Game 1: Boston 76, Cleveland 72
Did anyone honestly think the score would be 68-65 with just under 3 minutes to play? You can thank LeBron James (12 points on 2-of-18 shooting, 10 turnovers) and Ray Allen (0 points on 0-of-4 shooting, the first time in 852 games that he was held scoreless) for the low scoring. There was some very sloppy play turned in by both teams at the start of the first quarter as they combined for 6 misses before LeBron opened the scoring at 10:35. In the early going, it looked like the Cavs' gameplan was to make Rajon Rondo (15 points, 6 assists) beat them by taking shots as he got a good amount of open looks; with 8 points and 2 rebounds through 7 minutes, he made the most of those opportunities. Paul Pierce (4 points, 5 rebounds) didn't have a great game stats-wise, but like Rondo, he created a lot of opportunities for teammates. The Celtics had easily their ugliest postseason performance in the third quarter as the Cavs went on a 14-0 run, but they were ultimately able to outlast LeBron and the Cavs thanks in large part to the performance of Kevin Garnett (28 points, 8 rebounds). For all the talk of Ben Wallace's defensive ability, he really had a tough time keeping up with Garnett. It wasn't pretty, but the Celts were able to continue their home playoff winning streak in this pivotal Game 1. Couple things to keep an eye on moving forward - James Posey matching up with LeBron: "Po-Z" shadowed LeBron very well while in the game and forced several key turnovers. Don't be surprised to see more battles between the Jameses with both Posey and Pierce on the floor... Fouls and free throws: The officials are calling everything for the Cavs when LeBron's involved, that's what happens when you're a superstar. I just hope it doesn't end up deciding a game in this series... Bench players: Sam Cassell (13 points) and Posey stepped up tonight, but plenty of guys will have a shot to contribute.

Game 2: Boston 89, Cleveland 73
Looking at LeBron's final line of 21 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds, you wouldn't necessarily think it was a bad night for "The Chosen One." However, it took LeBron 24 field goal attempts (he made 6) and 13 free throw attempts to get those 21 points, so it really was a rather poor performance. The supporting cast didn't do much better as Delonte West and Daniel "Boobie" Gibson combined for just 5 points. Zydrunas Ilgauskas (19 points, 5 rebounds) continued to dominate at the center position, but with LeBron well below the 30 to 40 he's expected to score, Big Z's solid effort alone was not enough to carry this team to a win. A developing story to monitor is the weird way in which Ben Wallace left the game at the start of the first; he appeared to be hit with some sort of dizzy spell and basically collapsed on the bench. Should he miss any time, the ball should be in KG's hands every minute he's on the floor as Joe Smith has no prayer against the far superior Garnett. Garnett double-doubled (big surprise) with 13 points and 12 rebounds and Pierce (19 points) and Allen (16 points) got their offensive games going. Posey continued to make his mark in the postseason both on offense (7 points on 3-of-6 shooting, 6 rebounds) and with his shut-down defense on LeBron. Leon Powe, who led the team in offensive rebounds (4) and chipped in 11 points off the bench, had another huge effort. Cassell racked some serious minutes (26) and finished with 9 points and 3 assists, but he only shot 33% from the field. As a team, the Celts had 11 more free throw attempts than the Cavs.

Game 3: Boston 84, Cleveland 108
Not much to like in this one - the Celts scored just 13 points in the first quarter, P.J. Brown had 4 fouls in 10 minutes, Rondo finished the game with 0 assists, Ray scored only 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting, Cassell scored 1 point in 18 minutes... the list goes on and on. There were two bright spots for the Celts in this one; first, Kendrick Perkins put together his second or third  solid postseason performance with 12 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks in 26 minutes. It's too bad the rest of the team couldn't get going as Perks' good games are often few and far between. Second, Posey had another nice game with 11 points, so it's nice to see some consistency from at least one of our bench guys. LeBron had 21 points (on 8 less attempts than Game 2) and Ilgauskas put up another 12, but the story of the game for the Cavs was the play of Delonte West, who finished with 21 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds in 38 minutes. Rondo and Cassell simply could not come up with an answer for West tonight and it wouldn't be shocking to see Eddie House come in to shake things up. Joe Smith came off the bench to record 17 points and surprisingly, Ben Wallace had a solid offensive game tonight (guess his allergies didn't act up at home) and finished with 9 points and 9 boards (7 of the offensive variety). You know you're in trouble when Big Ben gets going offensively.

Game 4: Boston 77, Cleveland 88
Another road game, another disappointing loss. But despair not, Celtics fans; road teams are a combined 1-17 in the semifinal round at this point, so it's not a trend that's been exclusive to the green and white. It should be noted, however, that no team has started a postseason 0-5 on the road and gone on to win The Finals. Moving on, there were several negatives in this game. Pierce and Garnett, who combined for 28 points, had surprisingly poor performances. You have to expect Pierce to struggle here and there as he's matching up against perhaps the best basketball player in the world, but Garnett simply was not imposing his will on the Cavs in this one, as evidenced by the fact that he scored just 2 points in the second half. Rondo had a nice game with 15 points and 4 assists, but we need him to create opportunities for teammates more than those 4 assists implies; I'd prefer he get up around the 8+ area, even at the expense of a few points. Along these lines, the Cavs out-assisted the Celts 24 to 16. Finally, there was a big lack of production from the bench players, except for Brown, who had 8 points in 23 minutes. Several times throughout this game, the Cleveland crowd could be heard chanting "Boston sucks" as the Celts stumbled through this one; the Celtics certainly haven't done much to disprove this notion on the road, but we'll see if those same Cavs fans will be chanting those words by the end of this series.

