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.