Lebron James couldn’t miss on Thursday night, hitting 19-of-26 shots for 45 points in Miami’s lopsided victory.
Pathetic. Disgraceful. Use whatever negative adjective you want to describe the Celtics’ 98-79 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat. The fact of the matter remains that what a couple of days ago seemed like a storybook ending only realistic in fairy tales is now about to come true. With the Celtics having blown a chance to end Miami’s season and advance to the NBA Finals, a Game 7 in South Beach now awaits, and like other Celtics fans I’m extremely nervous; especially after Lebron’s 45-point, 15-rebound performance last night. How do they plan on preventing James to score like that again on Saturday, never mind win the game?
Pathetic. Disgraceful. Use whatever negative adjective you want to describe the Celtics’ 98-79 loss in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals to the Miami Heat. The fact of the matter remains that what a couple of days ago seemed like a storybook ending only realistic in fairy tales is now about to come true. With the Celtics having blown a chance to end Miami’s season and advance to the NBA Finals, a Game 7 in South Beach now awaits, and like other Celtics fans I’m extremely nervous; especially after Lebron’s 45-point, 15-rebound performance last night. How do they plan on preventing James to score like that again on Saturday, never mind win the game?
The key will clearly be stopping or at least slowing down James’s characteristic first quarter outbursts which have plagued the C’s all series. In the first six games, Lebron has averaged 11.8 points per game in the opening frame. He has come out with an extreme amount of aggressiveness and poise at the beginning of every game, and the C’s have had no answer for him. The only way the Celtics have been able to come close to stopping Lebron is by withstanding his scoring charges. Send some more double teams his way, force the ball to change hands; something needs to be done to throw James off his game. All series long, the defensive pressure has been increased on Dwayne Wade so that one of Miami’s scorers couldn’t “get theirs.”. Why not send some of that pressure Lebron’s way?
Sounds simple, right? If only it were. All series, Doc Rivers has set out to shut down one of the Heat’s top scorers in order to give his team a chance; that man has been Dwayne Wade. Without any practice time or much preparation in between games, it would be hard for Rivers to switch the team’s focus to James. Luckily, I feel as if such a task won’t be too difficult given his performance Thursday. Lebron is, after all, the embodiment of the up-tempo style of basketball the Heat thrive on playing. So it’s no surprise that they play at their best when he is in a groove. That’s why, in my opinion, I feel as if Boston needs to hone in on him for Game 7. I’ve had enough of Lebron putting up big numbers against the C’s whether they come in crunch time or not: let’s see if Wade has what it takes.
Some of you may think I’m crazy for saying that given Wade’s proven ability to play well down the stretch. After last night, though, you must admit that I at least have a somewhat legitimate point. Sure, the Celtics were off-target badly shooting, missing bunnies and throwing errant passes left and right. But the Heat offense and James were simply too much for the C’s to keep up with, and that resulted in the offense rushing their sets and forcing both shots and passes. Give the Miami defense credit, too, but I think it was the pace at which the Heat offense executed which truly threw the C’s off their game. I also believe this is something Rivers and his coaching staff will pick up on in their reviews of film and make defensive adjustments for.
So how will the Celtics manage to win Game 7 on the road on Miami? Toughness, heart, leadership, and a will to stop Lebron James greater than his motivation to score. Some contributions on the offensive side of the ball would help as well, a.k.a more passing and points in the paint as opposed to jump shots. Oh, and how about a clutch performance from captain Paul Pierce (albeit he doesn’t foul out in the fourth quarter). Anything but the effort Boston showed out on the floor last night, and we should be just fine.
-Ryan Hartley
