Inconvenient Truths

solid points but there’s a definite slant on both sides. The Cav’s positives are in the present. The C’s positives are about last year and what ‘could be’ this year (healthwise and stealing a win in CLE).

The Cavs are hungry for it. The C’s need to show they still have that fire because it wasn’t evident yesterday. We’ll have a much better idea if the C’s intend to repeat when we see how they handle their opponents in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

that was a really cheap shot by Ray – even eight year old kids know not to do that. in light of the fact that Ray is usually the classiest guy on the court, there must have been some extreme frustration going on.

Celtics – Rocky
Cavs – Clubber Lang

Apollo Creed: “See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man.”

Celtics were not nearly as motivated in this game as the Cavs though. That will change in the playoffs.

The league and the media want a Kobe-LeBron final. It’s a marketeer’s dream in a slow economy. They really, really, really want it. Really.

there may not be a full blown ‘conspiracy’ Jeff but after the Donaghy scandal, everything that goes on in this league is circumspect—-particularly when it comes to the refs and the lack of league action about them.

the poor quality of officiating in the playoffs last year and the regular season this year has put the C’s in a position to be supplanted as the ECF and World champs. Nothing too obvious such as screwing them over in too many games where they drop to the 4th seed but enough to put them out of reach for the 1 seed overall and in the East. The Cavs and Lakers had terrific seasons for themselves no doubt about it and the C’s blew some games they should have won — refs or no refs — but there were few losses that were highly questionable.

Even if the league itself isn’t involved, there’s more to the Donaghy mess than the refs and league are letting on.

It’s not really the end of the world for us Cs. What happened at the game is really really disappointing but will serve as a good wake up call for us. And as Ray said will serve as a good motivational tool if ever they do meet again. A end of regular season game is completely different from a playoff game. It’s going to be completely different the next time they meet. Time to get every job done from this point. Go Boston Celtics and get that no.18!!

we have to give the cavs their due-they are very good. if we beat them this team ranks way up on the scale. meanwhile, we have to get ready for round one and we don’t need a seven game series. all the talk about how williams helping the cavs underscores how delonte has matured into a fearsome player. i like varajao’s hustle and i don’t like his flopping and acting but then he has a great role model in lebron.

are pretty much certain that they’re championship or at least finals bound. One of their fans had LeBron holding a trophy on one of their signs. And I’d love to say they’re counting their chickens too early, but are they? I mean, no other teams are really making a case for going to the finals besides the Lakers and Cavs. They’re the two best teams in the league. I’d love to discredit them because it’s frustrating to see the Celtics lose, but those two teams will more than likely be playing in the finals unless the Celtics somehow establish their impeccable defense of last year within a few games. Here’s to hoping.

I agree with all of your points, except for this not being a meaningless game…it was for the celtics, and they can throw it out the window now…teams are even in the season series and havent played a playoff game yet…

It did mean alot to the cavs and lebron, seems like they wanted done to us what was done to them in orlando…and maybe we needed it, actually we clearly needed it.

The cavs are a great team, and if/when they get by us, Ill be rooting for them over the lakers

good summary. I’m a die hard celtics fan and I want us to win number 18 badly but deep down I don’t see it happening. We’ve pretty much come up short in every major test we’ve had in the regular season ( Lakers, Cavs, Spurs at home, Orlando) and the injuries are a major concern heading into the playoffs. As I’ve posted before, all the signs are there for us not repeating but I don’t think anyone wants to believe them. I’m not trying to be negative but merely saying that we’re not the dominant team that we were last year and conversely the Cavs look like we did last year.

Watching Anderson Varejao is like watching line play in football. He commits an infraction on every play and it’s simply a question of which ones get called.

There is no doubt that the officials are influenced, not only by a home crowd, but also by what they know the league wants. If they let something go that LeBron does, they won’t be reprimanded.

That’s just the way it is.

we just haven’t seen that as much this year with KG shelved. but the celts do that stuff all the time after crushing other teams.

we’re also not used to being on the receiving end because the celtts don’t usually lose by 30+ on the road.

what goes around, comes around, whether for the celtics yesterday or for other teams in the playoffs. any complaining after the game was about shirking blame for a bad performance. we have done exactly the same thing many times since KG arrived. other teams complained all the way to our championship, and who cares?

The only way we get by cleveland in the playoffs (hell, if we’re even good enough to get there) is if we play an epic perfect game in cleveland, or the cavs just flat out choke….they control their own destiny and will more then likely win it all this year

I think it is a little hypocritical of the Celtics to complain about the Cavaliers’ celebrations on the bench. The Celtics of the past 2 years have been a bastion of excessive celebration and taunting, but while the Cavaliers’ is mostly contained to celebrating with each other, the Celtics is usually taunting the other team and showing them up. And, as a person who has watched probably 77 Cavaliers games this season, I can tell you that the Cavs have been doing this since November. They didn’t just do it because the Celtics were in town. I don’t think its a big deal, though, because if the Celtics needed that celebration to motivate them to play hard against Cleveland, then there are clearly bigger issues at hand for the boys from Boston.

