Suffocating

Posted by Mike Giardi May 9, 2008 at 9:05 am

Here we go again. The Celtics were on the verge of becoming choking dogs a week ago. This morning, they’re halfway home to a Round 2 win over Cleveland, and all is right in the world of fandom (yes, I’m making up words) and media.

I can understand the positivity. After a slow start, the C’s dominated the Cavs, allowing me to flip back to the Sox game at various points. The team defense - the thing that allowed the Celts to win 66 games in the regular season - has been terrific in the first two games of this series.

In particular, I appreciate how Doc has this team defending LeBron. He’s letting Cleveland’s version of the “Big Z” beat ‘em, but making the King work hard for everything. Kendrick Perkins is essentially playing a one-man zone, waiting for LeBron to come into the lane. They’ve run Kevin Garnett at him over and over (there isn’t a more active big man than KG). And if Garnett is on the wrong side of the floor, its somebody else. Powe. P.J. Brown. The team trainer. Greg Dickerson. I mean, SOMEBODY is always running at the league’s top scorer. Combine that with very good on the ball defense from either Paul Pierce and James Posey, the two men with the daunting task of containing LBJ, and you can understand why the C’s have been so successful in this series.

Of course, what makes it tougher is that LeBron couldn’t toss a rock into the ocean if he was on a boat in the middle of the Atlantic (its an oldie, but goodie). Every jumper is long, he’s settling for deep 3’s and when he does go to the hoop, the greatest finisher on the planet (Kobe is #2) can’t convert a twisting layup. I don’t expect this to last. But I didn’t expect LeBron to lay an egg on Wednesday and again last night. The weight of the world…or at least Cleveland…will be on his shoulders Saturday.

My one caution: the C’s were at this same point with the Hawks after two games. In fact, the Green team was more impressive in that series than they have been in this one. Then the C’s went to Atlanta and got tight and made a short set last the full 7. So let’s not go making plans for the Eastern Conference finals until we see how the next 48 hours turn out.