Boston Vs Cleveland - An Epic Battle

The game 7 of the Celtics – Cavs series was one of the most spectacular performances I’ve seen between two superstars facing off. It was like an epic battle between Hector and Achilles fighting for their respective squads. Lebron James finished with 45 points despite falling short as the final buzzer sounded. Although he had some major lapses by not boxing out Pierce in the final jumpball which caused them to lose a crucial possession and by missing a crucial freethrow which could have cut the lead of the Celtics to 3 in the dying seconds, he did everything humanly possible for his team to advance to the conference finals despite trailing almost the entire game. He had to find ways to score points by himself while 3 defenders were surrounding him. He had to create and make plays for his teammates who couldn’t knock down shots but he didn’t get frustrated and continued to trust them. He rebounded the ball when it mattered the most. But most of all, he even had the daunting task of defending Paul Pierce on-ball and coming off screens who was having one of his best games in his career. He came up with big time defensive stops including a steal that led to a breakaway dunk, which cut the lead of Boston to 1 with around 2 minutes left in the game. Oh, and he did all these while only resting for 1 minute and 12 seconds on the bench. I’ve never seen any player as conditioned as that! Despite shooting the ball poorly throughout the series, he confidently buried two clutch three-pointers that kept them in the game. Truly the sign of a winner!!

Paul Pierce also proved to be a winner by producing 41 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists in their 2nd game 7 in this year’s playoffs. Finishing with the NBA’s best record during the eliminations, the Boston Celtics are highly favored to clinch the Eastern Conference title especially since Pierce is being backed up by superstars like Garnett and Allen (who hasn’t been playing like one). This adds to the pressure for Boston, especially coming into a game 7 at the Boston Garden, their very home floor which hosts one of the NBAs all-time greatest franchise. But Pierce proved to be reliable all throughout the game not just by scoring, but also creating for his teammates when the help defense comes. The only difference between Pierce and Lebron is the fact that Pierce had veterans who know how to handle playoff pressure. And it was in fact an unlikely hero named PJ Brown, who has been in the league for 14 years and will be turning 39 years old this year, who provided the support that Pierce needed to hurdle his nemesis. Brown grabbed timely rebounds and scored 10 pts despite averaging only 2.6 pts per game including the game winner for me when he knocked down the elbow jumper with 1:20 remaining in the game. That extended Boston’s lead to 5 points.

As the final buzzer sounded, King James walked straight out of the playing court into the locker room without any contact from his teammates, coaches, nor his opponents. I won’t be surprised if he asks for more reinforcements for the next NBA season. Kobe went through the same banana after losing Shaq, and look at the Lakers right now! If you almost forgot, Lebron is only 23 years old, just a few months older than I am and he definitely will have many more shots at that ring. In his post game interview, I quote him saying “I always want to win. I’m not disappointed at my teammates nor the coaching staff. I’m just disappointed that the season is over”. His maturity makes us forget how old he really is. But at the end of the day, no matter how ‘superheroic’ his performance was, it just goes to show that 1 vs 5 will never prevail.