digits at halftime. That's when Mo Williams seemingly subconsciously said, "Two can play at that game!"
Two can play that unstoppable point guard game (not just Rondo), two people have the ability to carry this team (not just LeBron), and that's exactly what number two did in a 14-point third quarter headlined by Mo's first dunk as a Cavalier and the corresponding surge the Cavs went on to close out the game from that point forward. It proved to be one of if not THE most clutch two pointer of the Cavaliers' season to this point. The wine and gold avoided a potentially catastrophic game one loss and the loss of homecourt, and they had a chance to do it for no other reason than #2.
I can't quite put my finger on what went so horribly wrong for the Cavaliers in the first half other than to say "Rajon Rondo happened". Mo Williams, Delonte West, and whoever else took a turn on the Celtics point couldn't keep Rondo out of the paint. Even worse, the Cavalier bigs were not there to help on defense, and when they were, Rondo would kick it to a Boston post for a basket or a foul. Rondo was responsible for 35 of the team's 54 points at the break, not counting foul shots made by others. Kevin Garnett also looked pretty fresh with 10 points, and Paul Pierce had 8 quick ones to start the game before cooling down considerably.
Some of the blame has to fall on Mike Brown and the coaching staff for the rough start. Boston controlled tempo and made it a slow-paced affair, exactly where they thrive. The Cavs seemed to be confused about their rotations early. Zydrunas Ilgauskas was the team's first sub, yet he only played five minutes without making an impact. Brown went ten deep in the first half, but he was rewarded for going to J.J. Hickson, who had seven first half points. J.J. and Delonte with 8 in the first half performed the task of keeping the Cavaliers within striking distance. Without their efforts, the team might have been in a twenty point hole.
Mike Brown's chronicled weakness is in-game adjustments, but to his credit, he went into the half and came out with Anthony Parker taking the Rondo assignment. The result? After 19 first half points and 6 assists, Rondo scored just 8 points to go with another 6 assists in the second half. Cleveland was able to sag off Rondo and protect the paint better with AP's size. They also made Rajon put the shot up instead of distributing, and the Cavs got several key deflections by West and Parker when he tried to force passes inside. It also helped that they made KG a volume scorer and Pierce went deathly cold, missing 12 of his last 13 shot attempts.
No question though, the Mo Williams dunk changed the momentum of this game in one rim-shattering second. On first look, I just thought Pierce had stuffed him at the rim and knocked it out of bounds, but I was pleasantly surprised when I heard, "Moooo Williams" from the Q's speakers. Mo stared Pierce down after the smash over top of him, and the team responded with a 21-9 run starting with that dunk to close out the quarter and a 43-24 closeout of the game post-dunk. I absolutely love Mo's swagger when he plays the Celtics, and he has had some big games against them in his short time with the Cavs.
The fourth was all about LeBron with some other key plays from the supporting cast mixed in. LeBron showed that he can still attack the bucket at will on this team, and that Tony Allen, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Marquis Daniels, et al cannot stop him. LeBron was incredibly crafty with his elbow obviously bugging him a bit. Take for instance the play where he spun around, knocked a defender down, missed a shot attempt on the other side of the basket and tapped it back in just before the shot clock expired. In addition, he did hit a couple of rhythm threes that showed he can still hit from long range with that elbow. Add in the foul trouble he created for Glen Davis, Rasheed Wallace, and Rajon Rondo, and it was a "quiet" 35 point, 7 rebound, 7 assist display for the King, hushing most of the elbow talk.
Final praise goes to Shaquille O'Neal, who had some key plays late in this game. He only played 20 minutes because of foul trouble, but he had 6 of his 11 points in the final quarter, including one of the most important plays of the night, rebounding his own miss twice and finally tapping the runaway ball home to give the Cavs a five point lead with one minute to go, setting LBJ up for the knockout punch, a three pointer on the very next possession. Even more essential though may have been his hard foul of Rajon Rondo late in the fourth, a clear message foul. Why it wasn't done two or three quarters earlier I do not know, but I do know that it will definitely have Rondo looking for Shaq every time he enters the key, wondering whether or not he could be flattened.
 goes to: Mo Williams. No doubt here, Mo Williams saved the Cavaliers from a deep wound they would have suffered by losing homecourt and the series opener. His 14 point third, capped by his Gotti hammer over Pierce, sparked the Cavaliers, and they never looked back. Gotti scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting and added 5 rebounds with 6 assists in 40 minutes.
Team Grade: C+
Playing some of their most uninspired ball of the whole season, the Cavaliers limped through the first half offensively and permitted the Celts to shoot 54% and Rajon Rondo to control the tempo of the game. But, they held Boston to just 34% shooting in the second half and finished with a 49% clip themselves. One key for the wine and gold was their lack of three point shooting (4-of-12) and plentiful foul shooting (21-of-31). For Boston, Rondo was the only one who could get to the line as Pierce, KG, and Allen combined for two foul shots. The teams finished even with 41 rebounds a piece, and the Cavs won the turnover battle 16-11.
Game 2 is Monday night at the Q. In that game, expect Mike Brown to waste no time in going to the bigger bodies on Rondo if Mo cannot do the job. In turn, expect more from Ray Allen and Paul Pierce to make the Cavs pay for putting Mo Williams, a much smaller guy, on him.
All for one. One for all. 11 to go.
Kirk
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