Rajon Rondo scored season high 23 points and had 12 assists as the Boston Celtics took their fourth straight win at the Quick Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Cavaliers could not muster up enough courage to face the
challenging lead the Celtics had set. The Celtics played a marvelous game as the Cavaliers kept lingering behind 107-96.
Game Stats
The Celtics grabbed 49 rebounds whereas the Cavaliers succeeded in scoring 45. Boston had eight offensive rebounds whereas the Cavaliers had 10. The Celtics gave away 13 turnovers and the Cavaliers gave away 14. The Celtics took
16 fast break points and the Cleveland Cavaliers took 12. The Celtics took the biggest lead at 20 points and the Cavaliers at 9. The Celtics had 60 points in the paint and the Cavaliers had 26.
Box Score
Rondo set a remarkable record as he shot 11 of his 14 shots in the fourth quarter that gave the Celtics a 20 point lead over the Cavaliers. He had missed three before hitting these 11 but still he received a huge cheer from the
audience for those 11.
Glen Davis scored 17 points, Marquis Daniels scored 16 and Kevin Garnett grabbed 10 rebounds. All the throws and shots showed how intent and focused the Celtics were to avenge their early season loss to the Cavaliers.
It was Rondo who played with great effort and clinched this victory for the Celtics. Everybody was pleased with him and Garnett later referred to him as the person who runs their team.
Anderson Varejao and Daniel Gibson both scored 16 points each for the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers were in a struggle from the very first quarter. They were bound to a shooting percentage of 39.
Although Rondo had a tender left hamstring and sore foot but this did not have any effect on his game.
The Cavaliers had a hard time as they faced their seventh loss in 10 games. Rondo was replaced by Von Wafer with 4:04 left and he received huge applause for his performance and a loving pat from Coach Glen ‘Doc’ Rivers as he moved
past the crowd and back to his seat.
The Celtics were leading the Cavaliers by 11 points in half game and they moved past the Cavs in the third quarter.
Garnett tweaked his ankle when he stepped on Pierce’s foot but he still managed to start a three point play to take the game to 77-61. Daniels pushed the lead further to 19 points with one of his three point plays and hushed the
Cavs fans quiet, not making a noise after that.
The Celtics were fresh and had not played since Friday so they had an edge over the Cavaliers who looked tired and easily let them have the lead through the game.
The Celtics had a little controversy with Shaquille O’ Neal as he missed his practice on Monday and later apologized to the big three of his team, Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen for that.
O’Neal had a very good excuse for this omission and he later said that he misinterpreted the message written on the grease board and thought that the team did not have any practice before their flight.
“It was a miscommunication,” O’Neal said. “The only thing I saw on the board was flight at 3. That’s all. I never miss practice.”
Back to the Bench
Pierce was sent back to the bench as he picked up his second personal foul with just two minutes passed over in the first quarter, unfortunate for him.
The Cavs were successful in building a 17-8 lead just before Rondo came in and started pouncing against the Cavs as he always does.
He closed the opening quarter with his 11 straight points and pulled the lead to 23-21. The Celtics flew past the Cavaliers as Nate Robinson got a jumper and went ahead 30-29.
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