Cavs (0-0) at Celtics (0-0) Round 2 Game 1 5/6

[FLCeltsFan]

at
Cleveland Cavaliers (0-0) at Boston Celtics (0-0)
Round 2 Game 1
Tuesday, May 6
8:00 PM, TNT
TD Banknorth Garden




Probable Starting Lineup
PG Rajon Rondo PPG 11.6 RPG 4.10 APG 7.3 EFF + 17.43
SG Ray Allen PPG 16.1 RPG 3.40 APG 3.1 EFF + 14.57
SF Paul Pierce PPG 18.0 RPG 4.60 APG 4.7 EFF + 17.29
PF Kevin Garnett PPG 21.0 RPG 8.90 APG 3.9 EFF + 25.29
C Kendrick Perkins PPG 7.0 RPG 5.60 APG 0.9 EFF + 10.69

Off the Bench
James Posey, Leon Powe, Sam Cassell, PJ Brown, Big Baby Davis, Tony Allen, Eddie House

Inactive: Brian Scalabrine, Gabe Pruitt

Injury Report
Scott Pollard, ankle, out




Probable Starting Lineup
PG Delonte West PPG 10.2 RPG 2.80 APG 5.0 EFF + 12.67
SG Wally Szczerbiak PPG 10.8 RPG 1.80 APG 1.5 EFF + 7.67
SF LeBron James PPG 29.8 RPG 9.50 APG 7.7 EFF + 32.67
PF Ben Wallace PPG 3.2 RPG 7.20 APG 1.3 EFF + 10.33
C Zydrunas Ilgauskas PPG 14.5 RPG 7.30 APG 1.5 EFF + 16.67

Off the Bench
Joe Smith, Devin Brown, Anderson Varejao, Daniel Gibson, Aleksander Pavlovic, Damon Jones, Dwayne Jones

Inactive: Lance Allred, Billy Thomas

Injury Report
Eric Snow, ankle, out

Key Matchups
vs
Rajon Rondo vs Delonte West
This should be a good matchup. Rondo started his career in Boston playing behind Delonte and will want to prove that he is the better point guard head to head. As with all the players who get traded, Delonte will play his best to show the Celtics they should have kept him (and with being a free agent this summer, maybe look at him again). These two players should know each other's tendencies as they played against each other for a full year in practice.

vs
Paul Pierce vs LeBron James
This is one of the best matchups in the league. They have a history and most remember the incident where Pierce spit at LeBron. Often their matchups get quite heated as both play very hard and have been their team's #1 option. With Pierce's new teammates, he should be able to concentrate more on defense and allow his teammates to carry the offensive load. These two players seem to bring out the best (and sometimes the worst) in each other.

Honorable Mention
Kevin Garnett vs Ben Wallace
Kendrick Perkins vs Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Wallace likes to play inside and Ilgauskas would rather play facing the basket. Expect to see Perk on Wallace and KG on Ilgauskas. Both should be good matchups with lots of physical play. Wallace doesn't provide much offense but will be a problem inside for the Celtics on defense. On the other hand, Ilgauskas has to be guarded on the perimeter as he is a very good shooter. Perk is coming off one of his best games as a pro and we will need more of the same from him in this game.

Keys to the Game
Defense, Defense, Defense. If the Celtics learned anything from the Hawks game, it is that their defense is what is going to win games. They played the intense defense that made them the top defensive team in the league during the regular season in the four games at home but on the road, they forgot how to play defense. They can't afford any defensive lapses against this Cavs team.

Rebounding Along with defense, rebounding is key to getting a victory. They need to crash the boards and limit the Cavs 2nd chance points. On the offensive end, they can't be one and done and must be aggressive in going after rebounds.

Don't Settle for Jumpers The Celtics can't settle for jumpers. They must take the ball to the basket and try to draw the foul or get the easy basket. Although Ilgauskas can block shots, he isn't near as dangerous inside as Josh Smith so the Celtics won't need to be constantly looking over their shoulders as they go to the hoop.