Game 5: Boston 96, Cleveland 89
The Celts had a tough time early and got outplayed in the first half; it seems they were playing "not to lose" rather than playing to win. The Celtics got excellent performances from Garnett (26 points, 16 rebounds) and Pierce (29 points, 7 rebounds), but player of the game has to go Rondo. Rondo out-hustled everyone on the floor in all of his 42 minutes and it showed in his final stat line: 20 points, 13 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks. The "Big Three" tonight (and seemingly throughout this entire postseason) was Garnett, Pierce and Rondo. The box score doesn't suggest it, but Glen Davis (6 points) and Brown (1 point) stepped up and made key contributions, particularly in giving and taking well-timed fouls. LeBron had a big game with 35 points and 5 assists but didn't get enough help from the rest of the squad. The Cavs suffered from a lack of bench production; the Celtics did to some degree, as well, but with 3 players with 20+ points, they didn't need much off the bench. The Celts did just about everything they could to give this one away late with backcourt turnovers from Posey and Ray, but key rebounding (especially Ray's offensive rebound with 19 ticks left), strong free throw shooting and well-timed fouls kept them on top. Speaking of Ray Allen, he's having a tough go of it but you can tell he really wants to contribute; he's forcing shots in traffic and is even having trouble when he's got open looks. Hopefully he can hit a hot streak in Game 6 (or 7) to snap out of this funk.

Game 6: Boston 69, Cleveland 74
Can't say we didn't see this one coming. After a huge Game 5 performance, Rondo (2 points, 5 assists) was held scoreless in the opening half and didn't score his first points until the fourth quarter. Ray Ray still looks lost and missed all three of his 3 point attempts (you can tell his confidence is shaky at best right now, as evidenced by his decision to dish the ball off to Pierce instead of taking a shot with about 5 seconds left in the fourth). Perk (5 points, 3 rebounds) was absolutely worthless tonight and two of Game 5's unsung heroes, Davis (5 fouls, including 4 in a 9 minute span) and Brown (0-for-1 shooting - a real ugly brick in the first half), looked pretty terrible. The second team looked great for about 5 minutes while opening up a 6 point lead with KG and Pierce on the bench but simply couldn't sustain that momentum. Eddie House (8 points in 18 minutes) backed up Rondo and made some key contributions down the stretch. This was a streaky game and the Cavs closed out the first half on a 17-2 run (it could have been more if the refs whistled KG for slapping Delonte's arm on his buzzer beating 3 pointer), a sign of where this one would eventually end up. The real scary thing in this game was the emergence of the dominant LeBron (32 points, 12 rebounds); sure he had 35 points in Game 5, but this is the first time we've seen him step up and truly dominate the Celts and take the game over. It seemed like he couldn't miss a shot in the second half and I don't know about you, but I was terrified when he started running the point. The big thing in this one is that the Celts were absolutely hammered on the offensive glass as they allowed the Cavs to come away with 16 offensive boards.

Game 7: Boston 97, Cleveland 92
Thank God the Celtics won this game or all we'd be hearing for days is speculation as to why Tom Brady (who was in attendance) was wearing a San Francisco Giants hat. It's being haled as a Game 7 for the ages, a re-enactment of the Larry Bird vs. Dominique Wilkins shootout which occurred two decades earlier. I agree that the Pierce vs. James showdown was very entertaining, but the Bird-Wilkins comparison is a bit over-the-top because this game should not have been nearly so "thrilling" (i.e. close)... I mean, the Celts sported a 10 point halftime lead, didn't they? Missed opportunities and some sloppy plays allowed the Cavs (mainly LeBron) to claw their way back into it. In spite of my nitpicking here, there was a lot to like about this game. First of all, Pierce racked up 41 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds in 44 minutes on the floor; both he and LeBron (45 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds) put on quite a display for basketball fans this day. KG's post-game interview clip said it all: "Today it was basically get the ball to Paul Pierce and get the hell out of the way." The Celts finally came up with an answer for Ilgauskas and limited him to 8 points and 5 rebounds. Brown (10 points, 6 rebounds) came off the bench and made some excellent contributions in 20 minutes, particularly down the stretch. All in all, this is they type of game we were expecting out of the Cavs all along - LeBron dominates with 35+, one other guy steps up with a solid game (West finished with 15 points), and everyone else remains relatively quiet. A lot of the credit for this win should go directly to Doc; he's been getting slammed lately for not making good substitutions and either leaving players in or out for too long, but he made all the right moves today, particularly in electing to have P.J. Brown in during the fourth quarter for his defensive abilities. P.J.'s clutch play down the stretch cannot be emphasized enough; this guy nailed a jumper in crunch time AND forced LeBron to miss a layup with under a minute to go. This was a very hard fought game (and series) on both sides and what it came down to was Paul Pierce's desire to win and return to the Eastern Conference Finals; now they have to prove they can do it against a far more balanced team (compared to the Cavs), the Detroit Pistons.

We'll be back later today with your Celtics vs. Pistons preview.