Who’s the pressure on now? Is it on the Cavs, who must win on the road in Game 5 in Boston to maintain their momentum and keep from having to win a Game 7 in Boston? Or is on the Celtics, who seemed to tighten up in the fourth quarter in Game 4 in Cleveland and who now head back home hoping they can continue their home-court magic? I know this much – the Cavs have changed the momentum of this series, and ending the way they did – with LeBron James’ thunderous dunk – will only give them more momentum heading to Boston. It does not mean they will win there, but if I’m taking a guess (and that’s pretty much what I’m paid to do) I’m guessing the Celtics are feeling the heat a little more than the Cavs right now.

It’s getting to the point where I’m going start fawning over LeBron James. That is frowned on in our profession. But the guy is simply amazing. He has another “off” shooting night, gets 13 assists, a huge fourth-quarter three and then ends the game with a slam dunk for the highlight reels. I’m not sure if TV can convey the power and force that was present when James drove that ball through the hoop. To think he went by two Celtics defenders – two pretty good defenders – and slammed the ball in over Kevin Garnett … it was electrifying. The Q went bonkers, and the Celtics had to try to strategize during a timeout with that replays of that dunk playing over and over and over again on the Q’s big screen. Imagine sitting on their bench and glancing up and seeing that slam replayed again and again and again. Kind of takes the air out of a team.

Boston is averaging 81.5 points per game and shooting 40.5 percent in the series. Those are numbers that should make the Cavs defense proud, and those are numbers that are good enough to win a series.

I’ve been pretty hard on Anderson Varejao in these playoffs. Dr. V’s swooping drives to the basket had started to become maddening. But in Game 4 Varejao played an excellent, excellent game in defending Kevin Garnett. Garnett started strong, making his first four shots. He finished 6-of-13 and missed his only two shots in the fourth quarter. Varejao seems to play sometimes like one of those toys you got when you were a kid, where you press the bottom and the figure on top flails around, arms and legs going any which way. That’s Varejao. And it seemed to bother Garnett.

I don’t know why Garnett sat almost the first five minutes of the fourth quarter (along with Ray Allen). That one’s hard to explain. The Celtics lineup early in the fourth was Glen Davis (“Big Baby”), P.J. Brown, James Posey, Sam Cassell and Paul Pierce. It stayed that way until 7:26 remained in the game, when Garnett and Allen returned. Garnett wound up missing two shots in the fourth quarter, and Allen took one three and missed it. The “big three” in crunch time? Three-for-10. In Game 1 Doc Rivers and the Celtics bench lost track of the shot clock in a key situation, but skated because Boston won. In Game 4, that lineup started the fourth quarter.

Rivers did have a cogent quote on James following the game: “You think LeBron is struggling? He had 21 points, 13 assists, six rebounds. He probably forced 15 fouls. We don’t look at that as LeBron struggling. You only look at field goal percentage. We don’t. We look at the way he’s playing his total and he’s making plays. The Gibson threes and those threes don’t happen without LeBron James. We are forcing him to take tough shots, and having said that I think he’s playing terrific.”

Paul Pierce, meanwhile, continues to be a bit of an enigma when he’s on the court with LeBron. Pierce has a tough time scoring over James, and when James scores Pierce seems to feel the need to score. Pierce is now shooting 18-for-52, or 34.1 percent. Aside from a decent Game 2, he’s been outplayed by James. Quite frankly.

Pierce’s foul on James in the second quarter looked bad, but wasn’t. Even James admitted that. He said Pierce held him up, which helped protect him. It could have been called a “clear path” foul, but Pierce had the angle. That being said, it produced a comical sight when Gloria James, LeBron’s mother, got into things with LeBron, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. As Gloria yelled at Pierce, LeBron told her to sit her tush down. He didn’t use tush of course. As James said, “the commissioner doesn’t care if this is your mother. You can’t allow fans and players to get involved with each other. And I can’t afford for my mom not to be at every one of my games.” James said he should have chosen better words, adding: “Thank God it wasn’t Mother’s Day.”

Give credit to Joe Smith, who quietly plays like a true professional, which is what he is. It was painful to see him take the shot in the you-know-where in the fourth quarter from Sam Cassell (accidental), but Smith stayed in the game and came up with some key rebounds. Earlier he had come up with some key shots. Smith doesn’t get the mention of the acquired guys who now start, but he has been invaluable the last two games.

Watched Mike Brown when he signaled offensive plays in to the Cavs. It seemed like every time he did, the play resulted in a basket or open shot. During a timeout, Brown called the play that set up Daniel Gibson for a key three in the fourth quarter. There was one play the Cavs ran in the fourth quarter that saw Gibson run around some screens to try to get a three, but the Celtics cut him off and then cut off James, the next option. Sometimes the other team plays good defense. Point: Brown is not an offensive mastermind, but the Cavs do have an offense that can work when it’s run effectively. And Brown was very smart in the use of his timeouts. Most came at key times when he needed to settle his team down, or to remind it do things like … um … move the ball.