X-Factor
Rest vs Rust The Cavs are coming in well rested as they finished their series on Friday. The Celtics are coming in on just 2 days rest. Often the team that has been resting comes in with some rust to their game and it will be interesting to see if the Cavs show some of that rust and if the Celtics appear to be tired from playing on Sunday.

[runrondo]

Great team pictures!...Should be a great game...

[cfoo]

Will Wallace be Garnett's kryptonite? I doubt it. How many of us doubted whether we'd see this game? Come on be honest. Anyways, its going to be fun seeing Delonte and Wally and of course Lebron. As much as we should beat them if we play our game, there are some very interesting matchups in this series.

[Celtic17]

Loving the Jack-in-the-box lead.
Nice work Shirley.

We'll need to do just like we did at home in round 1 and what we didn't in Atlanta.

House and TA over Sam.

[cfoo]

We basically chose to go with rondo over delonte, ray over wally. Those two may play with a chip on their shoulders. Pierce vs Lebron. Probably the two toughest sf's in the east. Garnett vs the guy that was once the best defensive player in the league. He's at the end of his career but he might be looking to show that he has something left against a guy like garnett to get himself another pay day. Ilgauskis vs Perk speaks for itself...... Damon Jones vs Cassell two of the most annoying personalities in the league imo.

[birdie]

we need to kill them tonight and show them who are the bosses

[freshnthehouse]

Finally I get to watch a game. Thanks to work/other commitments, I missed all of the Cs/Hawks game (which may have been a good thing, blood pressure wise).

And FLC, you are outdoing yourself with these team logos. It's like we're in the presence of a great artist.

[goceltics34]

I hope the crowd is energized tonight, they were awesome in game 7. We have the best homecourt adavntage in the NBA. We need the crowd more than ever tonight after come off that emotional game 7 victory. Hopefully cleveland will come out rusty tonight. Can't wait until 8.

go celtics!!!!!

[The Eye of the Q is upon you!]

The key to winning this series is to make Lebron the superstar earn them at the line. He shoots 64% from the charity stripe on the road this year and had some FT shooting issues in the three games at Washington last round. We cannot get burned on drive and dishouts for uncontested threes.

Up front, Cleveland is no where as athletic as the Hawks up front. We need to keep taking it to the basket and hopefully Ray Allen can benefit with having Sczerbiak on him.

PG matchups are interesting - West against Delonte - Delonte should get advantage here. Cassell will come in and look to score.

Bench play will be important for the Celtics - Tony Allen might get to work on James a little along with Posey. Powe, BBD, and PJ need to be a wreaking crew up front.

Boston should win this series but it will not be that easy for them. I would like to close this out in 5 games but winning at the building with my internet namesake will not be easy.

[runrondo]

Go Rondo Go! 8 points already...It seems like the Cavs want Perk or Rondo to beat them rather than the big 3 and i think they'll both gladly accept that challenge...That Ray to Rondo To Perk play was sooo sweet...I'm really pumped for this series...

[The Eye of the Q is upon you!]

Rondo is running well for the Celtics. He has been brilliant so far. Did you notice that last play by Posey on James?

[birdie]

we have bad start, but now we're doin; it good, I hope that monster have a bad night and we killed them easily

[CelticsLoyalist]

Couldnt have hoped for a better Qtr. The start didnt phase me at all. I'm glad it started slow. James is so far in check and everybody outside of the big 3 has responded. P2's 2 fouls early is one of the issues I have so far followed by offensive rebounding.

[The Eye of the Q is upon you!]

Q at the qtr - C's shook off a 4 minute scoreless draught and took it to the Cavs by a tune of 25-11. 'bron had two TO's and only 4 points and no asts that I saw. Defensive Rebounding was outstanding (Cleveland's was also). Garnett got an advantage on Wallace, Rondo on West. Did you notice that weak side support D on Lebron that TA provided? and it led to a buzzer beating trey by Posey.

[CelticsLoyalist]

Pierce looks a little stiff.