How long have the Cavs been using this song as their ‘celebration athem’? I can’t help but see the connection between Gino and this.

If so, this is another thing that teams are doing in attempt to replicate last years champs along with team unity and defense.

before these 2 teams might/will meet again. 2 full rounds for each team well tell us a lot about the teams and how they are playing. We all assume, understandably, that these are the teams that will meet in the ECF, but a ton of basketball has to be played by both teams before that can happen. The C’s would be wrong to focus on what they need to do to beat the Cavs at this point, they need to take care of business in the 1st round period. If they do that, then again in the 2nd round. By that point, they’ll either be playing well and will have advanced, or not. That will be the time to assess if the Cavs can be beaten.

Remember, the C’s beat the Hawks in their last regular season game last year not even playing their main guys, then struggled to put them away in 7. I don’t expect the Cavs to have that much difficulty, but their historic home record, best in the league, etc. all goes out the window once playoff basketball starts. Mo Williams has never played in important games, so that is still a bit of unknown. Let’s put this behind us, get ready for the Sixers, Bulls, or Pistons, and enjoy the ride. Plenty of time to think/worry about the Cavs later.

I remember a Lakers game from (I’m almost certain) ’69. Sunday afternoon, near the end of the season, nationally televised — a big deal in those days. The Celts, reigning champs, though fighting injuries and age throughout the season, lost by over 60 points — in Boston. After the game, Red Auerbach, steamed and embarassed, program still rolled in his fist, came down from the stands and stomped across the court into the locker room to chew out the team.

The Celts went on to win the title. Against the Lakers.

If Garnett and Powe are healthy this tream could do the same.

And yesterday’s blowout will mean little.

go elbow someone in the groin.

Don’t know about you but Cleveland should not be handed the the trophy in the reg. season. They have to earn it. As someone said earlier it is 0-0 in the playoffs, anything can happen. Championship is earned, not a given.

KG has played a grand total of 78 minutes since the All Star break!

Do you think the Cavs or Lakers would have 60 wins by now if their best player LBJ or Kobe} had missed so much time? I`m guessing, NO!!!!

We’ve got to beat two teams and so do they. Iwill be one happy Celtics fan if we get to the Cavs. Then, we’ve got a damn good chance with KG. No KG, no advance.

I’m really shocked here. It seems that every stereotype about Boston fans is true.

- 70% of this thread is talking about bad officiating, and how the refs are out to get the Celtics (after a game that was lost by 30 points), and already blaming future playoff losses on refs.

- 25% of this thread is about how classless the Cavs are for celebrating a victory. Seriously? This is coming from the Celtics? Have you guys even seen your own team play, or do the green-tilted glasses block those celebration images from your head? Don’t get me wrong, I really could care less if the Celtics danced like leprechauns all the way through every 4th quarter. If they are celebrating with themselves, I see no problem in having fun. I’m just shocked at the backlash from you guys about the Cavs doing it. And is Ray Allen really in any position to be criticizing an opposing team of being classless the same game that he elbows a dude in the groin?

- 5% of this thread has really good quality posts, just like the article by Jeff Clark. Its just annoying to have to skim through the rest of the junk to get to the good basketball analysis.

there’s a big difference between “trash talking” and “taunting”. trash talking is just the part of the game, seriously-michael jordan did it, so i don’t know why people make such a big deal when we do it. i don’t mind trash talking, but the way the cavs were acting with such mockery on the bench is when you cross the line. they haven’t proven anything yet, and they had their asses kicked by the lowly orlando magic so their histrionics are very UNprofessional. ask any unbiased person out there-there’s a difference between being happy that your team won and just having fun on the bench and how immature the cavs acted. they looked like foolish highschoolers out there-not professional at all. lebron acts just like T.O. does yet T.O. gets bashed for it. the only difference is lebron sweet talks his way out in interviews afterwards. let’s see if they’ll continue doing that, hypothetically, if they reach the finals. the only thing it’ll do is piss kobe off and you know what happens after that.

Last year the Cavs had the ball down one with the shot clock off to win the series against the Celtics. The Cavs had essentially been together since only the trading deadline when they brought in Wallace Sczerbiac Smith and West. They have been playing together now for over a year and it shows.

Do you think they have made up that 1 pt.?

Do you think the Celtics are one point worse?

Well do ya punk? (Sorry, I just felt like channeling Clint)