The maturity of James continues to amaze. Consider what he said in the huddle after his ferocious dunk with 1:45 left. “We need to get another stop.” Right after the play of the year, a play that will be talked about for years, he’s thinking what to do next.

Some quotes:
LeBron on his dunk: “Our fans deserved it. They were great. Our team deserved that type of play.”
Doc Rivers on the Celtics’ fourth quarter: “We have to play better under stress. I call them ‘hero’ shots and I thought we took a lot of those instead of just stressing what we do.”
Mike Brown; “To end up with seven turnovers, 35 baskets and 24 assists against these guys, in a game like this, is pretty good.”
Wally Szczerbiak: “We have got to take the positives that we got in Game 1 and Game 2. We could have gotten Game 1; we were right there. Game 2 we got off to a great start. I don’t think that there is any question that we can win, but have to play well for 48 minutes.”

It's surprising only in that it came fast: Already a story has been written speculating that the hiring of Mike D'Antoni as coach means the New York Knicks will make a strong run to sign LeBron James in 2010. Geez, the guy's only been hired for two days.

The story details the lust the Knicks have for James (big surprise there) and how James would fit so well in D'Antoni's high-flying offense. It goes into some great detail for an event that is pure conjecture, and a couple years away if it happens at all.

I can only imagine the panic a story like this will cause in our area …

It's no secret that a guy like D'Antoni would love to have James. No coach with a working brain in the NBA would not want to have him. If a coach would turn down the chance to have James on his team then it's time he open an umbrella stand outside Canal Park.

Second, James would probably love to play in D'Antoni's offense. He's called him a genius or mastermind or something like that. No NBA player with the ability to score would not want to play for him. If a guy who can play did not want to be in D'Antoni's offense, then he should open a lemonade stand next to the umbrella stand.

What does this mean? For now, nothing. James said the other day that he has no idea what the Knicks want to do.

But we should all probably get used to these stories, because they won't go away. The notion of James in New York has to be enticing — for James and the league. The best player in the league on the biggest stage? Whew. Newsday speculates in its story that the Knicks could be $28 million under the salary cap in 2010. Which is a lot of subway tokens to throw at a guy. But New York won't be the only team lusting after James if he does go to free agency. Every team in the league would maneuver to get him.

So expect these stories to increase as the final year of James' deal approaches (he has an option to opt out after the 2009-2010 season). The Cavs can offer James more years, more money and better annual raises, but James left money on the table with he took a three-year deal for this contract. Too, he makes so much money from his endorsements you wonder how much an NBA deal actually means to him.

It seems that the thing that would keep him in Cleveland is a chance to win championships for his hometown team. Michael Jordan won a bunch, but he wasn't from Chicago. Larry Bird went from Indiana to Boston and won. Magic Johnson went from Michigan to LA and won. James would stay home and win — and that would be unique.

This only means that his decision will come down not to money, but to the ability to win. The Cavs know this. They know that they must get him help so that the Cavs are a championship contender, not just an Eastern Conference-best team.

D'Antoni's hiring in New York really doesn't change anything. If D'Antoni were in Phoenix and James were to be a free agent, it's a safe bet he'd like James in Phoenix as well. The thought of James actually running that offense is pretty enticing. But … and this is key … D'Antoni has not shown his system can win a title. It can be exciting. It can bring a player great numbers. It can be fun to watch. But it never got the Suns out of the West.

Every NBA player pays attention to his numbers, but James seems bigger than numbers. He seems to be devoted to winning titles, and if he can do that in Cleveland the Cavs' chances to keep him are good. Think about it: What good is it to run a 110-point offense in New York if you can 't even get to the NBA Finals?

So the onus continues to be on the Cavs front office to build a team around James that can win. That was true a week ago, a month ago, a year ago. It hasn't changed just because D'Antoni was hired in New York.

What do the Cavs do to win Game 4? Just what they did in Game 3. Sounds simple, really, but that’s really it. Move the ball to find the man open for a shot, them make the shot. As Zydrunas Ilgauskas said: “The best way to attack this team is to move the ball and make them chase it.” The Celtics eventually are going to play good game on the road, but Cavs coach Mike Brown is more concerned with his team. “If we play our game we feel confident in or abilities no matter who we’re going up against,” he said, adding: “Our concern is going out to Game 4 no matter where it is and playing the right way, basketball wise.” When he said it, he had extra emphasis on the words “right way.” Which indicates the Cavs did not play their way, or the right way, in the first two games. Which is why to win Game 4 they need to remember how they won Game 3 and repeat it.

The Cavs were the first team to shoot 50 percent in the playoffs against Boston. Of course they’ve only played Atlanta and Cleveland.

