Eastern Conference Final Preview?
Good afternoon sports fans. What an incredible national championship game last night as the Florida Gators defeated the Oklahoma Sooners for their 2nd championship in 3 years. It wasn’t as high scoring as many thought it would be, but it was as competitve and exciting as anyone could have hoped for. Tons of points were substituted for goal line stands, crucial turnovers and big plays. And does anyone doubt now the greatness of Tim Tebow after he bounced back and propelled his team to victory in the 2nd half?
Tonight we have a matchup that should be equally as competitive and has significant title implications even though we are only half way through the NBA regular season. The Boston Celtics visit the Cleveland Cavaliers (-4) in a rematch of an epic seven game series from the second round of last years playoffs. The Celtics won that seventh game behind 41 points from Paul Pierce. But that game was in Boston and this one takes place in Cleveland, where the Cavs are 18-0 this season.
The Celtics enter tonights game having lost 6 of their last 8 games, a losing streak that nobody could have forseen after their historic 27-2 start. Many people believe that the long grind of the season is starting to catch up with their aging core of players. The big three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are all well over thirty and could be starting to slow down. It isn’t just that they’ve lost these games but it’s who they have lost to. They’ve lost three in a row to the Knicks, Bobcats and a Rockets team without Tracy McGrady. It seems hard to believe that they could turn this around facing the leauges only unbeaten team at home.
The Cavs are still thinking about that loss that put them out of last seasons playoffs. LeBron James scored 45 in a losing effort in that game, and I think if it takes more than that to win, he’s the one guy you could see doing it. But this year he has more help with the addition of Mo Williams at point guard. Williams is scoring 15.7 points per game and is handling the ball well which is allowing LeBron to work off the ball more and distribute instead of forcing shots. The Cavs will be without their big center however. Zyrdrunus Ilgauskas will miss the game with a chipped bone in his ankle. That will force the athletic Anderson Verejao to contribute significantly along with former N.C. State star J.J. Hickson.Â
I think that the Celtics play incredibly hard tonight and keep it close all the way down the stretch. But LeBron will show again tonight why he will be the leagues MVP this year with an unbelievable performance. Cavs win 92-86.
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