Hey Boston: Cleveland fan here

[DowJones]

I am glad that this is the matchup for round 2. I have tons of respect for Boston and I think this will be a great series. Boston is the favorite, but I think this series will feature many close games and it will probably go to 6 or 7. Here are the 3 keys to the game for both teams...


Cleveland

1. Cleveland needs to keep Boston out of the paint. I think Boston is a jump-shooting team, but when they get in the paint they can pass the ball very well. Keep players like Rondo and Pierce from getting inside and the Cavs' defense should have success.

2. Rebound. Cleveland is one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA, so this should be an area they can succeed in. Boston killed Atlanta with offensive boards, so Cleveland needs to rebound well and keep Boston off the offensive glass.

3. HIT THE OPEN SHOTS. I think this is the biggest key to the game. Boston will be throwing double and triple teams at James all game long. 3-point shooters like Gibson and Wally will get wide open looks, and it is important for Cleveland to knock those down.


Boston

1. Contain James' teammates. It is one thing for James to get 32-6-5 but another for him to go for 32-12-11. Those assists are just a killer for opposing teams. If LeBron is going to get 30+...fine. It is when he gets 30+ with 10+ assists that is a killer.

2. Keep LeBron from getting easy buckets. This will be tough for Boston because I noticed they struggled to stop Joe Johnson 1 on 1. I don't think Boston has an elite defender like a Bruce Bowen or Tayshaun Prince. They need to make LeBron a jump-shooter. If that means giving him hard fouls when he gets near the bucket...so be it.

3. Create turnovers. Boston needs to get some easy buckets in this series to keep Cleveland's defense from sinking in. Cleveland has a solid defensive team with veteran players but if Boston can create turnovers and get out in transition, Cleveland's D won't have a chance to get settled.


Anyways, I think it will be a fantastic series. I expect it to be a low-scoring set of games because both teams like to play half-court offense and clamp down with big-time defense. As a Cleveland fan I am hoping that our rebounding and defense keep the game close for the first 3 quarters....with LeBron just taking the 4th quarter over and just owning the game. I am sure Boston will do all that they can to prevent that from happening.

Can't wait for Tuesday!

[UGA Hayes]

I agree with some of your points. I think if LeBron gets going and your team hits the 3 you could be tough to beat. Plus you have a couple of players who hypothetically should defend us well except....

for Rondo. Your team is really big which also means they are sort of slow. And this includes your PGs. Additionally you don't have a lot of shot blockers. IF you can keep Rondo from penetrating I think you have an ook shot to win

[DowJones]

I agree, that is why I made that one of my points.

I must say though, I am not really worried about Rondo scoring. The way I see it, if Rondo is handling the ball, that means one of the Big-3 isn't. If Rondo is going to go off on us for an entire series, then I will just tip my hat to the man and pull for you guys the rest of the playoffs. I will take my chances with Rondo beating our team and not one of the other 3.

[DowJones]

I also disagree with you about West. I think West is a solid defender. I think he can stick with Rondo. I wouldn't say West is slow.

[Niko23]

Cavs fan here as well and all I can say is that I love Rondo.....man that guy is flat out a great player.

I think there are few guys we can throw at KG to slow him down (ie Varejao, Big Ben, Z) and I think LB and Pierce will go back and forth pretty even.....my fear is who do we have to guard Ray Allen? I hear hes not playin well but dude is a pros pro and can hit shots at any time. We did a ton of Larry Hughes bashing in Cleveland but I would like to have him now so he could chase Ray around.

Good thing for you guys is we no longer have Drew Gooden.....seemed like he averaged 90 ppg against you guys......too bad he didnt play like that all the time.

Any ways good luck it should be a great series.

[Bleeding Green]

The key to stopping LeBron James is Tony Allen. Which is to say that LeBron James will not be stopped unless they move the Celtics bench out onto the court.

[UGA Hayes]

Yeah we definitely don't miss Gooden.

Compared to Rondo, West is a snail. Remember we watched all of the beginning of his pro career.

Also rereading your original post , I wouldn't agree that we are a jumo shooting team. We were 9th in the league in FT this year. WE have a lot of high FTA guys. Its just offset a little bit by some of our extremly low FTA guys.

[Rocky5000]

I also hope Doc plays Tony, but I don't think he will. Tony looked pretty good in the 4th of this game, he's really capable of getting to the rim at any time. I just wish he would dunk it or draw more contact, instead of going for the short layups.

[leper-con]

Your only chance it to keep the game close and force Boston to execute in the half court offense, it has been the achillies heal all season.