They may be nothing. But there are some factors surrounding the Celtics that might have me concerned, were I inclined to root for the team from Boston. Start with the horrid shooting of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen (a combined 20-for-61). Continue through Rajon Rondo getting not a single assist in Game 3. Then think that the Celtics have shot lower than 50 percent in nine of their 10 playoff games. These are not encouraging signs. Time will tell if they’re just statistical blips or indicators of problems to come.

When Ben Wallace is on his game (emphasis on HIS game) he really helps, but let’s be real here … his taking part in Game 3 wasn’t exactly Willis Reed limping out of the tunnel dragging a bad hip.

I predict LeBron James makes more than half his shots in Game 4.

The four guys acquired in the midseason shakeup – Wallace, Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak and Joe Smith – scored 63 points in Game 3.For one night, the trades looked real good.

Here’s one more blogger who claims James “dives’’ when getting hit: “For someone who's built like an NFL tight end, LeBron sure has an aversion to contact - I think he dives more than all of the Montreal Canadiens combined.” Evidently when a guy gets hit in the throat going full throttle he’s supposed to shrug and skip to the line.

The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy had some nice things to say about Cleveland, the city.

By the way … how did he do this …

That’s the way a team is supposed to play, the way a team is supposed to run an offense. The Cavs claimed they did nothing different, but there had to be some new wrinkles in the Cavs' Game 3 win. The key thing they did different – especially early – was make shots and protect the ball. For some reason, all the Cavs followed their leader in Boston, so when LeBron James shot poorly everyone else did too. In Game 3, they made shots, shooting 65.5 percent the first half.

Lot of contributions to this win. Five guys were in double figures (LeBron, Z, Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Joe Smith). The Cavs had 29 assists, 11 in the first quarter when they grabbed the game by the throat. James had eight assists, West seven and Z six. That’s just good team basketball.

The Cavs now have succeeded in changing the psychology of the series. Boston was on a high coming off Game 2’s easy win, but now they have lost four in a row on the road in the playoffs and it has to be in their head a bit that they might not be able to win on the road. The Cavs, meanwhile, have to figure they can beat Boston in Boston because they had a chance to do just that in Game 1. As for Game 4, the Cavs have to like the fact they are at home and coming off a big win. It’s why a team always, always, always has to look at these games one at a time (to use a cliché) in these seven-game series.

Big credit to Ben Wallace in this win. Wallace wasn’t supposed to play due to an inner ear infection that was exaggerated by the air in Boston, which is tough for allergy sufferers. Wallace played very well early, with big rebounds, hustle plays, a steal, and baskets. Yes, baskets. He was a big factor in the fast start. He did shoot a free-throw air ball late in the game, but his contributions in the win should not be minimized.

Interesting that Mike Brown actually shortened his bench in this one. Sasha Pavlovic got no time until the final two minutes. The Cavs used three guards – Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and Daniel Gibson.

So much is made of LeBron James and his shooting struggles … perhaps it’s time to take a look at Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Pierce went 3-for-8 Saturday and now is 12-for-35 in the series (34.3 percent). Allen was 4-for-12 and is 8-for-26 (30.8 percent). Combined, two-thirds of the “big three” are 20-for-61 (32.8 percent). James? He shot 5-for-16 in Game 3 and is 13-for-58 (22.4 percent).

Games like that one make a person wonder if Delonte West might really be able to be a fulltime point guard. Like to see that kind of game game in and game out, though.

James was the victim of another hard foul, but it was properly called. James Posey actually looked like he reached out to grab James, but he got him in the throat instead. It was a hard foul, but it was not the same variety that Washington gave James – like when Brendan Haywood shoved him from behind after he was already in the air.

LeBron James on the first quarter: “You couldn’t ask any more out of a team in the first quarter. It was unbelievable.”

Yes, LeBron James leads the Cavs. Yes, he is a superstar, a standout, an All-Star, a guy who feeds hungry pigeons, protects nearly-endangered polar bears and does the ironing for several assisted living centers in the Akron and Cleveland area. James pretty much does it all for the Cavaliers.

Which may be part of the problem as the Cavs head to Game 3 tonight against Boston If James does everything for the Cavs, then no one is there to pick him up when he's doing short of everything. And that's what is happening lately. James has had two poor shooting games, but nobody has helped him out. Instead of someone else stepping forward, the Cavs have seemed to follow, so when James struggles the rest of the team mucks around and waits for something to happen instead of making it happen. And when that happens against a real good team like Boston, the result is what it is.

Z tried in Game 2, but for inexplicable reasons the Cavs stopped going to him. Others have not done enough to help in a time of need, so the entire team suffers. To win tonight the Cavs will need LeBron to be LeBron, but they'll need a player or few others to step forward and contribute.

And if they don't it will just highlight the offseason need to add another player or two who can be counted on to contribute more often than he doesn't.

