Central role in the middle
Ilgauskas came up big for Cleveland
He matched his playoff career high of 22 points, but it was of little consolation to Zydrunas Ilgauskas as he sat slouched in his stall in the visitors' locker room at TD Banknorth Garden, a pair of ice bags taped to his knees as he cooled his dog-tired feet in a large bucket of ice.
With basketball god LeBron James looking like a mere mortal - he nearly posted the first quadruple-double of his career with 12 points, 10 turnovers, 9 assists, and 9 rebounds - Ilgauskas did his best to steady the Cleveland Cavaliers on his gangly 7-foot-3-inch frame.
But even Ilgauskas found the weight to be too burdensome.
His 22 points, on 8-of-18 shooting (6 of 6 from the foul line), weren't enough to overcome James's offensive deficiencies in last night's 76-72 setback against the Celtics in Game 1 of this best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal. Nor was it enough to overcome Kevin Garnett's game-high 28 points.
"Everybody has a bad game," Ilgauskas said of James's struggles. "But also Paul Pierce and Ray Allen struggled. So, they'll want to play better the next game just like LeBron, but we can't just rely on him playing better and us winning the game. The other guys got to play better, too.
"We'll look at the tape and we'll have to figure out, especially offensively, why we struggled."
When they examine the evidence today, one thing will likely jump out: Boston's defensive intensity, which limited the Cavaliers to 30.7 percent shooting from the field (23 of 75). And yet, as poorly as they shot and as close as they were to stealing Game 1, it was of little consolation to the James Gang.
"Not really, because they made us shoot 30 percent," Ilgauskas said. "They're the best defensive team in the NBA and they were really aggressive and trapped us and were physical and forced us to take bad shots."
Did the Celtics do anything unexpected defensively?
"No," Ilgauskas said. "They shrunk the floor on all the penetrations. Maybe we got to drive the ball more, but they just kept denying our inside shots."
While James was given little latitude to operate, Ilgauskas rose up in the second half and proved difficult to deny as he converted 5 of 10 shots for 14 points.
"I just knocked some shots down when LeBron created a lot of double-teams and triple-teams," Ilgauskas said. "So I found the open spot and shot the ball well, especially in the second half."
After Daniel Gibson tied it, 68-68, on a 3-pointer with 2:17 remaining, Ilgauskas gave Cleveland a 70-68 lead with 1:30 left when James penetrated into the lane, pulled up, and found his center at the top of the key for a 19-footer.
"We were right there," Ilgauskas said. "We were up 2 points and that's what you want, on the road, in the playoffs, with a minute left. But they just made a couple of more plays in the end. They made some shots and we missed some shots and sometimes it goes that way."
After Garnett knocked down a 20-footer to tie it, 70-70, Sam Cassell sank a pair of foul shots to give the Celtics a 2-point lead. Ilgauskas, however, put back an offensive rebound to tie it, before Garnett answered with a turnaround hook for a 74-72 lead with 21.4 seconds left.
"Kevin made a couple of good plays," Ilgauskas said. "If he misses one of those shots, we probably win the game. On the road, we gave ourselves a chance against a good team, so, hopefully, the next game we'll give ourselves a chance again and we need to steal one on the road."
