Hands Down, Man's Down

His last words at the podium before getting on the bus to Logan Airport last night said it all: “A LeBron James team is never desperate.”

That’s about all James could say after his Cavaliers dropped a difficult 96-89 loss in Boston, and now face elimination on Friday night at The Q. Throughout the postseason, LeBron has said that – as the team’s leader – if he seems rattled, the team will get rattled. If he is poised and confident, the team will be poised and confident.

LeBron’s past numbers indicated that he would have a big Game 5 in Boston – and he did.

In his two previous playoffs appearances, in Game 5s with a series tied 2-2, LeBron has averaged 41.7 points, seven boards and six assists. He didn’t reach those numbers on Wednesday night, but after the way Cleveland has played in Boston, you might have thought 35 would put them over the top.

“As an individual, I don’t care how well I play offensively,” said James. “If you don’t win that’s all that matters to me. I’d rather play bad and shoot bad from the field and turn the ball over a couple a times and get a win. My individual play doesn’t mean anything when you lose.”

Of course, LeBron’s production wasn’t the problem last night. The Celtics got big games from two of their big three, plus a huge lift from Rajon Rondo. From midway through the second quarter, Boston seemed to get every loose ball, every call and every offensive rebound – including the game-clinching board by Ray Allen with the Cavaliers trailing by four – 89-93 – with 19 seconds to play.

The Wine and Gold have no one but themselves to blame. They shot just 63 percent from the stripe in the second half. They had two fewer assists as a team than Rajon Rondo had individually. And Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who dominated Kendrick Perkins through the first two games of the series in Beantown, took only two shots in the second half on Wednesday.

“I just couldn’t get any shots,” said Z following the tough loss. “I’ve got to find my way to somehow get myself more involved. It’s up to me to figure it out somehow.”

The Cavaliers didn’t get a ton from anyone other than Delonte West – who led everyone with 16 points in the second half. West had four steals and four dimes and, maybe most importantly, was aggressive getting to the rim.

“The outside shot wasn’t falling and, when you’re on the road, that’s what you have to do – you try to force the referees to make some calls,” said the Cavaliers starting point man.

The small lineup of West and Daniel Gibson was very effective in the first half, but Boobie was forced from action early in the fourth quarter when he seperated his left shoulder on a collision with P.J. Brown.

The unexpected hero of last year's postseason might be done for this year's. Gibson had an MRI on Thursday morning and is expected to miss one to two weeks.

The Cavaliers were not dour in the locker room following Wednesday night’s loss. It was more an air of determination. Wally Szczerbiak – the only other Cavalier to net double-figures – put it bluntly. “Well our backs are against the wall, we’re desperate,” said Szczerbiak, apparently not getting LeBron’s memo. “So we’ve got to play that way, and we’ve got to figure out a way to get a win at home – like we did in Games 3 and 4 – and take it one step at a time.”

Delonte West boarded the bus out of the arena, saying – in “colorful” language he later excused himself for – that the Cavaliers would see Boston again on Sunday afternoon for Game 7.

“This is one game, and this (series) is like a heavyweight fight,” said West. “You ain’t gonna win every round. The fight’s not over, so we’re gonna regroup, get back to Cleveland, and get ready for Game 6.”

All Tied Up

… and LeBron James still hasn’t broken out of his shooting funk.

Of course, the Celtics haven’t won a game outside of Suffolk County, either. And LeBron James – despite going 7-for-20 from the floor – made sure of that, throwing down one of those seven field goals with an earth-shattering dunk that punctuated the Wine and Gold’s dramatic 88-77 win.

Now, the Cavaliers and Celtics – a squad that won 21 more games than Cleveland in the regular season – are knotted at two games apiece, with the series shifting back to Boston for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

The Cavaliers have now beaten Boston eight straight times at The Q and are 8-3 all-time against the Celtics at home. And for all the talk of the Celtics’ vaunted defense, it’s been the Wine and Gold that has tightened their grip – holding Doc Rivers’ club to 38 percent shooting (27-of-70) on Monday night, their lowest field goal percentage of the postseason.