Sometimes a team is not good enough to beat the other team, no matter how good one player on a team is. Michael Jordan went through that for a time in Chicago. He needed other dependable players, and he got them.

I'm not ready to say yet that the Cavs as a team are not good enough, not until these two games at home are played. The Cavs easily could return to Game 6 form against Washington and send the series back to Boston tied, which would end all the teeth-gnashing and wailing and crying from these parts these days. The Cavs are good enough to have that happen. They beat Boston twice in the regular season, and they can do it again.

LeBron will have to return to LeBron-like form. But somebody has to help him.

Meanwhile, there's one pretty important person in Cavs-land who apparently feels the series is going back to Boston. The story is here. By the way, the individual mentioned denies what is reported.

As the final seconds of Game 2 ticked down in Boston, LeBron James stood up on the Cavs bench. He turned and told the coaching staff to get up, then went down the bench, one by one, slapping hands with all his teammates. When the game ended, James did not turn and leave the court as most NBA players do. He went on the court and shook hands with every one of his teammates. He wanted to get a message across: The series is not over. "I’ve got to let them know that I’m not frustrated and I’m not getting down on this series," James said. "Being down 0-2, that’s a tough hole to dig yourself out of it, but we’re going to have to do it if we want to move on. So, me being the leader I can’t look like I’m down on the series or down on my play or down on my team’s play." OK then.

That's all well and good, but things are not looking good at all right now. They usually don't after a blowout. But the Cavs have not shown they are able to cope with Boston's defense. Their offense that was so fluid in Game 6 against Washington has disappeared. I think it starts with James' offensive struggles. It's not fair to put it all on him, but as he goes so go the Cavs. There is no other standout player to turn to if he struggles. And in Game 2 the Cavs didn't even turn to the guy who played a standout game. Zyrdunas Ilguaskas made his first six shots in the first quarter. He took six shots the rest of the game. That's not smart basketball, and it stands out because when Z was getting the ball early the Cavs were moving the ball. When they stopped moving the ball, he stopped getting it. The Cavs played well the first quarter, but let it all go away the second. They can't afford that kind of quarter against Boston. The Celtics are too good.

Lot of theories why James has had such a miserable offensive two games, why he's shooting 8-for-42, which is less than 20 percent. It seems to me that the Celtics throw some long-armed big guys at James, and that Kevin Garnett or whoever "spies" behind the defender. James might get by James Posey or Paul Pierce, but when he does Garnett or Kendrick Perkins or Leon Powe is waiting. James said it's because the Celtics have "athletic bigs," which is better than having athletic supporters obviously. Those athletic bigs do not let James beat the "second line of defense," he said. He's got a point, as he usually does. When he goes for some of these layups, a big guy is there, and James has really struggled getting the ball to the hoop, much less in the basket. I said it in Friday's Beacon Journal, and I say it here: If the Cavs do not find a way to get James going, the series is over.

What else are the Celtics doing? Let's let the players talk. Ray Allen: "We forced him into zones where we wanted him to score, where we thought it was best for our defense." Kendrick Perkins: "Just making sure he can't turn the corner. We want him taking contested twos." Zydrunas Ilgauskas: "When he gets past somebody they have bigs there and they're making it tough for him to shoot."

Z did a good job explaining the Cavs offense, which has scored 72 and 73 points, which is pretty brutal. "We're in the wrong spots," he said. Which is not good. "We are just in the wrong spots sometimes," he said. "We have bad shots sometimes. We have not been a very good offensive team." No argument here.

Boston took 38 free throws. Does that not seem like a huge number?

The Celtics being the Celtics, they pass out a sheet prior to game-time describing what has happened on this date in Celtics history. The first item the day of Game 2 read: "An Arizona newspaper reports that Dennis Johnson and Johnny High used cocaine when playing with the Phoenix Suns. Johnson denies the report at a press conference. Boston loses to Milwaukee 126-121 in OT, as a fan taunts McHale into a fight." Safe to say of the many things one expected to read from the long and storied history of the Boston Celtcis, that particular item was not one of them.

Just saw on ESPN that James' two-game shooting performance is the worst by a guy with at least 30 shots in two playoff games since 1948. Where do they come up with this stuff?

James has missed all 10 of this threes. Can this really continue?

At one point in his press conference, James said (and the wording comes right from the quotes sheets handed out post-interviews): "We tried to get (me the ball) in some DHL shakes … I don’t know if you know what that is." Of course every reporter in the room nodded knowingly as if he or she had actually designed the DHL shake.

Wally Szczerbiak said James is frustrated. "He's gotta be frustrated," Wally World said. "He's such a good player and he has so much on his shoulders that sometimes it's really tough on him." James said he's not frustrated. "I'm more frustrated with the turnovers I’ve had more than anything," he said. Those turnovers number 17. Hard to believe this will continue all series. But I repeat: If it does, series over and time to go fishing with Charles Barkely.

