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It's been difficult to watch this series. Growing up in Massachusetts the only Boston team I ever liked was the Celtics. I've lived in Ohio for most of my life and I'm a big Lebron fan. I've actually found myself rooting for Cleveland, probably because I dislike Boston fans more than I like the Celtics. The KG antics don't help Boston's cause.
Cleveland Cavaliers looking to pave the road to glory
Without home-court advantage, Cleveland must score one in Boston
Wednesday, May 14, 2008Branson Wright Plain Dealer Reporter
So much chatter has followed the Boston Celtics and their playoff road woes (0-5), but the Cavaliers have not exactly been dominant in playoff games away from The Q, either.
The Cavs are 2-3 on the road this postseason and have yet to win at Boston, where they will meet the Celtics at 8 tonight in Game 5 of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Cavs did not have much success on the road during the regular season (18-23) and they ended it losing six of their last nine and one of those wins, against Philadelphia, came via a controversial call.
Home court more of a high tech affair, Bill Livingston says
Wednesday, May 14, 2008Bill Livingston Plain Dealer Columnist
Boston Garden, a scarred battleground with a par quet floor made of scraps of wood left over from World War II, is no more.
All the "pits" are gone now. There was Chicago Stadium, with the locker rooms in the cellar, where visitors felt like burrowing animals under attack; old Madison Square Garden, where the rims were so loose they were called "sewers" because everything went down them; and assorted nightmare edifices across other time zones.
TD Banknorth Garden is a sleepy, corporate name for the Boston Celtics' new home. The intimidation is supposed to come from the crowd noise, generated by the same fans Atlanta's Mike Bibby called "front-runners" in the first round series, and from the physically coldest arena in the NBA. Boston Garden, which was not air-conditioned, was the league's hottest. Fire then, ice now.
Hoop looks a little tighter in Boston, says Terry Pluto
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Imagine being a Boston Cel tic fan. Your team goes from 24 wins in 2006-07 to 66 this season. Your team was 31-10 on the road! Your team was 25-5 ver sus the tougher Western Con ference. Your team has three poten tial future Hall of Fam ers in Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. Your team is certainly the beast of the Eastern Conference, if not the best in all of basketball - at least in the regular season. Now, they are about to blow a series to Cleveland? In the second round? After being up, 2-0? Your team that has not survived the first round in five years? Your team that really hasn't been a championship contender since the late 1980s? Your team is going to fall apart . . . now?
Yes, it's like that in Boston.
It's also a little like that in the Boston dressing room, where players heard coach Doc Rivers say too many of them took "hero shots," trying to win the game themselves. He added, "We have to play better under stress." Ouch! Keep in mind the Boston Big Three of Pierce, Allen and Garnett have won as many championships as you have. None of them have even played in the finals. And these aren't kids, Allen being 32, Garnett 32 on May 19 and Pierce 30. They have this season, and maybe next year to win a title. The players know it. The coaches know it. All of New England knows it. The pressure is on the Green, which hasn't won a road game since April 14 in New York. In the Boston Globe, columnist Dan Shaughnessy wrote the phrases "melt down" and "title dreams go down the drain" in the same sentence - the first sentence of his column from the Cavs' 88-77 victory in Game 4.
