The Celtics re-emerged just two days after having their biggest loss in the playoffs at the Boston Garden. The figure of the 97-87 victory over Cleveland was Rajon Rondo. Rondo's performance was prodigious, having a triple-double with 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists. With this victory in the fourth game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics tied the series 2-2 and gained their confidence back to fight for a place in the Eastern Conference finals in Game 5.
Cleveland maintains their court advantage despite their loss, as two of the next three possible games will be in their court.
During the first quarter, Cleveland started strong by having a run of 7-0. Some minutes later, Boston responded with great shots of Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett to put the scoring in their favor 14-12 with 6:23. During the next 2 minutes both teams exchanged baskets and tied the scoring twice.
However, Celtics' determination was stronger, ending the first quarter winning by 9 points, 31-22.
In the second quarter, the Cavs were determined to reduce the lead and they sure did. They got a good run and cut the scoring to three points, 31-34 with 8:40 left. But again, Rondo and Garnett appeared for Boston, extending their lead again to 9 points with 2:35 left. At the end of the half, the Celtics kept their advantage and finished the quarter up, 54-45.
Entering the third quarter, Cleveland was upset and with great shooting tied the score again after several great baskets of the starters, going to 67-67 with 2:41 left. After that, both teams exchanged baskets until the end, but the Celtics kept the lead, finishing up by 2 points, 74-72.
In the last quarter, the Celtics started with an impressive 10-0 run to extend their lead again to 12 points with 8:40 left. However, Anderson Varejao and Lebron James responded for the Cavs and cut the scoring to two points, 86-84. Nevertheless, despite been down by just three points, the Cavs couldn’t recover completely and finished losing the game by 10 points, 97-87 with two free-throws of Rondo.
At the end of the game, Boston Coach Doc Rivers stated that his team may not be better than Cleveland individually, but as a team, Boston is really great and its chemistry is incredible when they apply their knowledge of each other in the basketball court.
On the other hand Rajon Rondo, go was the figure of the game, said that he was really happy with his performance but more so with the victory of his team as a whole.
“It was a collective team effort. I had a couple of numbers tonight but the biggest thing is that we got the win. That's the bottom line," expressed Rondo.
The best scorers for the Boston Celtics were Rajon Rondo with 29 points, 18 rebounds and 13 assists; Ray Allen with 18 points and 2 rebounds; Kevin Garnett with 18 points and 6 rebounds; and finally Tony Allen with 15 points and 5 rebounds. For the Cleveland Cavaliers the best scorers were LeBron James with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists; Shaqulle O’Neal with 17 points and 5 rebounds; Antawn Jamison with 14 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists; Maurice Williams with 13 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds; and ultimately Anthony Parker with 10 points and 3 rebounds.
The Game 5 between these two teams will be held on Tuesday, May 11th at 8:00pm in Cleveland.
Ally White is a top senior copy writer on NBA games and sports action for the online sports betting site: http://www.instantactionsports.com.
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