Notes From A Huge Game One Victory

This was a huge momentum boost for this Cavaliers team. After all the nasayers bashed this team over the past few months, they stuck together, practiced hard, and played their butts off against the defending Eastern Conference Champs. Lets take a look at some notes from last nights victory.

• The crowd in the Q was electric from start to finish. I enjoyed the game from the comfort of my recliner, but the noise in the background was truly awesome. I've always said Cleveland has the best fans in all of professional sports and the attendance/fan involvement during the game proved that tonight. Cleveland fans love their teams and cheer for the name on the front of the jersey....not the back.
• Austin Carr addressed the crowd at the first media timeout regarding the health of Joe Tait. He presented a giant"Get Well" card in which everyone in attendance could sign. This was an awesome act of gratitude. Get Well Joe!!
• Tempo was the word of the night. As long as the Cavaliers were pushing the tempo and dictating the pace, the game was going in their favor. When the ball was being pushed from end to end quickly, the Celtics continued to force bad shots and play at an obviously uncomfortable pace. I was anxious to see how well the Cavs would hold up physically after 48 mins of up and down basketball and was pleasantly surprised of how finely conditioned Coach Scott has this ball club.
• At times I felt the Cavaliers were struggling with their defense around the basket. They allowed quite a few easy lay-ups and had problems at times with the physical play of the Celtics inside. Of course this comes from the fact that the Cavs don't have extremely large players in the post, which in hind sight would really slow them down at their own game. If Shaq were the starting center on this team, the Cavs would have a difficult time playing at this pace. Although I was concerned about the interior defense in the first half, I was pleasedwith how well the Coach Scott and the Cavs adjusted at halftime. The defensive pressure in the second half, mainly the 4th quarter was what you like to see from a grind it out NBA team.