That's what Kenny Smith called Boston after their loss to the Cavs last night. So far I would agree with him. Boston has an amazing ability to pummel a team when they're down, and not let them back into a game, especially at home. As we've seen in the Celts playoff road games, they struggle to manage a game from behind.
A note for Wolves fans: 20 game win improvement predictions aside, last night demonstrated how far we are from not only making the playoffs, but being able to compete in them. There was some serious defense played by both teams; forget the illogical talk about adding still more outside perimeter jump shooters to this club as the first priority, give me folks who are first willing to defend, then shoot. That's how championships are won.
Cleveland was able to shut down both KG and Pierce in the second half; Allen got off a couple of three's, but it has to be troubling for the Tri-Core not to be able to take over a game in crunch time. After horrible adjustments in Game 1, Cavs coach Mike Brown made a couple of slight tweaks to his offense, running high pick and rolls in the fourth quarter to enable both Gibson and Lebron to have spacing to hit clutch treys to seal the contest. And of course, there was the posterizing dunk on KG by LBJ.
King James will need another majestic performance like last year to carry the Cavs; I think Boston still has too many ways to beat a team. Lebron will have to find a more consistent shooting touch, and as I mentioned in a previous post, guys like Wally, Gibson and Z are going to have to show up again, especially back in Beantown. Losing Game 1 was critical to the Cavs chances. Boston still wins this series, but unless KG, Pierce and Allen find themselves, even a gimped-up Detroit will prove difficult for the Celtics. Detroit can beat Boston at home, Boston hasn't proven yet they can beat anyone on the road. That's not promising for title aspirations.