NBA Playoffs: LeBron’s Dunk
May 13th, 2008 at 8:57 amBy Chris
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In a game that featured King James telling his mother to sit down and be quiet (with some profanity mixed in for good measure) and a James dunk for the ages, the Cleveland Cavaliers ended the evening tied with the Celtics at two games piece.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, now they have to travel back to Boston for Game 5 and potentially for Game 7.
Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the Cavaliers from putting on a defensive performance that limited the Celtics to only 12 4th quarter points. Granted, a great deal of that had to with the fact Boston missed a number of open shots, but missed shots are as big a part of the game as rebounds and free throws, considering the goal of basketball is to actually outscore your opponent.
The Celtics Big 3 again struggled in Game 4, as the trio (Pierce, Allen, and Garnett obviously) shot 16-40 on their way to 43 combined points. For Garnett, the news is even worse — after scoring 13 points and grabbing 8 rebounds in the first, KG was limited to only 2 points and 2 rebounds in the second stanza.
That’s not exactly what I’d call “winning basketball,” but maybe that’s just me.
As for LeBron, his shooting woes were still present as he only connected on 7 shots out of 20 — however, James did have 13 assists. Of course, one of LeBron’s seven baskets could wind up being one of the signature plays of the 2008 NBA Playoffs.
The play I’m talking about is, of course, LeBron’s “No Regard for Human Life” dunk over the NBA’s defensive player of the year, Kevin Garnett.
While TNT’s Kevin Harlan may have went a tad overboard with the hyperbole (I don’t really think so but someone I was watching the game with did), the fact remains: KG got severely abused by the King and now he finds his squad tied with a team many thought they were superior to.
I guess the question is will Boston EVER win a game on the road during this little playoff run?
Rounding out the “offensive attack” for the Cavaliers (will either team break the century mark these last two-or-three games?) was Daniel Gibson with 14 points and Anderson Varejao who finished with 12 points and 6 rebounds while completely outplaying Kevin Garnett in the second half.
The question facing the Celtics is can they keep their home court advantage? Because of the playoff road game ineptitude they’ve shown, you have to believe the first time one of their playoff opponents steals the home court advantage, Boston will be in big trouble. Of course, the Celtics could never win one road game these entire playoffs and still win the World Championship.
Such are the benefits of being the best team during the regular season. Game 5 is Wednesday night in Boston.