And the wear is slowly beginning to show. In his postgame presser, Doc Rivers bristled when it was suggested that LeBron was “struggling” …

“You think LeBron is struggling?!” asked Rivers, pointedly. “He had 21 points, 13 assists and six rebounds. He probably forced 15 fouls. We don’t look at that as LeBron struggling. You only look at field goal percentage, we don’t. We look at the way he’s playing his total game and he’s making plays. The Gibson threes, those threes don’t happen without LeBron James.”

And while LeBron is slowly coming out of his shooting slump, his “little brother” – Daniel Gibson – may have awakened from the funk that saw him averaging just over three shot attempts per game over the first three games of the series.

Boston had refused to leave Boobie and double-down on LeBron. But on Monday night, the sophomore from Texas found all the right spots, and as always was at the right place at the right time – canning a trey with 2:38 remaining to put the game essentially out of reach.

“I just continued to be patient,” asserted Gibson. “I didn’t let it frustrate me – the fact that I wasn’t getting a lot of looks. I also was a little more aggressive going to the basket on pick-and-roll situations, so I just waited for my open looks. I knew they were going to come; I just had to be patient and tonight, I got a lot more than I’ve been getting.”

Gibson was 5-for-9 from the field for 14 points, easily his best game of the series. Equally as impressive has been his defense against Sam Cassell – who killed the Cavaliers in the first two games of the series.

“Every game you learn something new,” said Gibson, on finding ways to guard the 14-year vet. “In Boston, he got me lifted a little bit and hit some fadeaways. You learn guys’ game when you play a series over time. I learned a little bit about his game and I’m getting better guarding him. But, he’s still a great player.”

But the biggest story of the Cavaliers’ two wins in Cleveland has been the trade deadline’s Four Horsemen – Delonte West, Joe Smith, Wally Szczerbiak and Ben Wallace. They’ve given the Wine and Gold exactly what Danny Ferry expected of them when he made the deal in late February.

Joe Smith, in his first foray into the Second Round, was incredible again on Monday night. Over his last two games, Smith is 11-for-14 from the floor, averaging six boards per contest. Coach Mike Brown had Zydrunas Ilgauskas at the scorer’s table with just under four minutes to play, but the combination of Smith and Anderson Varejao was simply too effective.

“We felt in the two games in Boston, that their bench came with more energy than our bench,” said Smith. “So, we felt when we got here at home that, as a group, were going to either build on what the starters had done or if they start off slow, try to bring the energy that’s necessary to win this game.”

Ben Wallace has been huge defending KG, although he gave way to Anderson Varejao last night. The Wild Thing has continued to get under the Defensive Player of the Year’s skin and he was limited to a quiet 15 points.

“I’m just trying to be physical with him,” said Varejao. “I want to take away his space, make him work to catch the ball. Just be aggressive and make it hard for him."

With Anderson and Ben Wallace making life difficult for Garnett, and LeBron making Pierce work on both ends of the floor, the X-factor – defensively – has been Wally Szczerbiak. The former Miami (OH) star has made Ray Allen – who led the Celtics with 28.1 ppg against the Cavaliers during the regular season – work to get any daylight. And there hasn’t been much.

“(Allen's) a great shooter, a great scorer and you can’t give him an inch,” said Szczerbiak. “But my teammates have helped me out a ton – the big guys are great on this team. If you get beat on the dribble, you’ve got Andy back there, or Z or Ben or Joe – and they make it difficult to get a look at the basket. So I owe a lot to them.”

On Wednesday, Wally and Co. will try to do something that hasn’t been done this postseason: beat the Celtics in Boston. If they do that, they can attempt to do what many thought was unthinkable on Friday night at The Q.

Game On!

The Cavaliers seemed rested and ready on Sunday evening at Cleveland Clinic Courts, after having dropped the Washington Wizards in D.C. for the third straight season two nights earlier.

On the bus ride from the arena to the airport on Friday night, nearly everyone aboard was checking their BlackBerry to see who would be Cleveland’s Second Round opponent. On Sunday afternoon, it only took the Celtics one half of basketball to provide the answer.

