Celtics New Guards Star In OT Thriller
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Cavaliers Boxscore |
Celtics Boxscore
November 1st Cleveland, OH, The Boston Celtics opened up their 2006 summer league season with a thrilling win against the Cleveland Cavaliers today. The Celtics started the game of with a bang, connecting on 6-of-7 3 pointers, 3 of those coming from 6-4 shooting guard Tony Allen. Meanwhile, the Cavs struggled at both ends of the floor and the only player that seemed to have anything going was Luke Jackson, grabbing offensive boards and knocking down open shots of nice feeds from rookie Daniel Gibson.
In the second qaurter, the onslaught continued, with more hot shooting and beautiful assists from newcoming point guards Sebastian Telfair and Rajon Rondo. Gerald Green and Leon powe got going in the offensive and defensive departments respectively, with Green putting up 10 points and Powe polling down 5 rebounds. By the end of the half, the Celtics lead by 16, with Sebastian Telfair leading the way with 13 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.
After the half, the Cavs made a small run due to the emergence of Shannon Brown. Brown began to heat up, at one point knocking down 3 straight jumpers to cut the lead to 8. Rajon Rondo counteracted this run from the Cavs by knocking down a couple of three's, and nabbing 2 steals, finishing with easy layups at the other end. Luke Jackson again was great for the Cavs in the 3rd, he and Brown combined for 16 points in the quarter.
At the start of the fourth, the Cavs made a huge run and eventually took the lead with 5 minutes to go, led by Jerom Beasley's domination on the offensive boards, tipping back or slamming home missed jumpers. Leon Powe returned to the game along with Al Jefferson and Allan Ray, and immediately grabbed a missed Rondo fadeaway and put it back over Jerome Beasley. Al Jefferson had 4 block in the final quarter and Allan Ray, despite struggling throughout the game, managed to make a difference by finding his teammates with nifty passes and playing lock down defence on Daniel Gibson.
With 2 minutes to go, Leon Powe tied the game with a huge dunk over Jerome Beasley, off of a Rajon Rondo alley oop. Cavaliers called time and Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson entered the game, and finished with an alley oop of their own. With exactly one minute to go in the game, Rajon Rondo knocks down a clutch 3 over Clevelands Shannon Brown, giving the the Celtics a 3 point lead. As Daniel Gibson dribbled the ball down court, Tony Allen flashed past, swiping the ball away. Allen closed in on the potential game winning dunk, and attempted a windmill, which came of the back of the rim and bounce down court to Shannon Brown. Brown help the ball for a moment, made a quick move to get past Sebastion Telfair, and knocked down a deep three over fellow rookie Rajon Rondo. With 33 ticks left, the score was tied, and Celtics had the possesion. They inbounded to Sebastion Telfair, who calmy came of a screen and dumped the ball inside to Al Jefferson. Jefferson made a nice spin move to get around Beasley, only to have his hook shot sent away by Anderson Varejao. Daniel Gibson sprinted up court when he was trapped at the baseline and had to fire up a desperation 20 footer which just rimmed out.
In overtime the Cavs looked like they were about to put the game away, up 5 with just over 1 minute to go. Gerald Green entered the game, as the the Celtics were looking for instant offense, but they got more than they expected. Green harrased Gibson and picked up 2 steal within 15 seconds that both lead to 360 dunks at the other end. The Cavaliers came rite back, with Daniel Gibson finding Shannon Brown in transition who was fouled, and hit 1 of 2 free throws. Down 2 with 26 seconds to go, Sebastian Telfair dribbled up the court and tried to make a move to get past Gibson. Gibson played solid defense but with 4 seconds on the shot clock, he gave Bassy just a little daylight and got punished, Telfair Knocked down a huge 3 to take the lead once again.
Gibson then took the ball coast to coast and found Luke Jackson wide open on the baseline, but the ball fell short and hit the front of the rim, falling into Leon Powes hands. He was fouled with 0.4 to go in overtime, and split the free throws. The Cavaliers failed to get a shot off at the buzzer and the Celtics came away with the win.
Player Of The Game: Sebastian Telfair - 24 pts, 4 rbs, 6 ast, 8-13 FG
Game Images:
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Tony Allen got it going from deep early
Telfair at 5'11 gets up for the jam
Shannon Brown finally started to heat up in the third
Rookie Rajon Rondo with the clutch 3 in the final minute
Shannon Brown responds with a 3 of his own to tie the game
Gerald Green was Bostons saviour in the extra period
