Celtics execute, steal home court advantage

The only thing that the Boston Celtics should feel badly about coming out of Cleveland after the first two games of their first-round series with the Cavaliers is that they should be up 2-0. Okay; so maybe that's not exactly a small issue, but the fact that Boston really should hold a fairly commanding 2-0 series lead instead of being even at 1-1 is very impressive for a team that was considered (by most) to be a significant underdog entering this series.

The Celtics have thoroughly out-played the Cavaliers thus far. They have led for six of total eight quarters, Rajon Rondo is absolutely torching Maurice Williams, Antawn Jamison cannot cover Kevin Garnett, Rasheed Wallace seems to have suddenly turned back the clock, Shaquille O'Neal is a non-factor, and they may have discovered a solution for containing LeBron James. And, after the 104-86 drubbing Boston delivered on Monday night, it has given Cleveland a lot to think about, and one really has to wonder where the Cavs' confidence is at the current time.

Clearly, Cleveland's main issue is Rondo; it simply cannot stop him. After going off for 27 points and 13 assists in game one, he followed up with 13 and 19 in game two, with 12 of those 19 assists coming in the first half alone. Oh, and to put into perspective exactly how dominant Rondo was through the first three quarters, he did not have a single dime during the final period. Meanwhile, his counterpart, Williams, finished 1-of-9 from the floor with four points in game two after propelling the Cavaliers to a game one victory with 20 points and a huge third quarter. Cleveland coach Mike Brown ripped into Williams after the game, essentially saying that the Cavaliers have no shot in the series if his point guard continues to play like that.

It has also become blatantly obvious that the 6'9" Jamison cannot cover the 6'13" Garnett (as Garnett refuses to call himself 7'1"). K.G. has easily been shooting over the top of Jamison throughout the first two contests, going for 18 points and 10 rebounds in both games while playing stellar defense. Garnett was feeling so confident that he actually took 21 shots in game two, and this is a guy who has been consistently criticized for not shooting enough in the past. Then you have Anthony Parker, considered to be a solid defender, who had his problems with Ray Allen in game two, as Allen ran Parker ragged by draining three three-pointers and going for 22 points, constantly moving without the ball and running Parker off of countless screens.

All of that aside, what may be most alarming about Cleveland getting taken behind the woodshed Monday night was the fact that the Cavs attempted 38 free throws as opposed to Boston's 18 (Cleveland also took more free throws in game one, attempting 10 more). Cleveland only hit 26 of those 38, good for 68.4%. The Celtics made the most of their opportunities, shooting an efficient 15-of-18 (83.3%). Oh, and another nugget: Boston, the worst rebounding team in the league this season, outrebounded the Cavaliers 43-32.

Now, if you still don't think the Celtics were conserving energy for the playoffs, then I suggest you never watch another NBA game, because you obviously do not know basketball. They have very much gotten into Cleveland's heads, and now with the series heading to TD Garden for two games, James and company could be in serious trouble.

Now that we mentioned James, let's talk about his game two performance, because it was nothing short of abysmal. Yes, he finished with a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven boards, but he had more turnovers (five) than assists (four), missed five free throws, shot 0-of-4 from three, and simply looked, for lack of a better word, lazy out on the floor. His passes were lethargic, his drives to the hoop looked tentative, and his aggressiveness was nowhere to be seen. So, either his elbow his bothering him more than he is letting on, or Boston's outstanding team defense has befuddled him. There might be a combination of the two involved, but I am more inclined to believe the latter of the two possibilities.

The Celtics are jamming up the paint whenever James makes a move to the hoop, forcing him to dish the ball out to his shooters, "shooters" that shot 4-of-21 from three-point range in game two. It's not like the Cavs have any inside scoring to offset that horrible perimeter shooting, either, as O'Neal is not even a shell of his former self (he went 4-for-10 with nine points), Jamison is being taken out of the game by Garnett, and Anderson Varejao can only score when he is wide open two feet away from the basket.

To make things even worse for Cleveland, Boston may have found a new (or, actually, old) weapon in Wallace, who tallied 17 points off 7-of-8 shooting, including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, in 18 minutes in game two. 'Sheed resembled the player that put the Detroit Pistons over the top in 2004 and helped them make it back to the Finals in 2005. If he can keep producing like that for the remainder of the series, the Cavaliers can say good night, because they are already having enough trouble stopping the likes of Rondo, Garnett, and Allen. Oh, and Paul Pierce hasn't even really gotten going yet.

The Celtics and Cavaliers are two teams going in different directions, as Boston is playing its best basketball of the season, while Cleveland struggled with the eighth-seeded Chicago Bulls and has looked like the inferior team to Boston thus far in this series.

Once again, Boston in six.