ense battles in the conference semi-finals. Starting off the semi-finals were the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers, making Saturday night’s game a competitive battle to see who wanted it more.After beating the Chicago Bulls to advance to the next round, the Cavs had intentions on going in with a different type of approach than the previous series. With James soaring through the NBA Playoffs, it finally made Mo Williams arise to the occasion.
Delivering his first dunk with the Cavs, it was a definite shock to the Celtics’ own Paul Pierce, that put the key in the ignition and started up the Cleveland Cavaliers and their fans.
The “unexpected” dunk over Pierce was truly a series winning statement. ESPN reports that Williams’s teammate LeBron James stated, “I knew Mo could dunk.” James also stated, “I told Mo a long time ago if he ever dunked in a game it was going to spark us like we haven’t been sparked before. Not only did it fire the team up, it fired himself up.”
LeBron James also made an impact in the game, though he was struggling with a sprained and bruised elbow, James delivered another outstanding performance making it known that even with something like a weak elbow, he is still able to perform and get the job done at the end of the day.
Hours before receiving his second NBA MVP award, he scored 35 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, three steals and two blocks. For the Cavs, it is indeed a good omen for winning a series game opener.
As for the Boston Celtics, they looked like their old selves for three quarters. The 17-time NBA Champions had a controlled tempo beginning the game with Rondo running past players like Mo Williams and any other defenders in front of him. The Celtics were on a mission to wipe out the home-court advantage from Cleveland. But they had another thing coming. Thinking that the bothered elbow of James was going to bring his momentum down, it was just the start of his assault. “You knew it was coming,” said Celtics head coach Doc Rivers.
James’ assault started at the beginning of the second quarter. He capitalized on the split free throws that were brought by Rajon Rondo. James then started driving up the lanes, missing his shot but rebounded his own mistake and capped it in, putting the Cavs in the lead 94-91.
Kevin Garnett’s bucket got Celtics’ head back in the game, then James replied back with a two-point floater in the lane making it 96-93. I can say that the Celtics had many mistakes toward the end of the game, such as Paul Pierce missing a wide three-point attempt, which made Shaquille O’Neal scoring a tip to make the game 98-93 with 1:02 left on the clock. Boston then put in a turnover and James made it a decisive blow, pulled out on the left side, chipped in a three pointer and ended the game with the score at Cavs 101 – Celtics 93. This was a definite fight to the finish.
In the Western Conference, made it another most talked about team again, the Los Angeles Lakers also had a close game. Their rival opponents, the Utah Jazz celebrated every shot that was made, until Kobe Bryant checked into the game and checkmated the Jazz in the second round opener. Bryant scored 11 out of his 31 points in the final four minutes.
The Lakers blew a fourth quarter lead before rallying for a 104-99 victory this past Sunday. The glory cannot go all to Kobe Bryant but Paul Gasol as well, scoring 25 points and getting 12 rebounds. As always Bryant seize control and become the victor of for his team.