NBA Basketball Preview: Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
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| This is certainly not just another game. (AI Wire Images) |
Tonight the Cleveland Cavaliers, owners of the Eastern Conference's best record and the league's only unbeaten team at home, will host the Boston Celtics in an early January matchup that carries a mid-June playoff vibe.
The 4-point underdog Celtics are coming in looking nothing like defending NBA champs and the Cavs can smell blood.
Boston lost for the sixth time in eight games on Wednesday night to the Houston Rockets, who held the Celtics to 11 points in the fourth quarter.
After blasting to a 27-2 start, the Celtics appear physically tired and have begun to show the strain of having to live up to their title every night.
Cleveland will again be without center Zyrdunas Ilgauskas, who has missed three games with a chipped ankle bone. But what they will have is 20,000 screaming fans that have helped the Cavs build an 18-0 record at Quicken Loans Arena.
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Comment *Lebron James led his Cleveland Cavaliers to a 98-83 victory over the Boston Celtics scoring 38 points on 13-25 shooting. James filled the stat sheet with 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 3 blocks. This was the first time the Cavs have played the Celtics since the opening night of the season when they lost to Boston on the road.
Cleveland came out running scoring 33 points to take a 10 point lead at the end of the 1st quater over the defending NBA Champs. The Cavs shot 50.8% from the field holding the Celtics to 41.3% shooting. The Cavs have improved their home win-streak to 18 games. The Cavs have the best record in the Eastern Conference at 29-6.
Anderson Varejao added 14 points with 9 boards to help the Cavs. Daniel Gibson came off the bench to drop in 10 points for Cleveland. LeBron took over toward the end of the 3rd quarter to give Cleveland a 12-point lead going into the 4th quarter. The Cavaliers led at halftime 49-40.
The Celtics came into this "Big Showdown" with Cleveland losing 6 out of 8 games and needed a strong performance to get back on track. Kevin Garnett had a good game for Boston scoring 18 points with 15 rebounds.
Paul Pierce and Ray Allen combined for only 24 points on 9-27 shooting. Pierce struggled shooting hitting only 4-15 from the field. Kendrick Perkins the center for the Celtics scored 13 points but only managed 1 rebound. The Celtics now have a 29-9 record after starting out 27-2 on the season. The Celtics bad streak started after their Christmas Day loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavs are clearly the best team in the Eastern Conference after defeating the Celtics.
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