In the regular season victories, it was less about the strength on the court and more about winning the momentum.
Pierce was almost driven to insanity by Hansen.
Now it’s even worse, in name, Hansen is already the father of the Celtics!
After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both teams were announced.
Celtics: Rondo, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins
Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Hansen, James, Jamison, Varejao
O’Neal’s injury had reached expectations but had not fully recovered, so there was a good chance he wouldn’t return until Game 3.
Therefore, even though the first two games were on home court, the Cavaliers were at a disadvantage in the roster because O’Neal was absent and James was injured.
Varejao tapped the ball back to the Cavaliers’ half, signaling the official opening of the Celtics vs. Cavaliers 2.0 battle.
James took his position on the weak side right at the start, letting Williams orchestrate the offense.
This matched Hansen’s previous prediction and was also Brown’s plan before the game.
Williams played the pick-and-roll with Jamison, and after being double-teamed on the penetration, he passed the ball to Jamison.
Jamison’s mid-range shot was deflected by Garnett’s defensive hustle and missed the basket.
Perkins secured the defensive rebound and passed it to Rondo, who pushed to the frontcourt to set up the offense. Ray Allen ran off-ball and, with Hansen’s interference, also missed his shot.
However, Garnett leaped over Jamison, who was blocking out, and snatched the offensive rebound, drawing a foul from Varejao’s hand check. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝘯𝘦𝘵
Jamison had been outstanding in the first round, but in the opening two rounds, offense and defense, he clearly fell short in the confrontation with Garnett.
This was to be expected, as Garnett’s specialty was defending versatile power forwards, not giving up in speed and having the advantage in size.
Garnett made both free throws, giving the Celtics an early lead.
Williams pushed forward and continued with the offense, this time taking a mid-range shot after a pick-and-roll with Varejao.
But Perkins unexpectedly lunged out with his hands up, causing a disturbance to Williams’ shot, which ended up off the mark.
If Garnett’s play was just an individual matchup advantage, then this last play demonstrated the difference in the Celtics come playoff time.
They became more focused, more aggressive, and simply better.
If you measured their playoff intensity against their regular season performance, you would be greatly disappointed in the end.
Rondo continued to orchestrate the offense in the frontcourt. Ray Allen was closely followed by Hansen and didn’t have a chance to receive the ball. Garnett quickly moved to the right side of the free-throw line to set a pick. Rondo took a quick step and drove past Jamison to the basket, lofting the ball over Varejao to score off the backboard.
The shot wasn’t easy, but Rondo still nailed it. His improvement was crucial for the Celtics to remain competitive as The Big Three aged.
Williams tried to attack the Celtics’ interior to create damage at the start, but he underestimated Rondo’s ability to steal the ball. While he got through, the ball was snatched away by Rondo from behind.
This wasn’t just any Rondo; this was a guy who stood 1.85 meters tall but had an impressive wingspan of 2.06 meters, ranking him amongst the best in NBA history.
Rondo followed the steal with a fast break but was closely chased by Hansen.
The two raced to the frontcourt, one behind the other.
Hansen didn’t rashly attack but waited for Rondo to make a move. Given Rondo’s height of only 1.85 meters, he saw a chance for a block.
However, after driving into the paint, Rondo soared for a layup and Hansen timed his jump to block.
Unexpectedly, Rondo made a no-look pass over his head to Pierce who was tailing behind.
By the time Hansen landed and tried to play defense, it was too late.
Pierce received the ball and leaped up for a powerful two-handed dunk.
After the slam, Pierce glared fiercely at Hansen and swung his fist with force.
The crowd was electric.
The Celtics made a perfect start, 6-0, completely overturning the "momentum" created by Hansen’s pregame talk.
However, Hansen’s subsequent reaction caused that momentum to collapse instantly, like a landslide.
Facing Pierce’s domineering stance, Hansen smiled and said,
Pierce was on the verge of losing his composure on the spot.
You’re the Half-Truth, your whole family is the Half-Truth!
Luckily, Pierce had been attacked by Hansen’s trash-talk so many times that he’d developed some immunity.
He snorted coldly and turned to run back to the backcourt.
Hansen turned to Williams and nodded in greeting.
Trash talk doesn’t really change the situation on the court. The Cavaliers still hadn’t scored since the game started, and they needed to break the scoring drought if they wanted to turn things around.
Brown’s strategy at the start was to leverage Williams’ individual ability to open up the game. Now that the strategy wasn’t effective, he, as the team’s finisher, needed to step up.
Williams signaled a tactical play, then passed the ball to James.
James had the ball on the strong side, played pick-and-roll with Varejao, while Hansen and Jamison set off-ball screens on the weak side.
This was one of the Cavaliers’ most common plays during the season, especially after Jamison joined, as it maximized the offensive spacing on the court.
Normally, James would drive to the basket with the ball, either scoring himself or passing it to a teammate positioned on the perimeter.
But with his right elbow injured, this was a decoy pick-and-roll attack.
When Hansen came off the weak side screen to the 45-degree angle, he immediately passed the ball.