By Stephen Lars
The seventh and final East Conference semifinals game between the Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers had an ending full of emotions and suspense; the Cavaliers managed to grasp the victory with a scoreboard of 97-92.
Paul Pierce was the best player of the game; he scored 41 points including two points when only 7,9 seconds remained to conclude ruling the scoreboard and marking the victory.
The Celtics, which are the best regular season team with 66 triumphs, took advantage of a home game managing a place in the finals to take place next Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons.
Boston achieved the fourteenth consecutive triumph at home including the eighth that took them into the final phase qualifying rounds.
As it had happened in the previous games which were played at the Banknorth Garden, the Celtics began devastating with a 15-point advantage, but then their strength failed and although were never down in the scoreboard did draw in four occasions with the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers who have the unstoppable LeBron James were during the fourth quarter between one and seven points below in the scoreboard. Another remarkable performance was that of Pierce who obtained good points and participated in key plays; additionally; the veteran P.J. Brown whose shots set the scoreboard at 91-88 prevented the Cavaliers to lead the board.
Only 58.1 seconds before the game ended Pierce got a ball in the neutral zone stopping the Cavaliers; Ray Allen scored two shots, which changed the board to 93-88. The Serbian Sasha Pavlovic did manage a triple but once again Pierce won the last two points for the Celtics' victory making him the team's hero.
During the 44 minutes Pierce played he scored 13 of 23 field shots including 4 of 6 triples and 11 of 12 from the line..."They have been the three most intense minutes than I have lived like professional", declared Pierce upon concluding the game. "The team had always confidence in the triumph and we fight with the heart to obtain it", assured.
Pierce had Garnett's support for his field shots and Brown in only 20 minutes achieved 10 gold points. This was certainly a game that Ray Allen failed in his individual game as he only managed four points ...only gave an assistance and did not capture rebounds in 30 minutes of game.
The Celtics moved to the final phase of the playoffs with two of the best players Pierce and Garnett, nevertheless, other players like the reserves James Posey, Eddie House and Leon Powe also did a great defensive work for the team.
On the other hand, the Cavaliers' top player - James was always the one who kept the game but he did not have the support needed in the decisive moments to turn around the scoreboard.
James played 47 minutes and scored 14 of 29 field shots, but only 3 of 11 triples, although he achieved 14 of 19 points from the line of assistance, distributed 6 assistances and captured 5 rebounds.
Yet, the Celtics continued steady in their historic path of not losing in the final phase when having the advantage and now record 29-0 overall.
