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.

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