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hendrix2430 · 05-13-2008, 08:03 AM

Man, what a great win. It's strange how much better we are defensively NOW than in the reg. season.

I mean, even Wally's been terrific on the D end. Weird.

Lebron struggled with his shot but was amazing in the 4th quarter. Typical James right there. If we keep going up in intensity through this series, we may win game 5.

I certainly hope so, and it would not shock me at all. We can be EXCELLENT at times, and IMO we're better this year than last year. No reason we can't go back to the finals again.

The OUTLAW · 05-13-2008, 10:48 AM

I'm convinced that the Cavs really don't care about the regular season (especially in a year like this when they were just never healthy). They are flat out putting in more effort on the defensive side. It's like the regular season was just used to try to get guys into the flow of the game defensively. The Cavs are just better now than they've played all season.

**remy23** · 05-14-2008, 06:12 AM

Great to see the Cavs won. I'm on the other side of the world right now and just found out 8 hours ago that Cleveland won. LOL

I am trying to get highlights online.

**remy23** · 05-14-2008, 01:05 PM

Game #5

VS

Cleveland Cavaliers (2-2) @ Boston Celtics (2-2)

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
Time: 5:00pm PT, 8:00pm ET
TV: TNT
Radio: WTAM 1100
Location: TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, Massachusetts

HEAD COACHES

Quote:

Preview

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — The usual beds. The usual lockers. The usual baskets.

The usual questions.

The Celtics are back in Boston for Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal against the Cleveland Cavaliers, back where they’re unbeaten so far in the playoffs after a regular season in which they posted an NBA-best 35-6 home record.

But it’s their 0-5 road record that has them worrying.

“There is some frustration,” center P.J. Brown said Tuesday after the team’s walkthrough and film session. “But up to this point, it hasn’t gotten under our skin.”

Despite going 31-10 away from Boston in the regular season—also an NBA best—the Celtics have yet to win on the road in the playoffs. The slump allowed the lowly Atlanta Hawks to force them to a seventh game in the first round, and it could be their doom against the more formidable Cavaliers and star LeBron James.

“The key is winning the series. Whether it’s at home or on the road, you just try to win it,” Pierce said. “It’s a three-game series, with two of them at home.”

Asked if there was a danger that his players were using their home-court advantage as a crutch, Celtics coach Doc Rivers said, “The danger is that you’re playing on the road right now against really good teams.

“We earned that right to have home-court advantage,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with why we haven’t won a road game. We haven’t played well on the road, and we have to do better.”

Thanks to their 66-16 regular-season record, the Celtics could theoretically win their 17th NBA title without ever winning a road game.

No team’s ever done that, though, and the Celtics don’t really want to be the first.

“I’m not even thinking about a Game 7. That’s definitely the idea: Get a win (Wednesday) night and try to close it out in Game 6,” Pierce said. “We definitely have to play well (in Game 5), because we haven’t been playing well on the road.

“You kind of want to treat it like a Game 7, because you can’t count on winning Game 6.”

The Cavaliers are in a similar spot in the series—2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road—but they can’t fall back on having the deciding game at home. On the other hand, Cleveland won an away game in the first round, closing out the Wizards 105-88 in Washington in Game 6.

“It just shows how strong you are as a team to be able to go into a hostile environment and stick together and come out with a win,” Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson said, adding that coming to Boston a second time will help.

“Once you’ve experienced an environment, going back to it is kind of like, ‘We’ve been here before.’ And we felt like we were right there to win a game. So we know what we’re capable of doing on their floor and we’re going into it with a lot of confidence.”

The Cavaliers are hanging onto their memories of a Game 1 loss in Boston that wasn’t decided until James missed a layup with 8.5 seconds left. The Celtics won Game 2 more handily, but they have yet to come close in Cleveland.

“You can win all your home games and get a championship that way. I don’t think that has ever been done,” Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said. “You’ve got to get some road wins to be a champion, at least that’s the history of the game.

“I tell our guys, if you expect to win in the playoffs, you’ve got to know how to defend and you’ve got to know how to win on the road.”

At this point, the series comes down to the best out of 3. Knowing that Boston would have Game 7 on their homecourt, the Cavaliers must treat this game here as Game 7.

knicksfan89 · 05-15-2008, 12:03 AM

yep after blowing a 14 point lead in the first half, you lose to my celtics 96-89 we lead the series 3-2 and cavs fans forget about winning this series now

**Benedict_Boozer** · 05-15-2008, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knicksfan89

yep after blowing a 14 point lead in the first half, you lose to my celtics 96-89 we lead the series 3-2 and cavs fans forget about winning this series now

Nah, not over yet. Cavs should win game 6 and given that Boston has barely won 2 of the 3 games at home (Game 1 the Cavs really should have won) CLE still has an excellent chance in this series.

Especially with Lebron. He is capable of 20+pt halves as he showed in Game 5, so you never know.

**Basel57** · 05-15-2008, 11:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knicksfan89

yep after blowing a 14 point lead in the first half, you lose to my celtics 96-89 we lead the series 3-2 and cavs fans forget about winning this series now

How many teams do you consider "your" team? You seem to be a Knicks fan, Celtics fan, Lakers fan, etc.

**Benedict_Boozer** · 05-15-2008, 12:28 PM

I retract my prior comments. Cavs are done without Boobie Gibson.

Tough year for the injury bug.

**Brandname** · 05-15-2008, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Basel57

How many teams do you consider "your" team? You seem to be a Knicks fan, Celtics fan, Lakers fan, etc.

Whichever team won the previous night, presumably.

Sammysummer · 05-15-2008, 03:15 PM

Found this cool clip on YouTube of that awesome dunk Lebron had in game 4. Kevin Harlan's call of it made it that much more great. I'm really liking the TNT coverage of the playoffs this year, they do a really nice job with it. I think their announcers are some of the best.

UrFavTeamSux · 05-15-2008, 03:52 PM

Losing Gibson sucks alot, but it's all about game 6. If we can get momentum, 'tis possible. I think it puts more pressure of Wally and Sasha though, who can't heat up like Boobie can. But I can see Delonte reaching that level though, he's played awesome overall.

hendrix2430 · 05-16-2008, 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benedict_Boozer

I retract my prior comments. Cavs are done without Boobie Gibson.

Tough year for the injury bug.

Come on, have a litte faith!

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