One Last Look Back at Banner 17

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that the Celtics were embarassing the overrated Lakers in game 6 of the NBA Finals at the Garden and capturing their 17th NBA Championship.

Fast forward four and a half months to the Garden and the Celtics fittingly opened the 2008-2009 NBA season with the banner raising and ring ceremony.

From all reports and highlights, the presentation was top-notch. The viewers at home wouldn't have much idea of that though since for some reason TNT chose to show only small clips of it while also muting some of captain Paul Pierce's emotional address to the crowd.

Oh yeah, there was a game to be played too as King James and the Cavaliers were in the building. The teams memorably went seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals before Pierce outdueled James in the deciding game.

No surprise that the game lacked the excitement and buzz of the pre-game festivities. Even more predictable, the V.I.P. corporate suits at the game failed to make any noise. What is this, Fenway in the playoffs?

Anywho, the Celts (1-0) started out slowly but eventually wore down the Cavs (0-1) with team defense and clutch shooting from Pierce (game-high 27 points) to take a 90-85 win.

Much like in the Eastern Conference Finals and for all of his young career, James didn't get enough help from his mostly average teammates. James had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Veteran center Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 15 points and eight rebounds while new point guard Mo Williams added 12 points.

Little has changed for the Cavs, they still rely on one player (James) more than any other team. It helps that he's one of the top two or three players in the league but I still doubt that they have the horses to win a title as currently constructed.

After really waking up late in the playoffs, Rajon Rondo continued his strong play with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals on opening night. Kevin Garnett was held to 11 points and six rebounds. The keys for Boston, outside of Pierce, were Tony Allen (11 points) and Leon Powe (13 points) who were great in big minutes off the bench.

James Posey is the only notable missing part from last season's championship team. Without question, the C's hope Tony Allen can fill Posey's role, with some help from rookies J.R. Giddens and Bill Walker. Nobody thinks Tony Allen is the player that Posey is but if he can regain his pre-knee injury form, Boston will be in good shape.

Cleveland was up 28-22 and 50-43 as the Celts' shooting started out uglier than Craig Sager's typical clown suit.

In the third quarter, Boston took over with a 24-13 frame followed by a 23-22 fourth. It wasn't a work of art but it was a win on a night filled with distractions.

Neither team could shoot from the outside (the Cavs were 3 of 14 while the Celts were 3 of 15). Cleveland had five more rebounds (41-36) but five more turnovers (21-16).

Let me get this out of the way early in the season: the Boston Celtics are the team to beat. As I said, they return everything but Posey and they have the championship experience that the Big Three famously lacked. Rondo and Kendrick Perkins will only continue to get better. The chemistry of the team is apparent in every game.

The Pistons and Sixers (with Elton Brand) will be up there with the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference but it's the Celtics' to lose. In the West, everyone is picking the Hornets and Lakers (who have a healthy Andrew Bynum) to be the two best teams.

Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls come to the Garden Friday night (Halloween).

Holding Serve at the Garden

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy that the Celtics defeated the Cavs, 89-73, last night in game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, to take a 2-0 series lead.

Still, it really doesn't mean much. The home teams are now 10-0 in the semifinals. A wise man (maybe Hubie Brown?) once said that a NBA playoff series doesn't start until the home team loses.

In game 2, the storylines continued from game 1: Ray Allen couldn't get a point (scoreless in the first half) and LeBron James was ice cold. The Cavs jumped out to a 24-17 first quarter lead thanks to Zydrunas Ilgauskas' (19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks) 10 points in the frame.

Boston's trademark defense showed up especially in the second (12 Cavs points) and third (15 Cavs points).

It doesn't take a genius like Stephen A. Smith to surmise that if LeBron is off, the chances of Cleveland winning are slimmer than Nicole Richie.

If you think about it, no one on the Cavs-other than James or Ilgauskas-can be labeled an above-average NBA player. Wally is just a shooter, I love Delonte but he's a hustle guy and Varejo is an energy guy. The corpse of Ben Wallace that still plays is awful and he left yesterday in the first quarter after getting dizzy. He claimed it was allergies (inside?) but we all know he took too many gravity bong hits before the opening tip.

Nobody exploded offensively for Boston but that's a good thing. Pierce had 19 points and six rebounds, KG had 13 points and 12 boards while Allen woke up in the second half to finish with 16 points.

The real heroes though were the Boston subs: 11 points and seven rebounds from Leon Powe, nine points from Sam Cassell and seven points, six boards by James Posey. Even P.J. Brown had four points. The bench was productive at just the right time as the starers came out slow.

LeBron had 21 points, six assists and five rebounds (seven turnovers) but he shot 6 of 24, bringing his two-game total to 8 of 42. Wally notched 13 points but who cares?

Boston is now 6-0 at home in the playoffs. Things will start to get interesting in game 3 and 4 as they go to Cleveland. The C's had a 2-0 lead on Atlanta on the first round but that disappeared as fast as it takes one of the ATL's fine strippers to give you a lap dance.

If the Celts can win game 3, smell ya later Cleveland but if the Cavs can take game 3, it's a whole new ballgame.

Fugly but still a win

If game 1 was any indication, this Eastern Conference semifinal between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers is going to be low-scoring and ugly.

The C's have to be happy with the result though as they won 76-72 at the Garden.

I don't know which was more surprising: Paul Pierce (2 for 14) and Ray Allen (0 for 4) combining for four points or LeBron James shooting 2 of 18 from the floor?

The King still almost had a triple-double (12 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists) but his 10 turnovers were killer in such a tight affair.

Kevin Garnett (28 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals), Rajon Rondo (15 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) and Sam Cassell (13 points) were the offense for the Celts. Kendrick Perkins had seven points and 12 rebounds while James Posey (who I called the Troy Brown of the Celtics today) had eight points off the bench.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas (22 points, 12 boards) and Wally Szczerbiak (13 points) were the only other Cavs in double figures.

Boston led 25-15 after the first quarter but the lead shrunk to four (41-37) at the half.

The C's were up one (53-52) going into the fourth. It was great to see KG take over down the stretch and hit a couple key hoops. Uncharacteristically, LeBron missed some great looks as multiple layups rimmed out. Cassell pulled down a key rebound and was fouled by big Z.

Between game 1 or 2, Cleveland seemed most likely to steal game 1 since the Celts had just wrapped up the series with the Hawks. It's hard to predict what will happen in game 2 after such a bizarre game 1 but two things are certain: LeBron won't play that badly again and the same can be said for Allen and Pierce on the same night.

The difference between Boston and any other team left in the playoffs is their commitment and execution on defense. They're now 5-0 at home, it's going to be hard for anybody to knock them off when they play that type of D.

Cleveland shot 30.7% while Boston shot 42.6. Game 2 is tomorrow night back at the Garden.