NBA PLAYOFFS : Celtics regain shooting touch
Posted on Friday, May 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Sports/225181/
BOSTON — Paul Pierce and Ray Allen found their shooting touch. LeBron James can only hope he left his in Cleveland.
Pierce scored 19 points, Kevin Garnett added 13 with 12 rebounds, and Allen broke out of a seven-quarter scoring drought with 16 points to help the Boston Celtics beat the Cavaliers 89-73 on Thursday night and take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
One game after going 2 for 18 from the field and missing his last six shots, including a layup to tie the game with 8. 5 seconds left, James missed his first three tries and finished with 21 points on 6-for-24 shooting.
This time it was contagious: The Cavaliers shot 35. 6 percent in the game, hitting just 11. 8 percent in the second quarter as Boston turned an eight-point deficit into a nine-point lead.
Game 3 is Saturday night in Cleveland. The Cavaliers will need their crowd to pull them out of their funk because the Celtics are 6-0 in the playoffs in Boston, and they would have the home-court advantage through the NBA Finals.
James — who was serenaded by the fans with a chant of “Over-rated !” — could benefit most of all. He went 3 for 8 from the field in the first quarter but went 1 for 11 over the second and third when Boston took control.
From early in the second quarter to early in the third, a span of 13: 41, Boston outscored Cleveland 36-10.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 19 points for the Cavaliers.
Cleveland reserve Anderson Varejao had 10 rebounds in 32 minutes after forward Ben Wallace went to the locker room just 3: 40 into the game because of dizziness. He sat on the bench for the second quarter and took some shots during halftime warm-ups, but did not return to the game.
Pierce (2 for 14 in Game 1 ) and Allen (0 for 4 ) snapped out of whatever ailed them. Pierce did it right away, with seven points in the first quarter, but Allen took a little more time.
The third member of Boston’s Big Three hadn’t scored since hitting a three-pointer with 8: 48 left in the third quarter of Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks. Boston finished off the Hawks with just seven points from the Allen, who shot 3 for 12 in the first-round finale.
He missed his first four shots Thursday, but got the ball back for the first basket of the second half as the Celtics scored the first 10 points of the third quarter to take a 54-36 lead. The Cavaliers cut it to 12 on James’ only basket of the quarter, but they spent most of the fourth quarter trailing by 20. CLEVELAND (73 ) James 6-24 9-13 21, Wallace 0-0 0-0 0, Ilgauskas 9-12 1-2 19, West 1-5 1-2 3, Szczerbiak 4-11 4-4 13, Varejao 1-5 1-2 3, Smith 2-7 0-0 4, Gibson 0-2 2-2 2, Pavlovic 2-4 0-0 5, D. Brown 1-3 0-0 2, Dw. Jones 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 26-73 19-27 73. BOSTON (89 ) Pierce 7-13 4-6 19, Garnett 5-9 3-3 13, Perkins 0-2 0-2 0, Rondo 0-6 7-7 7, R. Allen 4-10 7-8 16, Powe 4-7 3-6 11, Cassell 4-12 1-2 9, Posey 3-6 0-0 7, P. Brown 2-3 0-0 4, House 0-2 0-0 0, T. Allen 0-0 1-2 1, Davis 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 29-72 28-38 89. Cleveland........................................................ 24 12 15 22 — 73 Boston............................................................ 17 27 26 19 — 89 3-Point Goals—Cleveland 2-13 (Pavlovic 1-2, Szczerbiak 1-4, Gibson 0-1, West 0-1, D. Brown 0-1, James 0-4 ), Boston 3-14 (R. Allen 1-3, Posey 1-4, Pierce 1-5, Cassell 0-2 ). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Cleveland 52 (Varejao 10 ), Boston 56 (Garnett 12 ). Assists—Cleveland 18 (James 6 ), Boston 20 (Rondo 6 ). Total Fouls—Cleveland 27, Boston 26. Technicals—Cleveland defensive three second, Boston defensive three second 2. Attendance—18, 624 (18, 624 ). SPURS 110, HORNETS 99 SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili each scored 31 points as San Antonio beat New Orleans in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. The Hornets lead 2-1. Chris Paul led the Hornets with 35 points and nine assists. David West had 23 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, which was dominant in the first two games of the series. Game 4 is Sunday night in San Antonio. After trading leads all night, the Spurs led 83-78 entering the fourth quarter.
