Cavs - Celtics Game Four: Finally, A Game

Cleveland came out with tight defense and an early lead, but Boston showed heart and wound up with a 5-point lead as LeBron James showed a more deferential game. When Rajon Rondo is the best player on the floor, 14 point turnarounds can happen. With a minute left in the first, the Celtics point guard made a heady play while falling out of bounds by nailing irritant Anderson Vareajo with the ball in the groin, causing it to bounce out and give the home team another possession. Worth noting for later to see if this affects Vareajo's mood, really. At the end of the first, Boston led by nine.

In the second, Delonte West and Shaquille O'Neal erased Rondo on a drive to the hoop, and you had to wonder if he was going to be the same after it. And while the home team maintained a 10-point lead, they also were accumulating fouls to bigs -- 4 to Rasheed Wallace, 2 to Kendrick Perkins -- that spoke to later problems. Paul Pierce's continued problems also couldn't have been encouraging. After some nice plays by O'Neal and a made three by the previously MIA Mo Williams, the lead was three with James sitting.

With the starters back in, Ray Allen made a couple of long jumpers to push the lead back to nine, and Boston Fan was back in full roar. The crowd got louder on a block by Perkins on West, which lead to a block call on James on the Rondo break. Clearly, the Cav strategy is to make Rondo pay a price physically, since they can't seem to stop him any other way. With 5:40 left, James got to the paint and picked up a foul on Perkins that overrode a traveling call, leading to the constant fun that is a clearly understood profane chant. Less than a minute later, Allen got into it with James for another call, and after a single James makes, it was back to 9. The Celtics are doing a lot of jawing for a team with a lead, and I liked that both teams cared, but unless you enjoy free throw shooting, it wasn't much of a game. What really struck me, in watching the game, was just how physical it was, with the C's getting away with moving screens and over the back rebounding, while the Cavs got the better of on the ball calls on offense. All told, the game had 31 personal fouls in the first half (!), and if weren't a playoff game, I probably would have stopped watching. Paul Pierce made an odd mistake to close the half, and the Celtics left with a 54-45 lead, with Rondo taking down 18 / 8 / 7. Ye gads, he's destroying Williams, and all without a jump shot. Hard to believe, really.

In the third, Antwan Jamison started to make inroads, but the teams mostly traded buckets to start. With 8:41 left, Pierce took his fourth foul to deny a Shaq dunk, leaving with just 5 points, and the center wound up hitting both fouls anyway. Telling. Tony Allen had been better than Pierce in the first half, but relying on Tony Allen is not usually a path to happiness. Williams was more aggressive as the road team slowly eroded the lead, but James wasn't having one of his on games, though maybe that's just him deferring to Shaq, who broke his 2010 playoff high with 17 halfway through the third.

Finally with 3:40 left in the third, Ray Allen drove, and James utterly erased it. Just unfair, insane athleticism. Most of the time when the MVP gets a block, it's weakside, in transition, and it's just kind of swooping. This one was straight on, utter rejection, a complete takedown of Allen's worth as a player, the kind of thing that if it happened to you on a playground, might just lead to you leaving the court. That the Celtics didn't lose the lead after it speaks to their heart, but with Pierce in foul trouble, Perkins looking utterly uninterested in shooting, Garnett with a history of fourth quarter fades and Allen getting eviscerated like that, you had to wonder who was going to score the ball for Boston in crunch time. Rondo's a hell of a player, but that's asking a lot.

Finally with 2:40 left, James fed Vareajo for a layup to tie it. Rondo got the lead back, but West faked Ray Allen into the air for his fourth foul, and three makes later, the Cavs had their first lead in forever, 70-69. It didn't last as Rondo picked up his ninth assist in transition on a gorgeous behind the back past to Tony Allen, but Jamison made a couple more at the line to force another tie. Rondo to Tony Allen again gave the Celtics a two point lead at the end of the third, and if the point guard can be better than the MVP in the fourth, this will be a tie series.

Starting the fourth, Tony Allen with a steal and dish to Rondo, and ye gads, don't tell me that he's going to be the hero. James missed from three as Shaq commtted his fifth, just a bad idea. Rookie JJ Hickson turned it over as the game got shaky, leading to a Big Baby Davis layup and a six point Celtics lead with 9:48 left. Tony Allen then crossed Hickson and scored, and honestly, day was night, as Sheed then had a big block, leading to another Rondo assist in transition. After spending the entire third quarter grinding the lead into dust, the Cavs were down 10 in three minutes. Yeesh.

The timeout proved no relief, as James turned it over for yet another Tony Allen transition hoop. Williams drove into the trees for a Sheed block and yet another turnover. After missed threes, Williams finally stopped the bleeding, with the first Cav bucket of the fourth, five minutes in. Wow. Rondo answered with the first pull up I remember him making all day. Vareajo scored of a pass, then James scored off a strip, and it's an 8 point game with 6:15 left.

All year long, the Celtics have been terrible in the clutch. Celtics Fan has puled long and hard about this, as if it's somehow unfair that one of the oldest teams in the Association would have issues closing out games. Out of the timeout, Ray Allen misses, and Sheed can't get the board. James then ate Garnett alive, just a cobra strike to the hoop, getting the old school three and Pierce's fifth foul. Wow. Tony Allen returns, and Sheed can't make from in close. James and Jamsion can't connect, leading to early offense from Rondo to Tony Allen, the only kind of offense the Celtics are getting right now, but two misses at the line do not help. James fed Vareajo for the old school three, and it's a two-point game. Big runs now. Garnett with a big possession, collecting a board off a Ray Allen miss, then feeding Tony Allen for the make. I have no idea who this guy is, but he does not look anything like Tony Allen. It's like Pierce and he changed bodies today.

Jamison continues his career-long tradition of coming up small in the clutch with an uncalled travel and miss. Rondo can't finish, leading to a cheap Perkins foul. James oddly feeds Vareajo for a sideline miss. Garnett can't make over Sideshow Anderson, but Perkins gets the get-even call as we go to commerce. Four point Celtics lead, game very much in doubt, and one of the few times in the second round that I've wanted to go long in the game recap. That's an endorsement.

Vareajo with an all-day fight, leading to a cheap Garnett foul and Cav free throws. Huge. The freak hits one as Celtic Fan howls, and the lead is three. He blocks Ray Allen, but Rondo's 13th asisst of the day leads to a Pierce slam, and Williams turns it at the other end. Garnett misses, but Rondo's board and put back makes it seven again, and as predicted, the C's win when he's the best player on the floor. If you are wondering where James was during all this, you won't be alone, and Pierce and Perkins stop him on a drive, leading to Pierce making two, and suddenly, it's Garbage Time... or would be, except for Perkins collecting his fifth. A James miss from three clinches it, and the series is tied. Even for a guy who predicted Cavs in seven, this is still kind of crazy.

Your final line for Rajon Rondo: 27/18/13. Ye gads. It's a best of three now.