Basketball is a funny game sometimes. On paper, it looked like Boston’s first round series would be a cakewalk. Here you go, Big Three. Here’s a young, inexperienced 37-45 team to sweep before you give your old bones some rest. Or, if you want, you can drop a game in Atlanta so you can give your fans a treat and win Game 5 in front of them.
Only it didn’t work out that way. The young Hawks were a different (i.e. good) team at home. The city of Atlanta, not known for supporting semi-lost causes, turned out in force and gave the Hawks an extra edge at home. While it was interesting to see the Celtics handle a tough series like that, none of these guys wants to play a seven-game series in the first round against a team with a losing record.
Is Boston’s confidence shaken? Maybe not shaken, but there are certainly some chinks in the armor. It remains to be seen whether or not they use the series to circle the wagons, utilizing this ubuntu thing I keep hearing about. But one thing’s for sure – the Celtics move forward knowing that they are not invincible, especially on the road.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers come into the season fresh off an oddly schizophrenic series against the Wizards. It’s clear that those two teams are developing something of a rivalry, so even if neither of the teams were particularly good, the series was still somewhat compelling. The presence and growth of LeBron James is one of the league’s major macro storylines, so in that respect the NBA is fortunate that the Cavs made it to round two. Now the King takes his ragtag band into the lion’s den, to face the mighty Celtics.
The Cavs are 5 to 1 underdogs, and it’s easy to see why. Other than Zydrunas Ilgauskas, LeBron doesn’t have much (experienced) help on the offensive end. There’s the sharp-shooting backcourt of Daniel Gibson and Delonte West, but Wally Szczerbiak has pretty much been a no show since arriving in Cleveland. It’s going to take a superhuman effort from James to keep the Cavs in the series.
Is this a possibility? Sure. Paul Pierce will likely be tasked with covering James that the start, and he’s not known for his defensive prowess. James Posey is probably the C’s best answer for LeBron, but in order to have Pierce, KG and Ray-Ray on the floor at the same time, Pierce will have to guard the Cavs’ power forward – Ben Wallace or Anderson Varejao. The good news is that Allen’s suspect defense shouldn’t be exposed against like it was against Joe Johnson, as neither West nor Gibson drives the ball much. Jesus Shuttlesworth will be asked to stay home on his guy, and that’s something he can do.
I don’t think the Celtics will have much of a problem winning the first two games at home and I think it will be tough for the Cavs to win both Game 3 and Game 4, so this series looks like “Boston in 5.”
