Boston Celtics Pulls the Crowns off LeBron James in Cleveland 99-90

[simmytbone]

Hey guys,

after eliminating the Detroit Pistons from Playoff Contention, the Celtics went to Cleveland and Pulls the Crowns off of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love and the Cavaliers with a score of 99-90

Here's the story:

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/gametra...150410_BOS@CLE

Smart leads Celtics past Cavaliers 99-90

April 10, 2015

CLEVELAND (AP) Boston got another big win Friday night. That's all it cared about.

Who played for the Cleveland Cavaliers was of little concern for the surging Celtics.

Marcus Smart scored 19 points, and the Celtics maintained their grip on a playoff spot by holding on for a 99-90 victory over the short-handed Cavaliers.

The Celtics had five players score in double figures. Isaiah Thomas had 17 points, Avery Bradley scored 15 and Tyler Zeller finished with 13.

Boston and Brooklyn are tied with 37-42 records, but the Celtics own the tiebreaker after winning three of their four meetings. Boston is 21-12 since Feb. 21 when it was a season-high 14 games below .500.

The Cavs played without injured All-Star Kyrie Irving after clinching the No. 2 seed in the East on Wednesday. They also rested LeBron James and their other starters in the fourth quarter.

''I threw away my LeBron poster when I was in high school, so I don't care,'' said Evan Turner, who had a career-high 13 assists for Boston. ''Closing out a game like this and winning is huge.''

The Celtics led for most of the game before the Cavaliers rallied from a 16-point deficit to lead briefly in the third quarter. Boston regained control and pulled away in the fourth.

Irving was sidelined by a sore right hip and James played 26 minutes, one short of his season low. He finished with 14 points and seven assists.

James admitted going into a game playing limited minutes was an adjustment, but stressed the Cavaliers are keeping other goals in mind.

''Me, being a 12-year veteran, the bigger picture is always what's important,'' he said. ''For us, what's important is to stay in rhythm and also to stay healthy.''

The teams meet again Sunday in Boston and could play in the first round of the playoffs if the present seeds hold up.

Asked if would play Sunday, James said: ''I don't know. I don't believe so but I'm not quite sure yet.''

Kevin Love led Cleveland 19 points, and Timofey Mozgov had 13 in 16 1/2 minutes. The Cavs had won 18 consecutive home games.

''Obviously, they didn't play Love or LeBron in the fourth quarter, but we took a pretty good punch from them in the third,'' Boston coach Brad Stevens said. ''They don't have to show me what they're capable of. I watched them on TV for years, then I saw it in person here earlier this year.''

The Celtics led 60-44 early in the third quarter before the Cavaliers went on a 19-6 run. James' three-point play and 3-pointers by Love, Matthew Dellavedova and Mike Miller forced Stevens to call a timeout.

Miller's two free throws gave Cleveland a 70-69 lead with 2:54 remaining. But Jae Crowder made two foul shots to give Boston a 79-77 lead heading into the fourth.

Cleveland missed eight of its first 10 shots of the game, prompting coach David Blatt to go to his bench in the first quarter. Miller, Shawn Marion and James Jones made early appearances.

''We came in with very specific idea how we wanted to play the game minutes-wise and I was remaining true to that regardless of the score,'' Blatt said.

Irving, who experienced soreness in the hip at Friday's shootaround, was scratched about a half-hour before the game. Guard Iman Shumpert also was out with a bruised right quad.

It was Cleveland's first home loss since Jan. 7 against Houston.

LAUREN HILL TRIBUTE

The Cavaliers held a moment of silence for Lauren Hill, the 19-year-old college basketball player who died Friday after a courageous battle with cancer.

''Obviously it's unfortunate,'' James said. ''You never want anyone's life to be taken away because of an illness. But I think she's in a better place now. Every day struggles she had to deal with throughout her treatment and throughout her care. She's in a better place now. The man above doesn't make any mistakes. While she was here on Earth, in her presence, she inspired a lot of people. ''

FIRST TIME

The Celtics lost their first two games of the season against the Cavaliers.

''All we talked about after the last game here was trying to redeem ourselves,'' Smart said. ''That's a talented team we were playing, so we just tried to come out hard to start the game.''

TIP-INS

Celtics: Bradley is the lone remaining starter from Boston's first matchup with Cleveland on Nov. 14. F Jared Sullinger and C Kelly Olynyk are now bench players, while G Rajon Rondo and F Jeff Green were traded. ... Boston has one remaining road game, its regular-season finale at Milwaukee on Wednesday

Cavaliers: J.R. Smith, who was averaging 13 points since being acquired in January, played 19 scoreless minutes. ... The Cavaliers are 1-5 when playing without Irving. Dellavedova started at point guard. ... F Tristan Thompson scored two points, but grabbed 12 rebounds. ... Shumpert injured his leg Wednesday. Blatt said the leg was sore and swollen, but the injury isn't serious.

NEXT UP

Celtics and Cavaliers will play again on Sunday, this time in Boston

credit: cbssports.com

and BTW, if the playoffs started right now, then these 2 teams will play against each other just like the old days of Larry Bird and Mark Price and the days of LeBron and Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett

Larry Bird, Mark Price and Robert Parish


Paul Pierce, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett

[MrCleveland]

Cleveland is more Charlie Brown than Charlie Sheen!

We deserve the name Mistake-on-the-Lake!

