1.19.2019

EDDIE, EDDIE

EDDIE, EDDIE

5/19/2008

Only in Boston could they chant for a player who submitted a 1-for-5 shooting display from the field.

But everyone recognized the intangibles Eddie House brought to yesterday's game. The veteran guard provided the Celtics with a steady hand, one they leaned on down the stretch in a 97-92 win over the Cavaliers in the deciding game of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.



If there was one stat to spell out House's contribution, look no further than the plus-minus chart. In his 15 minutes on the floor, the Celtics outscored the Cavaliers by 13 points. He hit two huge free throws to give the Celtics a 95-89 lead with 16 seconds left, then sealed the deal by picking off a pass in the waning seconds and dribbling out the clock.

``Before the year, if you had looked at the stat sheet and saw that Eddie House was 1-of-5, you would have said, `Wow, he really struggled.' Yet he was fantastic with his energy, with his defense.'' coach Doc Rivers said of House, who was not available after the game. ``Those are the things they said he couldn't do before he got here, so I was really proud of him.

``I went with Eddie, not because of (Sam Cassell's) offense, but because they were running guys off of screens. Eddie was a defensive star tonight and that's probably the first time he's ever heard that.''

With Cassell mired in a shooting slump, House got the call early on. He scored his only basket of the game, a 21-footer, early in the second quarter to give the Celtics a 24-15 lead. Yet, it was his hustle plays later in the quarter that inspired the sellout crowd to start chanting, ``Ed-die, Ed-die.''

After blocking a Delonte West shot, House dived to the floor to slap the ball away from Wally Szczerbiak. House's teammate James Posey picked up the loose ball and was fouled driving to the basket. Posey knocked down both free throws to give the Celtics their largest lead of the game at 34-23.

``I thought Eddie's energy throughout the playoffs has risen,'' Kevin Garnett said. ``Obviously he got the opportunity to come on in Game 6 (eight points in 18 minutes) and be effective and he did (yesterday).''

It was a sign of Rivers' increasing confidence in House, who played just 11 minutes in the first five games of the series, that he was out there down the stretch along with late-season acquisition P.J. Brown. The two teamed up for one of the biggest hoops in the game, House finding Brown for a 20-footer to give the Celtics a 91-88 lead with 1:21 left.

``It definitely helps to touch it,'' Brown said. ``Eddie threw me a nice little pass, I knew they were going to be crowding Paul (Pierce) and Kevin. I just stepped into it and it felt good.''

Just like a lot of things Eddie House did.

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