Open Thread: Cavs at Celtics, Game Three
May 7, 2010LeBron, Cavs Roll Celtics Wire to Wire
May 8, 2010
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Starting off with one of my favorite sites, take it away Johnny: “On Friday night, LeBron and the Cavaliers responded. LeBron knew what the stakes were, and he set the tone by playing aggressive and putting the Celtics in a hole right out of the gate. He looked for his mid-range jumper early and made every shot he got a look at, going 5-7 from outside the paint in the first quarter.” [John Krolik/Cavs: The Blog]
Continuing with the recaps, here’s another Cleveland-centric blog and their thoughts: “For the game, the Cavs shot 59.5%, and that was after cooling down in the last few minutes. Cleveland, after leading the rebound battle by an astonishing 34-14 after three quarters, settled for a 15 board advantage, and also won the assist battle handily.” [Ancient Mariner/Fear The Sword]
Now a little more neutral approach: “The pendulum swings both ways. Tonight, LeBron James swung it through the Celtics’ fortress walls and left their homecourt advantage in ruins. James took over in a way we haven’t seen, maybe since his Game 5 performance against the Pistons in 07, completely dominating at both ends of the floor while getting his teammates involved.” [Matt Moore/Pro Basketball Talk]
And finally, a view from the other side of the fence: “The Cavaliers 59.5 percent mark from the field is the highest shooting percentage a team has recorded in a game against Boston since the KG/Ray Allen trades, according to Basketball-Reference. Opponents have cracked 55 percent just seven times in the regular season and once in the playoffs since KG and Ray arrived at the beginning of the ‘07-08 season.” [Zach Lowe/Celtics Hub]
The ever-friendly Jose3030 on Twitter did us a big favor and captured the screen graphic ESPN ran at the end of the game. Do enjoy this one folks. [TwitPic]
Not sure if you have been following this, but Ball Don’t Lie concluded their feature on the most bloggable photos in recent NBA memory. Ira Newble even made a guest appearance so check it out. [Trey Kerby/BDL]
The book Stumbling on Wins has gotten tons of publicity recently and the stats are now completely automated. Check out the recent developments over at the blog for more info and how you can be involved in the revolution. [Dave Berri/Wages Of Wins]
Analyzing the skills and futures of the last four draft picks by the Cleveland Browns. Very good stuff as always from The Orange & Brown Report so give it a look. Hopefully 2010 is the start of a good trend for the Browns front office. [Fred Greetham/OBR]
Our blog friends ask the loaded question of why football is the sport to beat in Cleveland: “Why is it when the Indians are terrible they can get barley 10,000 fans to show and the same goes for the Cavs? However, the Browns have been much worse, but sell out every game.” [Aaron Ziraks/No Logo Needed]
Kerry Wood is back and he took the roster spot of Jensen Lewis: “Wood, who suffered a strained lat muscle in early March and made just two appearances in spring camp, made two rehab appearances at Double-A Akron. The first was forgettable, but the second saw him toss a scoreless inning in which he walked one and struck out two.” [Anthony Castrovince/Indians.com]
Finally, the first ever MLB player born in 1990 made his debut last night. Starlin Castro was the star of the show and led the Chicago Cubs to victory. Send your salutes to those born in the 90’s as we are finally starting to make our mark: “Castro came and got it Friday night, and it looks like he’s not planning to leave any time soon. Called up from Double-A Tennessee in the morning, the 20-year-old Castro had a debut for the ages in the Cubs 14-7 victory over the Reds that ended their three-game skid.” [Paul Sullivan/Chicago Tribune]
(Photo above via Joshua Gunter/The Plain Dealer)
5 Comments
honestly what an amazing performance by the entire cavs team last night….that said this team is a mystery wrapped in an enigma to me…I know Lebron was uber hot to start the game, but the urgency and the defensive intensity was FINALLY there….what’s it gonna take to get that every night?
@1 a new HEAD coach, not a passenger on the
LeBronaliers!
@ #2 – you forgot to write /DERP
Maybe if the MLB season was 16 games long (or 32, so the supply of seats is roughly the same), the Indians would sell out better. With a shorter season in the NFL, there’s more of an “anything can happen” vibe. With a 162-game baseball season, if the team sucks, you know it will catch up to them. There also aren’t a zillion chances to see your team. The Indians will probably outsell the Browns as far as total tickets sold, even if they only average 10k per game.
162 games. Cut the season to 100 games and you’ll get much better attendance. You won’t have to freeze your butts off in April and October, on the rare occasion that the Indians are playing in October.