Ginobili led a Spurs charge early in the fourth quarter. Left alone, he hit a wide-open three-pointers and was fouled by Bonzi Wells, who scrambled at him to guard the shot. Ginobili’s free throw put San Antonio up 87-82, and another three-pointer by Ginobili 38 seconds later made it 90-84.
New Orleans got within 90-88 before the Spurs took over, playing out the fourth quarter better than they have played all series.
San Antonio went on an 11-0 burst featuring Ginobili, Parker and Tim Duncan to take a 101-88 lead with 5: 57 to play.
The Spurs couldn’t stop Paul, but West missed three of four free throws and the Hornets got no closer than 10 points in the latter half of the quarter.
The Spurs outscored the Hornets 27-21 in the fourth with Parker and Ginobili combining for 17 points.
Duncan had 16 points and 13 rebounds. NEW ORLEANS (99 ) Stojakovic 2-7 3-4 8, West 10-19 3-6 23, Chandler 5-5 2-4 12, Paul 15-25 5-5 35, Peterson 1-3 0-0 3, Wells 3-8 0-0 6, Ely 2-5 0-0 4, Pargo 1-7 0-0 2, Wright 2-4 2-2 6, R. Bowen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 41-83 15-21 99. SAN ANTONIO (110 ) B. Bowen 4-11 0-0 12, Duncan 6-13 4-7 16, Thomas 2-4 0-0 4, Parker 12-24 7-8 31, Ginobili 11-22 6-6 31, Oberto 1-3 0-0 2, Finley 4-7 0-0 11, Barry 0-0 0-0 0, Horry 1-1 0-0 3, Udoka 0-0 0-0 0, Vaughn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 41-85 17-21 110. New Orleans..................................................... 23 33 22 21 — 99 San Antonio..................................................... 21 33 29 27 — 110 3-Point Goals—New Orleans 2-11 (Stojakovic 1-3, Peterson 1-3, Wright 0-1, Pargo 0-1, Wells 0-1, Paul 0-2 ), San Antonio 11-25 (B. Bowen 4-9, Finley 3-5, Ginobili 3-9, Horry 1-1, Parker 0-1 ). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—New Orleans 48 (West 12 ), San Antonio 48 (Duncan 13 ). Assists—New Orleans 15 (Paul 9 ), San Antonio 28 (Parker 11 ). Total Fouls—New Orleans 21, San Antonio 20. Attendance—18, 797 (18, 797 ).
Wednesday’s late summary LAKERS 120, JAZZ 110 UTAH (110 ) Kirilenko 6-13 2-3 14, Boozer 3-10 4-4 10, Okur 7-13 1-2 16, Williams 9-17 2-2 25, Brewer 6-10 0-0 12, Millsap 7-13 3-4 17, Harpring 2-9 0-0 4, Price 1-3 0-0 2, Korver 4-9 1-1 10, Collins 0-2 0-0 0, Miles 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 45-101 13-16 110. L. A. LAKERS (120 ) Radmanovic 1-3 0-0 2, Odom 7-10 5-7 19, Gasol 6-11 8-12 20, Fisher 7-10 4-4 22, Bryant 11-18 11-12 34, Walton 2-6 0-0 5, Turiaf 1-2 0-0 2, Farmar 1-3 2-2 4, Vujacic 3-5 5-6 12. Totals 39-68 35-43 120. Utah............................................................... 18 31 34 27 — 110 L. A. Lakers...................................................... 33 30 30 27 — 120 3-Point Goals—Utah 7-18 (Williams 5-5, Korver 1-4, Okur 1-5, Price 0-1, Kirilenko 0-1, Miles 0-2 ), L. A. Lakers 7-11 (Fisher 4-5, Vujacic 1-1, Bryant 1-2, Walton 1-2, Radmanovic 0-1 ). Fouled Out—Okur, Kirilenko. Rebounds—Utah 49 (Millsap 10 ), L. A. Lakers 47 (Odom 16 ). Assists—Utah 27 (Williams 10 ), L. A. Lakers 23 (Bryant 6 ). Total Fouls—Utah 30, L. A. Lakers 20. Technicals—Utah Coach Sloan, L. A. Lakers defensive three second. Attendance—18, 997 (18, 997 ).