[RoyHobbs]

The key to stopping LeBron James is Tony Allen. Which is to say that LeBron James will not be stopped unless they move the Celtics bench out onto the court.

Posey has matched up quite well with Lebron in the past. I doubt Tony sees much time in this series, at all.

[kmgarnett21]

i agree that TA needs to play more this series. & ray needs to step it up, BIGTIME.

also, i hope boston doesnt "celebrate" tonight about winning this game. they had enough time to celebrate in the second half of the game. no need to celebrate against a 8 seed anyways.

this is going to be a TOUGH series, lets hope our guys play better on the road in cleveland than they did in atl. we're gonnna have to win at least one road game the rest of the way in each series i believe. we're capable of doing it, we beat utah, SA, dallas, houston, & a few more elite teams on their homecourt, so hopefully the atl thing was jus a lil bump in the road. lets hope wally & west dont get hot, we know that boobie will be, but we cant let someone like wally beat us. if we defend the three good, we win, but if our D lacks in the slightest way, cleveland will win. also, keep big Z off the offensive glass. he could have a HUGE series b/c he's so much bigger than any of our guys.

lets go C's! (& refs, plz, give us a FAIR series on both sides. no 100+ advantage to either team like atl had. but it is lebron & he always gets the benefit of the doubt.)

cleveland vs boston

[Athanacropolis]

Cs are gonna have to win on the road.

LeBron scares me, the rest of the Cavs not so much. Regardless, we saw LeBron single-handedly beat the Pistons last year, so I predict a tough series.

The key: DEFENSE!!!!!

I would make a "see you next Tuesday" comment, because the joke is too easy, but I don't want to get banned

[celticfan42487]

The key to the series is if CLE can knocked down open shots.

Between LeBron and offensive rebounds their going to get a lot of them.

At least we'll be able to hide Ray Allen on Wally for some of the time.

This is going to be a good series.

I think we should start collectively complaining about the refs call starting now!

[RoyHobbs]

Is there any specific history as to why people think Tony would be a good matchup against Lebron? I can't really remember any.

Lebron has at least 4 inches and 30 pounds on Tony. I don't see how TA is the key to much of anything. Lebron will be defended by Pierce and Posey, as he should be.

[Athanacropolis]

I think we should start collectively complaining about the refs call starting now!

Classic! If some posters thought the refs were bad against the Hawks, I can't wait to see the threads coming out of this series!

[canman1971]

LeBron would kill Tony. Not sure why people are asking for that. Pierce and Posey will be on LeBron.

[Athanacropolis]

Posey on LeBron, please! I like TA and all, but like Roy said, I don't recall any past success for Tony Allen against LeBron James.

[celticfan42487]

I'm 100% sure the first poster was making a joke.

Then I guess some people thought it was serious... then even went to say Tony would be good matchup?

Idk, last time I checked Tony sucks this year.

[DowJones]

I don't think you guys have anyone that can stop LeBron 1 on 1. I think the only guy in the NBA that can even slow him down 1 on 1 is Bowen. I think Boston is probably better off keeping both Allen and Pierce in the game...which makes LeBron have to defend. If you put Posey in the game then you are either taking out 1 of Allen/Pierce or you will go very small...which is not a good idea against a team like Cleveland that really excels in grabbing offensive rebounds.

I am also interested in seeing what Wallace can do against KG. I know Wallace can't stop KG, but I want him to at least do a better job than Drew. People always say that Drew did so great against Boston, but he was bad on defense and his offensive production wasn't great except 1 game.

Game 1: 24 points 11 rebounds (Good Drew)
Game 2: 11 points 9 rebounds (Avg Drew)
Game 3: 4 points 4 rebounds (Bad Drew)

[billfromBoston]

Is there any specific history as to why people think Tony would be a good matchup against Lebron? I can't really remember any.

Lebron has at least 4 inches and 30 pounds on Tony. I don't see how TA is the key to much of anything. Lebron will be defended by Pierce and Posey, as he should be.

Nobody "stops" LeBron, but Tony Allen has had some excellent defensive sequences guarding LeBron and has every year he's been in the league...

...still, its likely that Boston will implement a similiar defensive scheme as they did against Joe Johnson...they'll have the 3 strong side defenders paying attention to LeBron while the two weakside defenders protect the elbow 3 and baseline....they did it to perfection in game 7 against ATL....

...Boston still has to play Celtics basketball on the road though...as awesome as that game 7 was, the team has not kept their focus and composure on the road to date...each of the three games got progressively better, but none were close to the worst game in Boston...