Photo: John Kuntz/The Plain Dealer

The stat line is going to show that Rajon Rondo was the best player on the floor Sunday afternoon, and there will be no argument from this blogger about that. But, to say that it was Rondo who won Boston this game would be an error in judgment in my opinion. Ray Allen woke up from his recent shooting slumber, and Tony Allen had a series of interior buckets in the second half that lifted the Celtics to the Game 4 victory. On the Cavaliers side, it seemed the effort was generally there, but the Celtics still wanted it more, controlling the boards and collecting timely offensive rebounds and buckets when needed most. LeBron James had a quiet afternoon, and the Cavaliers wasted solid double digit scoring from their entire starting lineup because of just 11 bench points. The series shifts back to the Q for Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Jumping out to a 7-0 lead, things looked good for the Cavaliers. On this day, however, the Celtics immediately bounced back and took a seven point lead of their own in the first. Right from the beginning, the Celtics took charge of the boards, generating second chance point on the offensive glass. It's hard to recall a single "50-50 ball" that the Cavaliers got to, and this lack of hustle was reflected in the second chance points at 13-0 in favor of Boston. It's just one of the trends that is troubling from this series. Never would I have thought that I would be questioning the Cavaliers' overall effort and hustle at so many turns throughout this series.

In what turned largely into a foul shooting competition, the Cavaliers held their own, yet failed to take full advantage of the situation. While Boston had several key contributors in foul trouble from guarding James and Shaquille O'Neal, the Cavaliers had only Shaq in serious foul trouble throughout the game. Both Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were in and out of the lineup due to foul trouble, and Pierce once again failed to get into any sort of rhythm. When the Cavs could have really put the Celtics on their heels by taking Pierce and Ray Allen out of the game, LeBron failed to attack the rim in timely fashion, instead kicking the ball out or throwing up poor shot attempts that failed to draw iron. Part of it was when the Cavs did attack, they didn't pick up those frequent calls they had been accustomed to all game long.

If you told me at the start of the series that one team would burn the other with transition buckets, I would assume you were talking about the Cavs taking it to the Celtics. But, Boston has been able to run off makes and misses alike, and they owned the fastbreak points 23-7. Obviously, the main culprit here is Rondo, who created many fastbreaks on his own. With Rondo pushing it and laying it up on the rim, the Celtics were getting easy putbacks off his misses because the Celtics would beat the rest of the Cavs down the court. Then, there is the highlight play Rondo made on a would-be chasedown block by James. As LeBron soared for the swat, Rondo passed behind his back to Tony Allen, who had beat Delonte West down the floor, for the dunk. This was a small cross section of what did the Cavaliers in today.

Speaking of Tony Allen, you can probably credit him with the victory. He came out of absolutely nowhere with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting to pick up the slack for Pierce. Worse yet, all six of his buckets came in the paint and were timely at a key stretch in the start of the fourth. Allen and Glen Davis each had a pair of layups to help Boston start the fourth on a 10-0 run after trailing by just two after three quarters. The Cavaliers went ice cold, not scoring for nearly five minutes to start the quarter. Worse yet, Shaq picked up foul number five with 11 minutes to go and never returned.

One of my biggest question is "Where is the bench production?". For most of the season, I rightfully believed the Cavs to have the best bench in the NBA. Now, they've been outplayed in this series by the Celtics bench. In Game 2, it was Rasheed Wallace's 17 points that helped Boston pull off the stunner in the Q. Tonight, it was Tony Allen, and Big Baby has also made his mark at times. On the Cleveland side, it's been largely quiet. The wine and gold had just 12 bench points as their rotation shortened and zero bench points for nearly the first three whole quarters. Just look at the starters' minutes in this one: James (43), Parker (42), Jamison (37), Williams (36), and O'Neal (28). To win this series, the Cavs are going to need some big games from Delonte, Andy, J.J., and Jamario at home, where role players can play above their head in the playoffs.

One definite positive to take away from this was the performance that Shaq turned in. He not only drew a ton of fouls early in the game, rendering Rasheed Wallace ineffective, but he also made Boston pay for sending him to the line by hitting 7-of-11 freebies. In addition, Shaq was an integral part of cutting both big Boston leads at the start of the second and third quarters. He also made more of his close-range shots, knocking down 5-of-9 from the field. Grabbing five rebounds and blocking two shots were key as well, and when Shaq plays like this, the Cavs are a different team. The only problem is the main attraction didn't turn in back-to-back strong performances.

goes to: Shaquille O'Neal. 17 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks for the Diesel in 28 minutes, Shaq did not see much action in the fourth, leaving for good after picking up his fifth foul.

Team Grade: C-

Three things the Cavaliers generally do well all failed them today. They shot just 19% (4-for-21) from three point range, they were out-rebounded 47-33, and they had just three offensive rebounds with zero second chance points. Despite turning it over 17 times as well, the Cavs were in the game because of the strong performances from the other four starters and 39 free throw attempts, hitting at a 74% clip.

Now, the Cavaliers have a three game series on their hands. I'm disappointed about today's loss, but they went to Boston and did what they had to do: get a split. They now have taken back homecourt and have some things to build on for Game 5. Sure, Rondo is playing like the best player in the NBA right now in this series, but the Cavaliers can survive that if they can get their normally MVP's output and avoid the crazy bench cameos from Boston (see: Tony Allen). When LeBron puts his mind to it, no one, and I mean NO ONE, on that team can defend him. LBJ needs to recognize that and not forget it throughout the course of the game.

All for one. One for all. 10 to go.

Kirk

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