Break It Down Now: Cavs-Celtics Round Two Preview

PP Drum One of my first memories of following pro basketball came in the spring of 1992, when I was but a wee little nine-year old lad living in Broadview Heights, Ohio.The six o’clock news was about to start on Channel 5, and the first thing they showed as their introduction was footage of the Cavs highlights in Game 7 of the 1992 Eastern Conference Semifinals at Boston Garden. Two huge words, “Cavs Win,” were flashing on the bottom of the screen.At that time, I was always under the impression that the Cavs were the only thing good with Cleveland sports while the Indians and Browns were put on earth to suck, so I didn’t appreciate the magnitude of that game.It would be Larry Bird’s last game as a pro. Going into the Boston Garden and winning Game 7 by 18 points, 122-104, was a big deal. Of course, you could understand the perspective of a nine-year old at that time thinking that the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan were the only team that could beat the Cavs.And they beat Cleveland like a bass drum.Who would have thought that it would take 16 years for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics to meet again in the second round of the playoffs? LeBron James was seven back then while Kevin Garnett was a freshman in high school. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce were also high school jocks. Doc Rivers was a 30-year old point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers. Mike Brown was a 22-year old who would just be starting his career in the NBA as a video coordinator for the Denver Nuggets.They will all merge with their own subplots to come together 16 years later and tip-off what will be the headline series of the second round starting Tuesday night at TD Banknorth Garden at 8 pm Eastern on TNT.You can call this series “one on three.” It’s Boston’s “Three Party” of Garnett, Pierce, and Allen against Cleveland’s one-man wrecking crew of LeBron James. LB absolutely demolished the Washington Witnesses in the first round, showing no mercy for DeShawn Stevenson, Caron Butler, Brenda Haywood, and the rest of the bunch from the team he has steamrolled pretty much on his own for three straight years. James put up 29.5 points, 9.5 boards, 7.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in blasting D.C. out of the opening round.Boston, however, comes in as an elite defensive team. Their inconsistency was exposed in the Atlanta series (come on, when you’re 66-16, you shouldn’t need seven games to put away a 37-45 team, no matter how badly you won Game 7). But check out these numbers: the C’s were no. 1 in opponents’ field goal percentage (41.88), points allowed (90.2), opponents’ three-point percentage (31 percent), and 13th in rebounding (42.0) during the regular season.Last year, the Celtics were the seventh-worst team leaguewide in terms of opponents’ field goal percentage (46.8), in the bottom half (18th) in opponents’ points allowed (99.2), 12th in opponents’ three-point percentage (35 percent) and 20th in rebounding (40.4).It all starts with Garnett, this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. But as intense as his defense has been all year, you have to wonder how much of a winner KG is. The seven-game triumph over Atlanta marked only the second time he has escaped the first round in his career, and the fact that the Celtics-Hawks series, of all matchups, was the only one to go seven games has to concern you if you’re a Beantown fan.The Cavs, on the other hand, were pissed that it took them six games to beat the Witnesses instead of five after blowing a five-point lead at the Q in Game 5 with less than two minutes to go. However, this excerpt from the Akron Beacon Journal’s Brian Windhorst on ESPN.com during Game 6 may show that the Cavs, unlike the Celtics, may be developing a hell of a killer instinct:    “With sweat pouring off of him — and his teammates seated, huffing, below him — LeBron James stalked up and down the bench, gesturing and screaming…It was an impromptu players-only meeting at an odd time, the moments after the third quarter of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 105-88 Game 6 victory on Friday over the Washington Wizards to send the Cavs into the second round. It was the fiercest James looked all night as he made his point: close it out…The Cavs missed a chance Wednesday in Game 5 back in Cleveland, letting a fourth-quarter lead slip away. Not this time. James wouldn’t allow it and his teammates, before and after his outpouring, were in step.”Let’s make one thing clear: even though the Cavs finished with a record of 45-37 during the regular season (21 games behind Boston’s mark of 66-16), you would have to be a fool - a downright fool - to think that this series is going to heavily favor Boston. And there are apparently a lot of fools reading ESPN.com, as a survey on Sunday night asking “Which team will NOT advance to the conference finals?” saw the Cavs get 50 percent of the votes.Last time we checked, the Cavs are the defending Eastern Conference champions. They’ll still have the best player on the floor when the series starts on Tuesday. And Cleveland has shown that they have a bizarre knack for just mailing it in during the regular season only to play on another level in the playoffs, where LeBron James as well as guys like Daniel Gibson make a mark on their legacy.