New crew
The Cavaliers are 18-15 since Feb. 24, when their four trade acquisitions first cracked the lineup. They closed out the regular season on a 14-13 clip. By comparison, they were 31-24 prior to then.
JH/METRO
Published 20:24, May the 5th, 2008
On to the Cavs
NBA. Sure, the Cavaliers are the defending Eastern Conference champions, but they’ve gone through more transformations since last June than Michael Jackson’s nose.
The Celtics, who host the Cavs in Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs tonight, can certainly attest to that. They went 2-2 against Cleveland in the regular season, and the four games were decided by an average of 5.3 points.
But in reality, the Celtics played three different Cavalier teams. They beat the Cav-Nots, 80-70, on Dec. 2, when Cleveland was without an injured LeBron James. The C’s also defeated the new-look Cavs, 92-87, on Feb. 27, three days after Cleveland first inserted midseason trade acquisitions Wally Szczerbiak,
Delonte West, Ben Wallace and Joe Smith into the lineup.
Cleveland rocked the Celtics twice before the Cavs were involved in an 11-player megadeal. With their conference championship squad fully intact during those games, though, the game tapes are as outdated as Super Nintendo.
Still, the name on the front of their jerseys is enough for the Cavs to walk into the Garden with the Celtics’ full respect.
“They’re a group that’s the defending champs,” said Kevin Garnett, who averaged 15.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.67 blocks against the Cavs this season. “To do anything, you’ve got to go through them.
“Obviously, they’re trying to figure out some things with their new group, but they’re playing really well. Our gas is high, our confidence is high, too, so it should be a good series.”
While much has been made about the Celtics making their first trip to the postseason together, the Cavs are going through a similar learning process. Cleveland, however, has the great equalizer in James, who averaged 32.3 points, 9.7 assists and 7.0 rebounds in three games against the C’s this season.
“This is going to be the ultimate test,” Paul Pierce said. “You have one of the top players in the league coming in, one of the top teams in the league coming in who has been there and done that. We definitely have our work cut out for ourselves.”