12.13.2017

KG Not a Big Fan of Afternoon Tilts

12/3/2007

Athletes may be the ultimate creatures of habit. Everything must be just so, whether it's the day-of-game routine or the pregame ritual. Thus, when a wrench is introduced into the equation, well, you get games like we got yesterday. Nature abhors a vacuum. Players abhor afternoon games.

It's probably safe to say that neither team was happy with yesterday's 12:30 p.m. start - and both teams played like it was an irritation to their daily karma. The LeBron-less Cavaliers had a distinct eau-de-Dakota-Wizards about them while the moribund Celtics survived to win, 80-70, despite a combined output of 16 points from Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Together, the two missed 15 of 19 shots. Ray Allen made one (1) shot outside of layup length - a 3-pointer to open the second half. The Celtics had no (as in zero) baskets outside the paint in the first half.

"It was not a piece of art," coach Doc Rivers said. "There will be no video on this game, hopefully."

Garnett used the word "odd" to describe the whole situation. While in Minnesota, he hated afternoon games and that hasn't changed with his change of address. Rivers had been talking about the absurdity of playing an afternoon game (after a back-to-backer which ended late Friday in Miami) for more than a week.

A more pertinent observation might be, "Why?" As in, why wasn't the game played last night? There was nothing else going on at the TD Banknorth Garden and nothing had been on the schedule for months.

Celtics president Rich Gotham, in an e-mail, said, "When our final dates and times were submitted to the NBA in late July, the evening window was not open at the Garden. So we scheduled the earlier time." He added, "I assume that since the building [was] open Sunday night, their schedule changed at some point after ours was submitted."

Normally, a 12:30 start indicates national television and the Cavaliers (read: LeBron) always have been a network favorite. But ABC ignores the NBA until Christmas Day (although ESPN, which has the same owner, certainly does not) and doesn't start weekly NBA coverage until the end of January. The Cavaliers had played Friday night in Toronto, so their basketball biorhythms were just as shaky as those of the Celtics.

"Afternoon games aren't one of my favorites to begin with," said Garnett, who, for the second time in three games, did not hit double figures in points. The first time that happened, it snapped string of 411 straight games of 10 or more points. "But it's on the schedule so we have to be professional and go out and compete."

But with LeBron in street clothes on the Cavaliers' bench, you could almost hear the energy being sucked out of the building. The fans weren't really into it. How many do you think came to see No. 23 and went away a tad disappointed? Actually, it's the second straight Boston appearance in which LeBron has sat and watched. The last time was for an obligatory fin-de-saison rest before the playoffs. This time it was for a sore index finger on his left hand. Suffice it to say he could have gone if the Cavaliers needed the game.

And, let's face it, the Cavaliers even with LeBron are only so-so, especially since coach Mike Brown is missing three guys who played pretty prominent roles last season: Anderson Varejao, Donyell Marshall, and Larry Hughes. Add LeBron to that MIA list and you're talking Secaucus in May, if not D-League worthy.

But Rivers said he also could tell the absence of James affected his team. How could it not? Maybe the best player in the league doesn't go - and you, as an opponent, are supposed to not let it affect you? It's human nature to feel otherwise.

"We didn't have the energy we normally have and we usually come out better than we did," Pierce said.

He got that right. The Celtics actually trailed this collection of misfit Cavaliers by 7 points in the second quarter. That in itself is noteworthy in that they had not trailed at all in any of their three previous games. Only New Jersey, which at one point led the Celtics by 9 points Nov. 14, has had a bigger lead in the Garden. Overall, in nine home games, the Celtics have gone wire to wire in four while at no time facing a deficit of as many as 10 points.

But they went on a run to get the lead at halftime and seemed to pick it up in the second half, particularly on the defensive end. Cleveland scored 31 points in the final 24 minutes, including 11 in the third quarter. Neither Garnett nor Pierce ever got off the bench in the fourth quarter and Allen was gone with 6:39 to play and the Celtics ahead by 20.

At that point, you got the distinct impression that Brown and Rivers gladly would have called the game and taken the result and gone home. At least the Cavaliers beat the storm out of Boston. That may have been their highlight of the day.

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