Now, the Cavaliers will face the Celtics in the postseason for the first time since their memorable matchup against Larry Bird’s bunch 16 years ago. The series tips off on Tuesday night (8 p.m.) in Beantown.

Delonte West and Wally Szczerbiak are the only two Cavaliers who have been part of Boston’s recent – (and rather ignominious) – era, and were part of the trade that allowed 1/3 of Boston’s Big Three – Ray Allen – to move east. The Celtics then went on to have the biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history – improving from 24 wins in 2006-07 to 66 in ’07-08.

Szczerbiak, who struggled on and off during the First Round, was vindicated big time on Friday night, exploding for 26 points on 6-for-13 shooting beyond the arc. Aside from LeBron, Wally will probably get the majority of the fans’ Bronx cheers.

“I had a great time in Boston; it’s a class organization – from Doc Rivers to Danny Ainge, up and down the line,” said Szczerbiak. “They’re great people over there and they brought in some great players and they did some special things this year. And now that we have an opportunity to go at it, I’m a Cleveland Cavalier and I want to win this series more than anything.”

These are obviously not your father’s Celtics – far different than the Bird Era C’s and far, far different than the sorry squad that was re-tooled in the off-season. And as big an addition as Ray Allen has been, the heart and soul of the new-look Celts is obviously this year’s Defensive Player of the Year, Kevin Garnett.

The Cavaliers, however, have one of the deepest and most-skilled frontlines in the East. And they could give the Big Ticket fits on both ends of the court. But, as Cleveland’s bigs know, he’s still one of the toughest players in the league to stop.

“It’s tough with the way he’s been playing all season long,” said Joe Smith, who will certainly get his chance at Garnett. “But at the same time, you have to try to cut his air space out a little bit, don’t let him get comfortable when he gets the ball to face up, don’t let him get comfortable in the post, and try to do whatever you can to contest his shots up top.”

The Celtics could have never envisioned their First Round series going seven games. Throughout the series, Boston demolished Atlanta at home – including Sunday’s 34-point trouncing at the TD Banknorth Garden, but had a difficult time with the high-flying Hawks down in Dixie.

But did the series help to illustrate any chinks in Boston’s armor?

“We’re a different team than Atlanta,” reasoned LeBron. “They have a lot of athletes. We can’t try to approach the game like Atlanta did; we don’t have those types of athletes. We’re going to approach any series like we always do. Defensively, try to get stops and offensively, execute.”

One player that will be a welcome addition to both sides of the ball is Sasha Pavlovic – who recovered from an ankle injury in the final days of the First Round. Pavlovic’s athleticism will be huge in trying to contain Ray Allen on the perimeter. Wally’s coming-out party in Game 6 at Washington all but cemented his spot in the starting lineup, but Pavlovic gives Mike Brown one more bench weapon against a team that has a bunch of them.

This season, the Cavaliers have split four games with Doc Rivers’ club with each team holding serve on their home turf. One of Boston’s wins at the Garden – it should be noted – took place with LeBron James watching from the bench in street clothes. So, while the Celtics might have dominated the rest of the league, they didn’t exactly send shivers up the Cavaliers’ spines.

“It doesn’t mean much,” countered Mike Brown, referring to the Cavaliers’ moderate success against Boston. “I think we went 2-0 vs. San Antonio during the regular season and had beaten them three out of the last four games, and it didn’t mean much in the Finals. I think Washington had our number this year, and it didn’t mean much in the series.”

With all the pieces in place, the Cavaliers look to return to the NBA’s promised land for the second straight season. Their journey this season will be more challenging than last year’s run, but the Wine and Gold feel like they’re playing their best basketball of the season and are up for the challenge.

“(Boston) has been playing great basketball all the way around,” said Daniel Gibson, who was huge in Friday night’s big win over Washington. “We have to be prepared and we have to be locked in, going into a different arena – especially one where a team is playing so well. But, again, it’s just a matter of us understanding what we have to do and just being prepared to take care of business.”