By the way, will the 10 folks who did not vote for LeBron James as first-team All-NBA declare themselves?

I got a few e-mails and comments from folks saying (again) that Mike Brown was at fault for the Game 1 loss, that his lack of offensive coaching and his offensive (no pun intended) system were the reason LeBron James struggled.

Brown was asked what he saw from his team's offense when he watched the tape of the 76-72 loss (Note: Diagram to right for artistic purposes only and is NOT from Cavs playbook). His response: "I thought we did a decent job pushing the ball and throwing ahead. We had 17 fastbreak points and it's tough to get that against this team on the road. But beyond that when we're talking about going against their set defense, one of the things is we have to get the ball from one side of the floor to the other. Sometimes multiple times on the same possession. We didn't do a good job of that. Second thing we have to do is we have to space the floor better and use our spacing rules. Too many times the ball came to a standstill when we know if the ball gets swung here a basket cut should be made here followed by pick-and-roll. Or if the ball gets swung here a pin-down should happen on the back side, or if the swing is denied he should go back door and the next guy comes up. We have some basic rules and concepts that we've given our guys when you just have to play. Then the last thing we have to make sure us that we're aggressive driving the ball."

That's some basketball-ese, but it means moving the ball, don't stand around, and move without the ball. Spacing is important in the NBA. There must be room to maneuver, and to pass. If spacing is screwed up, all the plays are out of kilter. Sort of like a typewriter (remember those) with wrong spacing. All the words would squish into a big old mish-mosh that nobody could read (sort of like this blog).

Clearly, there is an offensive system in there. No, Brown's forte is not offense. It's defense. But the Cavs do have an offense. It's just not always run with the highest efficiency.

The second thing people wrote was to ask why the Cavs don't post up LeBron James more. It's a good question. It's something they did some early in the year, but they've gotten away from it. One reason is James doesn't always take to posting up. So if the play is called, he might decide to post up 15 feet from the basket and immediately turn and face the basket. The other problem is that it's easier to double-team James in the post, and if, for example, the Celtics double with Kevin Garnett that leaves Ben Wallace open and Wallace is not an offensive threat. I agree that James would be a weapon in the low post, but it does not seem to be something he's comfortable with right now. At least that's my guess, which in the long run might suffer from some more "bad spacing," except in this case it would be the spacing between my ears.

Bottom line: 30.7 percent shooting will make any offense look bad.

A lot of folks are having a lot of fun with James' reactions to getting hit. I wrote a little for Thursday's Beacon Journal about the fact that James was cut inside his upper lip on the flagrant foul Sam Cassell received. The Boston Garden crowd bellowed like James was faking it, and columnist Dan Shaugnessy of the Boston Globe said James' head snaps back like he's Kosmo Cramer when he drives to the hoop. "James gets more calls than any 23-year-old in the history of basketball," Shaugnessy wrote.

Now Shaughnessy and I share a college alma mater, so I'm not going to get on him. But let's get real — James is too good to act. Yes, he tends to be dramatic, but he's not making this stuff up. He gets hit. Check out the picture on the right from today's Boston Globe. I believe on this play that James reacted and had to re-adjust his headband. No call was made, and the crowd howled at James as if he was making things up. It doesn't look like he made this up — and it happened 25 feet from the basket. Cassell hit James, he deserved the flagrant foul. James gets hit other times too. This game was not officiated poorly. The guys with the whistles were not hacks. The calls James got he earned. And late in the game, he was played physically on a late drive to the basket and had to throw the ball up falling down. It didn't go in. I did not think a foul should have been called; it wasn't. Mike Brown thought James might have been fouled on his last attempt to tie the game; I didn't. It wasn't called. The game was well officiated.

That being said, Zyrdrunas Ilgauskas might have been treated a little differently if he had kneed Sam Cassell in the head early in the game as opposed to late in a close game. That one (left) had to hurt.

Just a guess, but it does not seem that Red Auerbach would be happy with fireworks, cheerleaders and dancing girls at Celtics games.

Bob Ryan concluded his story in the Boston Globe this way: "Let's get serious. When LeBron goes 2 for 18, you'd damn well better win the game. Or not lose it. The Kid will not be playing like this again."

I found compelling this argument that Chris Paul deserved to be the league's MVP.

