Celtics, 89-73 (final)
Some questioned whether the Celtics had much to do with LeBron James’s poor shooting in Game 1.
There’s no question now.
The Celtics hounded James all night in an 89-73 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series tonight at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Celtics lead the series, 2-0.
It’s hard to identify a key play in a blowout, but if there was one it surely came with 7:42 left in the second quarter, when Celtics forward James Posey stripped James and took it the other way for a dunk. It sent a message to James that nothing would come easy, and the superstar never recovered from it.
The Celtics had a miserable first quarter, allowing Zydrunas Ilgauskas 10 points on what were mostly wide-open jumpers. Cleveland led by eight after one.
If the first quarter was a tragedy, the second was a triumph for the C’s. Boston outscored the Cavaliers 27-12 in the second, holding Cleveland to 11 percent shooting in the period. James was 0 for 5 in the second.
From there it was smooth sailing, as the Celtics outscored Cleveland 26-15 in the third quarter to put the game away.
Posey was spectacular on defense for Boston, something his 7 points and 6 rebounds don’t indicate on the stat sheet. If there is a series MVP so far, it would have to be him.
The Celtics were led by Kevin Garnett (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Paul Pierce (19 points, 6 rebounds) on offense. After going scoreless for the first three halves of basketball in this series, Ray Allen dropped in 16 points in the second half of Game 2.
James had 21 points but was just 6 of 24 from the field with 7 turnovers. Like he did during Cleveland’s last series in Washington, King James heard chants of “Overrated” from the crowd.
Delonte West had just three points for the Cavs.
The Celtics take a 2-0 series lead with them to Cleveland, where they’ll face the Cavaliers in Game 3 on Saturday night.
We’ll have plenty of postgame reaction from the Garden, so keep it here.
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