I caught the 4th quarter live and still have to go back and watch the rest of the game. Give the Cavs credit. They hit baskets when they needed to, had stretches of tenacious defense and overall played great team basketball. That was a tough loss to handle and I actually feel very similar to how I felt after Game 4 of Round 1. The scary thing is that Cleveland is coming together as a basketball team that is obviously better and deeper than Atlanta. Some other brief thoughts:

- I did not enjoy watching Daniel Gibson attack Sam Cassell at the start of the fourth quarter. That coincided with a number of truly awful Celtics offensive possessions.

- The "Celtics can't win a road game" storyline is warranted and slowly killing my enthusiasm. 

- There was a stretch in the 4th quarter where both teams played outrageous defense. Everything was contested and each team was forced to shoot jumpers they could not make.

- I can't even link to LeBron's cruch time dunk but will most likely see it one million times over the course of the next year. And rightly so. It was impressive.

- For all his struggles last night, including an ill-advised 3 with Boston down 76-73, Paul Pierce gave it his all on the defensive end.

- Back to Boston...

Coming later (most likely tomorrow): What's in a name? - A look at Ray Allen vs. Delonte West/Wally Szczerbiak.

Wicked Good Sports
Headed to Cleveland.
Parquet Pride
What They're Saying in Cleveland.
HoopsVibe
Has the NBA Gone Soft? Green Bandwagon Note - Sam Cassell does have a point when he talks about Michael Jordan taking a beating. The "Jordan Rules" were really just about the Pistons hitting MJ early and often. At the same time I'd hate to see a series decided because someone was injured. As much as I champion Kevin McHale taking down Kurt Rambis I'd be furious if Marvin Williams hurt Rajon Rondo.
Cavs.com
Guarded Optimism. Green Bandwagon Note - I did not know Rondo and Daniel Gibson have history.
Bleacher Report
From possible disaster to Blessing.
SF Gate
Celtics' Powe rises to challenge again. Green Bandwagon Note - The Powe info is brief. Still Powe is awesome.
Inside Indiana
Report: Rivers to enroll at Indiana. Green Bandwagon Note - Intriguing. I knew he was leaving Georgetown.
Perk is a Beast
Post Game Interviews
Red's Army
Hostile Environment. Green Bandwagon Note - Check this out for the link to Bill Plaschke's over the top/reactionary article on Pau Gasol.
Loy's Place
We've been here before and so have they.
CelticsBlog
The open road.
Boston Globe
Posey keeps ticket requests all in the family.
Celtics must find a way to win when they're away.  Green Bandwagon Note - The way Posey handles ticket requests in the definition of a veteran move.
Ball is in their court.
Boston Herald
Wallace doubtful for Game 3.
Ready to remodel.
James hopes home is where his shot is.
On defensive end, true kings hold their court.

Cavaliers Blogs to Check Out
Cavalier Attitude 
Waiting for Next Year
And One
Fear the Sword - This one dropped off the face of the blogging world shortly after the blockbuster trade. The same goes for Hey Larry Hughes, Please Stop Taking So Many Bad Shots.

Starting Lineups
Rajon Rondo vs. Delonte West
Ray Allen vs. Wally Szczerbiak
Paul Pierce vs. LeBron James
Kevin Garnett vs. Ben Wallace
Kendrick Perkins  vs.  Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Schedule Notes
Cleveland closed out its first round series Friday night and had three days to prepare for the Celtics. Boston of course went the distance with Atlanta and did not wrap up round one until Sunday. I’ll give Cleveland the edge but it helps that Boston is home.

Season Series
1. The Celtics lost the first game of the season series in overtime. This game was memorable for several reasons:

- Ray Allen played 49 minutes. At the time this was a big deal. Of course as the season progressed his minutes came down. But that was a little frightening. He also took 25 shots, which was easily his high for the season. In fact Allen only took 20 shots two other times and that has not happened since January.

- While Rajon Rondo finished with 7 rebounds and 6 assists, he was also atrocious from the field (1-9). This game single handedly prevented people around the country from recognizing how much Rondo can bring to the table until the third Pistons game.

- The Celtics should have gotten it done down the stretch as Ray Allen missed a few free throws late and Paul Pierce could not come through on a possible game winner.

- LeBron dropped 38 points and was huge from the line (14-15). That’s the kind of stat line I’d hate to see as we move forward.

- Drew Gooden was on fire – 24 points (11-15 from the line) and 13 boards. Big Z also chipped in 15 and 15.

2. LeBron sat out the rematch less than a week later and the Celtics won a pretty dreadful Sunday afternoon game, 80-70.

3. LeBron James – 33 poinrts, 12 assists, 9 boards and 5 steals. That coupled with Kevin Garnett’s absence led to a 114-113 victory for Cleveland. On the bright side the King had 5 turnovers.

4. The Celtics handled the new look Cavs in one of those games where the final score (92-87) made it look a lot closer than it actually was.

Long story short the home team won every game.

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Lance Allred – The Cavaliers signed him to a couple of 10-day contracts and then eventually brought him in for the remainder of the season. However, Allred only saw action in three games and I’d be incredibly surprised to see him out there. Having said that Allred is a lot more interesting than many end of the bench guys because he had an unorthodox childhood (huge understatement), has 80% hearing loss and should probably hate Rick Majerus. Hat tip to Hardwood Paroxysm for the previous link. Also check out HP for an interview with Allred. Seriously the brief poker game anecdote is awesome.

Devin Brown – Since entering the league in 2003 he has played in Utah, Denver, San Antonio (twice), New Orleans and now Cleveland. That journeyman persona was only enhanced when Brown joined the squad shortly before training camp. Every team in the league has a guy like Brown. He is the player that does a lot of little things to help the team win, is appreciated by the coaches and is not well known beyond the home fans. You think he was a part of Will Malice’s Unsung Player Day? Of course he was. Embarrassing aside. Occasionally I’ll watch a Cavs game and for a split second I’ll think Brown is LeBron James. The same thing happens with Adonal Foyle and Dwight Howard. We’re talking a split second here and I’m definitely not proud of it. I should probably keep that to myself actually.

Daniel Gibson – The former Texas Longhorn came to prominence when he caught fire in game 6 of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Pistons. Gibson finished the game with 31 points and five 3-pointers. That shooting prowess was on display again at the Rookie/Sophomore game over All Star Weekend in New Orleans. Gibson did battle injuries this season, is more of a 2 than a 1 and will probably hate the Cavaliers during the off season, as is the custom with Cleveland’s recent restricted free agents.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas – Big Z averaged 14 and 7 and put forth a huge effort – 21 points, 10 rebounds and 5 blocks - against the C’s back in February. While I respect his game I also like his slow, deliberate place. That’s how Boston prefers to play. Finally I’m always amazed by how much he towers over everyone else on the floor.

LeBron James – He rose to prominence in the era of AAU, high school stars jumping straight to the pros, blogs, ESPN News, a zillion magazines and an oppressive amount of hype. And yet starting sometime after last year's All Star Break you could make the case that the hype has not been enough. Does that ever happen? Seriously he averaged 29.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 7.7 assists and was an afterthought in the MVP race. That’s outrageous. On top of that he may be the strongest guy in the league. I don’t need to write too much more because he will be a huge topic of conversation throughout the series. But I’ll close with this. If you watch a few James interviews, post game press conferences or really anytime he speaks you'll notice that he references his role as the leader of the Cavs a seemingly disproportionate amount. Watch for it.

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