Gilbert Arenas finally weighed in on his blog on NBA.com, and said this about the first-round series against the Cavs: "It was an entertaining series. The hype and drama behind it was bigger than I expected (but, I didn’t expect DeShawn to call LeBron “overrated,” either). To each his own. That’s how he felt and we had to stand by him. They had their own little problems off the court I guess, so he had to do what he had to do and we had to stand by him as a team and get him as comfortable as possible and help him. I think we could have helped him a little bit more. We could have trapped LeBron a little bit more than we did to get the ball out of this hand and let everybody else beat us the whole series, but we played him straight up and he straight up killed us, like he did during the regular season. But, it was entertaining. On the days I wasn’t playing, I enjoyed the hype. I know a lot of critics and sports analysts were killing us, I heard the Charles Barkley thing (called Washington the dumbest team ever, or something like that), but at the end of the day, they were watching. And at the end of the day, that’s all you want for your series are the viewers." For those into this kind of thing, in February it was reported that Stevenson was dating LeToya Luckett, formerly of Destiny's Child. Beyonce also was in Destiny's Child. Beyonce is married to Jay Z, who is LeBron's good friend. Evidently Luckett and Beyonce had a falling out at some point, which led to a lawsuit being filed and blah blah blah. This is just a guess, but perhaps somewhere in this web is the reason for those "little problems" off the court.

Here's a couple more excerpts from Gilbert's blog: "You had entertainers showing up, and you had entertainers making diss tapes. I’ve been in this league, I’ve been around the league, I’ve been watching the league for as long as I can remember, and I’ve never seen anything this wild in a series in my life." And: "It was amazing though, the whole city of Cleveland was into it. A couple of us were in the mall in Cleveland and a guy came up to us and was like, 'I know somewhere you guys haven’t been before …' And it caught us off guard. We were thinking he was going to be like, 'The Gap!' So we just were like, 'Where?' And he goes, 'The Second Round!' And he just took off running. We were like, what is this? This is crazy. But that is really a Cavaliers town. I love cities like that. They support their team, they’re not the bandwagon jumpers. Some of my Halo players showed up at the game wearing my jerseys and they got peanuts, cans, beers thrown at them. They needed an escort out of the arena because they had my jerseys on! But I like stuff like that. It shows that you’re down for your team."

This little video has nothing to do with the Celtics series, but it's entertaining, no?

Weird opening game. That’s the kind of probing analysis you pay for and expect, eh?

Who knows? Maybe LeBron James was reading the Boston Globe all day and pondering how great he is. Nah. His shots just did not go in. That happens sometimes. It doesn’t happen often like this with LeBron (2-for-18, 10 turnovers), but it happened this Tuesday night in Boston. And it’s the reason the Cavs lost.

Even with that, the Cavs had a chance to win. They just didn’t. In normal circumstances the thinking would be that the Cavs had their chance to steal a game in Boston and missed it. Now they’ll never steal Game 2. Except normal thinking goes out the window with James. He never – well hardly ever – has consecutive bad games. He could drop 40 with 12 assists on the Celtics on Thursday night.

But as bad as James played, he was matched by Paul Pierce and Ray Allen. Those two combined to shoot 2-for-18 with 10 turnovers, just like LeBron. That won’t happen again. Just like it won’t happen again that James will struggle like he did. So who knows how this comes out in the wash (more of that probing analysis, eh?).

Still, even with all the problems, the Cavs had a lead late, had the ball down two late and had James at the rim with a chance to tie. He missed. As he said, it was that kind of night. The reason Boston won and the Cavs lost was that Kevin Garnett made his shot in the final minute, and James missed. Through all the troubles and struggles and ugliness prior – and it was an ugly game — it still came down to those two shots.

Not sure if this was a hard-nosed defensive game, or just an ugly game. Perhaps both. You have to think both teams will play with more skill, and play better, as the series continues. As Boston coach Doc Rivers said, it was like he was back in the old Heat-Knicks playoff series. Said Mike Brown: “The whole series could be filled with us grinding it out.”

There was a knock on Kevin Garnett, that he does not want to take the big shot at crunch time. Well he sure wanted to take it in Game 1. He did and made two. “That is why he is called ‘the big ticket,’” Boston’s Kendrick Perkins said. If this continues, folks will point to this series as the time Garnett took charge. And it would come at the expense of the Cavs.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who played a very good game (again), summed things up well when he said: “We were right there, up two points. That’s where you want to be at on the road with a minute left. They just made a couple more shots than we did at the end. They made their shots and we missed some shots. Sometimes it goes that way. You know, you have to like being up by two with a minute left on the road with a hostile crowd.”

The more I watch Z, the more I wonder why in the world anyone wants to get rid of him, or doesn’t like him. The guy is a very, very, very good player, who does a lot of things to help his team win.

James spoke of his game and Paul Pierce’s: “If you combine our numbers – 4-for-32, between me and Paul Pierce, with 16 turnovers, 0-for-9 from the three point line … I could keep going I guess. Not all-star numbers right there.”

James had a tough night. But I think we can officially state that Pierce is freaked out playing against James. He shot 37.7 percent against Cleveland during the regular season, now drops a 2-for-14 night on the parquet (the word has to appear at least once, right?). Pierce tries too hard against his rival, or at least he has to this point. He could break out of it any point, but to this point the thought of facing James is in his head. Either that or James' defense is too good.

