Boston Celtics Must Solve Second Half Problems in Game Two

Saturday morning I watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "Guro of Go" about Paul Westhead, Hank Gathers, and the 1990 Loyola Marymount men's basketball team. 

That team, using an offense Westhead called "The System," played basketball at a pace that other teams simply could not keep up with.

When opposing teams tried to, they would invariably hit the wall in the second half. Members of the Loyola Marymount team talked about seeing this happen to other teams, and it was at that point where they knew they had them.

I was reminded of the documentary later that night when I watched Game One of the Celtics-Cavaliers series. Cleveland does not play at a pace that in any way resembles "The System," but nevertheless, when the Celtics play Cleveland, it has become clear they hit their own wall in the second half.

Including Game One, the Celtics are 1-3 in their last four games against the Cavaliers.  In those meetings, Boston has actually outscored Cleveland 222-194 combined in the first half, averaging 55.5 first half points to only 48.5 for Cleveland.

The second half has been a completely different story, as the Cavaliers have outscored Boston after halftime 232-169, or 58.0 points per second half to just 42.3 for Boston, for a whopping 15.7 point differential.

Reviewing each game, a point comes in the second half where Boston simply can’t get stops on one end and can’t make hoops on the other. 

Back on February 25, Boston was up eight points at the half and led 65-56 with just under eight minutes to play in the third quarter. Cleveland then ran Boston out of the gym with a 52-23 advantage the rest of the way. The Cavs limited the Celtics to only six made field goals in the game’s final 20 minutes and cruised to the 108-88 victory. 

There would be a repeat performance two and a half weeks later when the teams met in Cleveland on March 14. With five minutes left in the third quarter, the game was tied at 68. Cleveland then took the game over with a 23-6 run over a 12-minute span where the Celtics managed just two field goals. The Cavs won 104-93.  

On Easter Sunday, Boston would earn the win over Cleveland but it was not pretty.  Boston did whatever it wanted for the game’s first 34 minutes and built a 21-point lead, 96-75, with 1:37 left in the third. 

Cleveland then flipped the switch with a 29-7 run to go up 104-103 with just under three minutes to play in the game. During that span, Boston only had two field goals. 

The Celtics did right the ship and win the game, but again it was clear that Cleveland had the ability to dominate Boston at a moment’s notice.

It would be more of the same in Game One on Saturday night. The Celtics led by 11 at the half, 54-43, a lead they maintained through the midpoint of the third quarter, up 69-58. Then, over the game’s final 18 minutes, Cleveland outscored Boston 43-24. 

The Cavs finished the third quarter with a 21-9 run to take a 79-78 lead. The game remained close for much of the fourth quarter, and was tied at 90 with five minutes to play. Boston, however, would manage only one field goal the rest of the way as Cleveland outscored the C's 11-3 to win 101-93.  

Game One was there for the taking for the Celtics, but in the second half, when they needed to come up with stops or needed hoops, they fell short. Boston surrendered 36 points to Cleveland in the third quarter and then had just 15 points themselves in the fourth. Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen were a combined 2-14 in the fourth quarter. 

Why does this happen?

When dealing with Cleveland, it is usually a good idea to start with LeBron James.  In the last four games against Boston, James has scored 36, 30, 42, and 35 points respectively, averaging 12.8 points in the first half and 23.0 in the second half. James has scored at least 21 points in the second half of each of the last three meetings. 

I heard a story recently that when the Celtics had a viewing party to watch their championship video after the 2008 season, when watching the portion dealing with the Cleveland series, Pierce was heard to comment almost to himself that James is a "beast." Immediately after the series, Pierce said his body took a beating from having to guard James for seven games.

That was two years ago, and Pierce had the help then of James Posey, who could at least relieve some of the burden. Now, Pierce is two years older, Posey is long gone, and there is no one else on the Celtics roster who can guard James for any extended period of time. 

Having to deal with James has to wear on Pierce as the game goes on.  Just like the Loyola Marymount opponents hit a wall in the second half, the same could be happening to Pierce in his efforts to defend James.

And to be fair, James is arguably the game’s best player and regardless of opponent, he very likely knows at what point in the second half he needs to turn it on in order to win.

What about at the offensive end? Rajon Rondo was Boston’s best player in Game One, finishing with 27 points and 12 assists. But, after halftime, Rondo only had eight points and four assists.  

Those statistics were not anomalies either. In his last four games against Cleveland, Rondo has averaged 13.3 points and 6.5 assists in the first half, but only 6.3 points and 4.3 assists in the second half. 

Rondo must find a way to push the pace the same way after halftime as he does before.  Garnett and Ray Allen must realize that they need to shoulder more of the offense because of the toll that guarding James has to take on Pierce. 

And while Pierce gets some slack because of his defensive assignment, he also has to stay aggressive on the offensive end down the stretch.  The best way to stop James, or at least marginally impede his progress, is to force him to exert energy on the defensive end.

All season, Boston has shown it can hang right in with Cleveland. In various spurts in nearly every game, the Celtics have even looked like the superior team. 

But then they have hit their own wall and had to stand by watching the Cavs run away from them down the stretch. If the Celtics cannot solve their second half woes against Cleveland, they will find themselves on one side of the wall with Cleveland on the other side advancing on to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

(This article was originally posted on 4SportBoston.com)

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