In a preview of what’s coming next week in the season opener when these two teams face each other at Quicken Loans arena in Cleveland, the Cavaliers and Celtics starters didn’t play much but that didn’t leave the drama out of the game.
The first half ended in a skirmish. The first half ended with a skirmish. After Rajon Rondo’s shot in the lane spun out, leaving the Celtics with a 56-48 lead, the Cavaliers’ Mo Williams got up from the floor and threw an elbow that hit Boston’s Shelden Williams in the chest. The Celtic Williams then pushed the Cleveland Williams before order was restored. O’Neal ran from the Cavaliers’ bench but was stopped when he got to midcourt.
Ok… now back to the game. The Celtics won 96-82. Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen didn’t play. Doc River didn’t want to play Paul Pierce but Pierce didn’t want to miss a chance to play against Lebron James. However, he played 13 minutes and scored 11 points.
Lebron James scored 18 points and Shaquille O’Neal added 16. Anderson Varejao had 10. Eddie House scored most of Boston’s points and finished with 21 points. After the third quarter, both teams played their subs.
Shaq is enjoying his time with the Cavaliers:
“It’s a fun team,” Shaq said. “It’s a young, energetic team. It’s probably the type of team a guy like me should be on at the end of his career, rather than being out there with a bunch of old guys. It’s me and Z (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) and everybody else is in their early 30s or 20s. If you hang around with young people, then you feel young.”
“Being the father of six children, LeBron is one of those kids who gets good grades, does everything right. To put that into basketball terms, he’s a team player, great guy in the locker room, so I didn’t need to come in there and say, ‘Do this and do that.’ He’s earned his spot. He’s earned his name.”