Said Rivers: “If you’re Cleveland you are thinking that they almost won with LeBron playing like that. If you’re us, we’re thinking we won with Paul and Ray not scoring. So it’s probably a wash.”

Two-for-18 was the worst percentage shooting night of James’ career.

Interesting that Sasha Pavlovic replaced Devin Brown in the rotation. And surprising, given the many ways Brown has contributed to the team. Brown did not get a minute after playing in 78 games in the regular season.

Perspective remains amazing. Had James made that last layup and the Cavs won in overtime we’d all be talking about how he overcame the tough night. It wasn’t a bad night, because he wasn’t out of control and launching garbage. He simply didn’t make his shots.

The play goes unnoticed, but late in the game the Celtics missed a shot, then got the ball out of bounds after a scramble. Doc Rivers called timeout to diagram a play, and had the ball thrown in to Garnett 18 feet from the basket. Thing is, the original shot never hit the rim, and there was only one second on the shot clock. When the ref signaled a violation, Rivers put his hands out as if to ask what was going on. Same with Garnett. Clearly, nobody on the Celtics or on the bench was aware of the shot clock – and Boston discussed things during a timeout. Rivers skates because the Celtics won. I can only imagine the outcry if the same thing happened with Mike Brown.

Boston is one of the great sports cities in America. Passionate, involved, a bit obnoxious — but amazingly knowledgeable. Fans in Boston are some of the wisest in the country — even with their home-town biases. Too, some of the best sportswriters in our purple mountain's majesty work in Boston. Larry Bird once said of the Boston Globe's Bob Ryan that he was the only sportswriter who could watch one practice and know all the Celtics plays. Folks in Washington just couldn't seem to get past the fact LeBron James didn't like getting clubbed with a four-by-four on the way to the basket and focused on his alleged "crybaby" side. Folks in Boston have seen Russell, Havlicek, Bird and the rest. They appreciate good basketball.

Their words about LeBron in Tuesday's Boston Globe were downright fawning. Accurate, of course. But fawning nonetheless. And perhaps they should make us all pause, head to a daffodil field, rub our chins and appreciate the metaphysical truth that James truly is the best player in the game today.

Ryan, who knows so much basketball, wrote that LeBron "is the most physically gifted player in the history of the game." Holy George Mikan, folks. He said the history of the game! That means … ever. I suggest reading the entire story.

When discussing … well … writing about the matchup, Peter May asks: "When was the last time the Celtics faced a guy like this in the postseason?" And no, he was not referring to Eric Snow.

While most in Cleveland were in despair over the near .500 Cavs following the major midseason trades, the Globe's Michael Vega writes: "… the fact that they were able to post a 15-13 record while trying to establish some sense of cohesion on the fly was remarkable." Paul Pierce talks nice about LeBron in that story, and Celtics coach Doc Rivers said the trade made the Cavs a much better team.

In the Boston Herald, Rivers is quoted saying: "We don’t have any LeBron-stoppers on our team. I don’t want to put anyone out on that island.”

Apparently, though, there's some bad feelings between Boston's Kevin Garnett and Cleveland's Wally Szczerbiak.

Few things to consider for Game 1:
—Paul Pierce shot 37.7 percent in four games against the Cavs this year.
—Doc Rivers has advanced to the second round of the playoffs as a coach one time, this year.
—Everyone earns everything this series. Boston held Atlanta to 41 percent shooting in its first-round series, Cleveland held Washington to 42 percent.
—Ray Allen has made just two of his last 13 three-point shots.
—Many are assuming that Ben Wallace will guard Kevin Garnett, and he will — early. It will be interesting to see, though, if Mike Brown uses Wallace in the final minutes. His presence on the floor is a free-throw shooting nightmare.

Finally, a special place in the underworld must be reserved for people on a plane who, when getting out of their seat, use the back of your seat for leverage. This succeeds in surprisingly bending your seat back, all so he or she can get out of his or her seat. The place for these people must be right next to those who turn in the aisle and club you in the head with the bag on their shoulder.

Game time is 8 p.m. See ya after.

The Boston Celtics are treating the Cavs with a little more respect than Washington did. The Celtics said many things that show they are taking the Cavs seriously. If they mean what they say, that is. There are some interesting feelings in this series. LeBron James and Paul Pierce do not seem to be best of friends; the two got in a tussle once, and they do a lot of talking on the floor. James said it's just two competitors. But Kevin Garnett talked quite a bit to James in the game he played in Cleveland in December. James admitted during the season that the Celtics are "up there" when it comes to talking on the court. Whatever that means, and it probably means nothing when it comes to actually playing the games. Bottom line: The Celtics clearly are not going to treat this series the way the Wizards did, by doing a lot of chattering prior.

