Celtics-Cavaliers: Talk About a Bad Playoff Game

As the final seconds slowly dwindled down in the Game 1 showdown between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, I was left scratching my head wondering how in the world I kept watching.  This game was awful.   There wasn't particularly good defense, and with a 76-72 final score, it's quite self-explanatory how the offense fared.

Kevin Garnett and Zydrunas Illgauskas were the only two players who decided to show up to play.  KG had a solid performance, dominating the Cavs low post to the tune of 28 points and 8 rebounds on 13-22 shooting.  Illgauskas did much of the same, shooting 8-18 with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

But really? To see Ray Allen, one of the purest shooters in the game, not score.  C'mon now, he hasn't done that and won since 1997.  The third part of the "Big Three", Paul Pierce, showed up awfully miniature tonight, scoring a measly 4 points on 2-14 shooting.

The biggest surprise of the entire game, however, was the play of LeBron James.  Never have I seen such a poor performance from "King Jr.".  After an MVP-type regular season, and an equally as dominating series against the Wizards, James could never muster up any production. 

In fact, part way through the game he was benched for his hindrance to the team.  LeBron had more turnovers (10) than assists and rebounds (9 each).  More importantly, James didn't respond when his team needed him the most, missing several shots down the stretch.  Another performance of 2-18 shooting will most assuredly have LeBron back at his Akron pad for the rest of the summer.  

I am not a big fan of the NBA, but I'll tune in for the playoffs, because they are normally highly entertaining.  But this game: ugh.  This was the epitome of Eastern Conference basketball since Jordan hung up his sneakers.

This was the worst game I have watched in a LONG time.  Going to college in Ohio, I have seen several Cavs games throughout the year, and I can most surely say this was the worst.  

A game in which both teams shot a combined 52-143 from the field (36.3%) is unheard of these days in the NBA.  The sad part, is that the defense was not stellar by any means.  It was simply a matter of a James' errant pass, or a case of Joe Smith getting the "happy feet" and traveling. 

Boston, on the other hand had 21 TOs to 18 assists.  That is downright pathetic.  On several occasions, Pierce drove the lane and forgot the ball, or Rajon Rondo would try to thread the needle and of course, he missed.

I hope very few of you had to witness this poor display, because it was quite frankly, garbage. 

To the Cavs and Celtics, please remember you are paid professionals, who are supposed to entertain, not disappoint.