[isiahthomas]

Nice picture of Mark Price, Larry Bird and Robert Parish. Mark recently got hired as a college basketball coach of Charlotte 49ers. I thought he got hired as Charlotte Hornets head coach because he worked for the Hornets as a assistant coach the last couple of years. It's interesting that he used to work for Michael Jordan who owns the Hornets because Michael beat the Cavs a few times in the playoffs in 1988 and 1993 LOL. Who is that woman Lebron is yelling at in the picture with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett? Is that his mom? It looks like her.

[isiahthomas]

Cleveland lost to Boston yesterday 117-78 hahahahahahahahahahaha. Cleveland's bench players played most of the game and not the starters. But that's still no excuse for their bench players to play that bad. Their bench is gonna be their downfall in the playoffs and I see why their coach David Blatt doesn't play that many guys on the bench. I hope Cleveland gets to the finals. If they do go and they play the Spurs or Warriors, they won't beat the Spurs or Warriors.

[MrCleveland]

'Long-suffering Cleveland:' Boston Globe columnist slams Cleveland, then talks of his love for city
John Kosich, Nikki Ferrell

CLEVELAND - Hours after a column published on the Boston Globe website slamming Cleveland ahead of Tuesday's Cavaliers-Celtics playoff game, its author was professing his love for the city.

"I'm here to tell you I love Cleveland, I love Cleveland," said Globe Columnist Dan Shaughnessy. "This was not a bash job at all, it says in there 'I love Cleveland.'"

Shaughnessy did write those words, followed, as they say, by a very big "but," the three-letter word that offers the literary license to say what one really thinks.

Shaughnessy starts his column "In long-suffering Cleveland, Cavaliers offer a ray of hope" with mockery, noting that Quicken Loans Arena released confetti after Sunday's win: "Confetti? Really? First round? First game? Against a sub.-500 team?"

(Oh, Dan? The Q drops confetti after every win. Just FYI.)

Shaughnessy writes:

Today, downtown Cleveland is a sad space with many vacant buildings and boarded-up stores. The city is quiet on weekends and empty on weeknights after the workforce goes home. It feels like the local economy runs on lottery tickets.

He goes on.

At the corner of East Fourth Street and Prospect you can still get a 16-ounce can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for $3 at Flannery’s Pub. Not far from the other end of Fourth Street, there’s the Horseshoe Casino, connected to the Tower City Center. This is not a high-roller crowd. It’s not Ocean’s Eleven. It’s more like Atlantic City-on-the-Cuyahoga.

"It was a good thing writing about the $3 Pabst Blue Ribbons, that's a good thing, that's not a shot," Shaughnessy said Tuesday night. "So don't be so sensitive."

Social media and commenters on the website have erupted. "If you took the time to do any research you would know Cleveland was going through a revival period. There is a reason the GOP picked it for the convention, there is a reason of the four major travel magazines Cleveland was the only place listed in all four, outside of Singapore, to travel to this year," writes one Globe commenter.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish has even weighed in:

Today, County Executive Budish released the following response to Mr. Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe Columnist:
"Mr. Shaughnessy, we are so glad you’ve taken the time to take note of the affordability of Cleveland, Ohio. You’re right, you can buy a $3 beer downtown. You can also live in a beautiful, inexpensive home in a nice, safe neighborhood and still have a 15 minute commute to work, enjoy the Cleveland Orchestra, appreciate one of the largest theater districts in the nation, and of course, cheer on our beloved sports team. That’s just Cleveland.
I did notice, though, that you might have missed a few other great things about our city. Just down the way from Flannery’s Pub and Horseshoe Casino, establishments we are no doubt proud of, is a thriving entertainment district we call East Fourth. You can visit one of dozens of restaurants, including those run by world renowned chefs like Michael Symon and Jonathon Sawyer. If you took a little bit longer of a walk, you’d see that downtown boosts thousands of residents and an occupancy rate of nearly 98%. It seems that we can’t build downtown apartments fast enough for all of the folks clamoring to live here! Our city is tough and, yes, we are revitalizing. You can see that at Public Square, where are a constructing a beautiful, downtown park, or at the brand new, world-class Cleveland Convention Center. National publications have certainly taken notice, maybe you missed the articles. Check out this, or this, or even this. If you don’t have time, it should be no worry, you can always stop by next summer when we host the 2016 Republican National Convention and 50,000 visitors.
Again, thanks for your interest. Looking forward to having you back in town tonight! Go Cavs!”

Look!...Cleveland hasn't won anything in 50 years! The Cavs are the only team that can send us out of that deficit! The Indians light is flickering a little...though they HAVE to beat the Tigers...and that won't happen! And the Browns...as empty as their helmet, Jimmy Haslam's brain, and Johnny Manziel's career...despite gettin' out of rehab...I'm a tad skeptic!

[isiahthomas]

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. The Cavs won't win against the Bulls if they don't win tomorrow. If they lose tomorrow, it's over for them LOL. Even if they win one in Chicago, they probably will still lose the series. Forget about the Indians and Browns ever winning a championship hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. The Cavs are the only team we can try to depend on trying to get a championship if Lebron stays until he retires. You never know with Lebron because he might change his mind again and say that he's leaving Cleveland if they don't get any championships hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. If he leaves again, he can stay gone and the Cavs fans will never forgive him.