As of early Monday morning, 71 percent of those voting on an ESPN poll said the Cavs would win one of the first two games in Boston.

One NBA writer feels the Celtics celebrated a bit too much after being taken to seven games by Atlanta. Seems he likes the Cavs' chances.

Nice lead here on the Series from Tom Withers of the Associated Press.

If artery-clogging ingredients are your cup of tea, Thursday is your day. Papa John's will sell a large, one-topping pizza (pineapple anyone?) for 23 cents as a way of making up to Cavs fans for the T-Shirts with Papa John's logos that called LeBron James a "crybaby." Those shirts appeared at Game 6 in D.C., and the PR types at the pizza place apparently recognize a mistake when they see it. The company also will donate $10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund — and only have four grams of saturated fat per slice.

Roger Clemens sure has rebabbed his image, eh?

A story in last week's Washington Post detailed how the Nationals are having a hard time selling the best seats in one section of their new stadium. These seats are right behind the plate, primo location, if you get the drift. Yet they show up on TV as empty all the time — because they cost $300 per ticket. Imagine that, people actually balking at paying $300 per seat.

Mike Lupica details here that the Yankees charged $150 for a ticket behind the dugout last year. Same seat is $250 this year, the last for Yankee Stadium. Next year in the new Yankee Stadium it will cost $850 (If there's a Yankee Stadium next year then I guess this is not the last year for it, eh?). And seats right behind the dugout will cost $2,500. For one stinking seat. Folks will be lining up like they're at Filene's basement for those.

I like to refer to all these trips to cover these games the way players do — they are "business trips." There to focus on a job, to do a job. to get something done. A business trip. That being said, there are occasional yet rare opportunities to actually get out and learn something about the local culture where the games are played. So it was in Washington, D.C., when there was perhaps a 15-minute window (business trip, remember) to sample a restaurant. Now … there are certain principles for dining on the road. It's easy to eat at chains. Why go to a restaurant in Washington one can eat at in Cleveland? Makes no sense, really, to go with the Big Mac and fries just because it's within one mile of the Capitol. Ruth's Chris or Chris' Ruth or whatever it is may have the best steak in the Western Hemisphere, but why eat there on the road when you can go to one locally? Best to find the small, local place. Doesn't have to be fancy, but should have some character. So it is that the best walleye you may ever eat will come from the Tavern on Grand in St. Paul, Mn. In Washington, then, one might wish to try La Tomate on Connecticut just off Dupont Circle (unsolicited promo photo above). Small family-owned Italian place, lot of character, all fresh food — very friendly and inviting and warm. Yes, that's it. Warm. A restaurant is always best warm. W-a-r-m. Don't leave without trying the spinach appetizer. If you get lost, it's right across the street from the Church of Scientology; maybe Tom Cruise will stop by and jump on the table. Joggers (like myself) have to appreciate D.C. too. Best path takes ya past the White House and south to the Mall and past the Lincoln Memorial. Not the Soldiers and Sailers Monument on the square, mind you, but it'll do. Again … if there's time on these "business trips."

Oh … the best and only way to get around in D.C. is via Metro, the subway. It is a great subway system, paid for by our tax dollars, and very convenient — primarily because it saves the headache of driving in D.C. Take it everywhere — even to bed. But there are a few rules to follow. First is the fare card system. One-day graduate classes are offered on how to use the fare card at both Georgetown and American University. Take one on arrival. I'd offer advice on the fare card, but it's against the rules. Part of the tradition of riding the Metro is being baffled the first time you try the fare card. The only thing to say is everyone has to have their own fare card. Don't buy one $20 fare card and expect it to cover Mom, Dad, Grandma, the dog, lizard and the kids. Everybody needs their own fare card. Second, one must never ever actually talk to anyone on the Metro. One must only sit in their seat silently, staring straight ahead or at the ground (the woman on the right technically is breaking the rules). If you are with a group or a friend, it is acceptable to talk so long as the talk is muted. God fobid you would actually make conversation with a stranger. This would make the Metro warm, and only D.C. restaurants are allowed to be warm (w-a-r-m). Talking to someone on the Metro apparently will cause antenna to grow out of your armpits. Third, when taking the escalator down to the Metro, stand TO THE RIGHT. Folks who walk down go on the left, and if you are in the way they will admonish you sternly: "Stand to the right please." Then they'll run you over like they have to get to some meeting at the Interior Department — and we all know how busy those folks are. Finally, when entering the Metro car, if there are no seats do not move to the middle of the car. Instead, clog the area right inside the door. This seems to be almost as important as not talking to the folks who ride. No reason can be given, it just happens. Make the area by the doors as crowded as possible, thus making it inconvenient for those getting on and off. Seems to be a matter of policy, and again we all know how important "policy" is in D.C.

Last, these suggestions are offered only to give a local flavor to the visit, not for financial gain.