Celtics outslug ice-cold Cavs
LeBron James drove to the basket, the lane surprisingly clear. He reached out toward the rim, rolled the ball off his fingertips …
And missed.
Again and again (and one more time, when it was too late anyway), James’ shots went awry in the final minute, completing one of the worst nights of his career and giving the Celtics a 76-72 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Boston on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Boston.
“This was two heavyweights, just body-punching,” said Kevin Garnett, who scored 28 points to make up for an off night for the rest of Boston’s Big Three. “There was no finesse, no jabs, just an all-out, beat-down, defensive fight.”
Boston held James to 12 points on 2-for-18 shooting; only once in his career has he made fewer baskets. He missed three drives and a 3-pointer in the final minute, including the potential game-tying finger roll with 8.5 seconds left.
“I missed a lot of shots I know I can make,” James said, staring at the stat sheet incredulously after scoring just two points in the second half and missing his last six shots in all. “I missed layups. Those layups I’ve made my whole life.”
Paul Pierce and Ray Allen of the Celtics weren’t doing any bragging, either. Pierce scored four points on 2-for-14 shooting; combined with Allen’s 0 for 4 from the field for his first scoreless performance in his last 852 games since 1997. They matched the dud James put out there miss for miss.
“Me and Ray, we figure if we play him to a standstill … we give ourselves the best chance,” Pierce said. “He is not going to go 2 for 18 every game but, hey, we’re going to do our best to try to make him.”
At least Pierce could smile about it.
Despite the worst offensive playoff performance of his career, he drew two charging fouls against James and the Celtics protected the home-court advantage that helped win their first-round series against Atlanta in seven games and could take them all the way to their NBA-record 17th championship.
James scored Cleveland’s first basket and then missed his next 10 shots before driving for a layup that cut Boston’s lead to 66-65 with 5:34 left. He had nine rebounds, nine assists and 10 turnovers.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who shot 31 percent Boston led 68-65 when Daniel Gibson hit a 3-pointer to tie it with 3:18 left.
Ilgauskas made a jumper on a feed from James with 90 seconds left, then Garnett hit a fallaway to make it 70-all. Sam Cassell made two free throws to tie it 72-72; James missed again, but this time Ilgauskas was there to tip it in and tie the game. Garnett moved across the lane to give Boston back the lead, 74-72 as Cleveland called a timeout with 22 seconds left.
James found a lane to the basket, but his shot wouldn’t fall and James Posey was fouled after grabbing the rebound. He hit both free throws.
NBA admits shot was late
The NBA admitted Chauncey Billups’ 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter of Monday’s Detroit-Orlando playoff game should not have counted, but said referees weren’t allowed to review instant replay to determine that.
League president Joel Litvin also said the disputed shot, which gave Detroit a 78-76 lead in its 100-93 victory, could not have been replayed after the clock malfunction was discovered.
Billups was bringing the ball up the court for the Pistons when the clock froze at 4.8 seconds because of a problem with the arena’s timing system. After he made the shot, the game referees had to estimate how long the play took without the aid of replay because the league’s rules don’t allow for reviewing a play to see when the clock started.
“The referees followed proper procedure in addressing the clock malfunction by estimating the elapsed time and using their judgment ,” Litvin said.
McGrady has surgery
Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady had arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder and left knee.
Dr. Tom Clanton said that no structural damage was found in the ligament or cartilage of McGrady’s knee. Loose particles were removed from both the knee and the shoulder.