Celtics hold on to beat Cavs
The Celtics defeated the Cavs 103-100 yesterday at the Garden in a game that turned out a lot closer than it should have, thanks to another sloppy second half by Boston.
I had the privilege of attending this game, and was fully prepared to leave the Garden in a state of depression after watching what was a 22-point lead reduced to a two-point lead with less than a minute to go in the fourth, a quarter in which the Celtics shot 26% and were outscored 34-18. Fortunately, Brandon Bass saved the day with an impressive block on Dion Waiters with 10 seconds remaining.
Despite a questionable behind-the-back pass into the first row of stands during crunch time, Jordan Crawford finished with an impressive stat line of 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Avery Bradley was efficient, scoring 18 points and shooting 50% for the game. Bradley also continued his dominance on the glass with 8 rebounds.
Kris Humphries was solid off the bench with 10 points and 3 rebounds.
Jeff Green. Where do I begin? Green was an impressive 5-8 in the first half, scoring 15 points. In the second half, however, he did a disappearing act and was 0-4 with 4 points. I’ll speak on this in more detail in a separate post later on, but let me just sum it up as quickly as possible. Jeff Green needs to do more. He needs to demand the ball down the stretch of close games and he needs to be our closer. Paul Pierce isn’t walkin through that door folks, and if we want to stop losing leads in the fourth quarter we need a go-to guy to help us put teams away. Jeff Green can and should be that guy, but I’m just not seeing any sense of urgency from him in the times that we need him most.
Got any pictures? Would really loved to see them.