Welcome to the Garden

Welcome to TD Garden, where the Boston Celtics will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7 p.m. The second-round playoff series is tied, 1-1.

Monday seems like weeks ago now, but don’t underestimate the importance of how well the Celtics played in that win in Cleveland. That performance basically erased a letdown in Game 1 and put the Cavaliers on their heels. It’s no longer unrealistic to expect the Celtics to have a shot to win this series.

Speaking of heels, Kevin Garnett should be good to go tonight with that mid-foot strain. Kendrick Perkins (knee) is expected to play, and LeBron James (elbow) and Anderson Varejao (back spasms) should play as well.

All this time off seems to have been absolutely necessary for both teams.

Ray Allen (pictured) was on the court very early getting some shots up. Allen was done with his pregame routine at 4:17 p.m. The bullgang hadn’t even finished transforming the Garden from a hockey arena to a basketball arena at that point. All that hard work has paid off for Allen, who’s averaged 18 points per game in this series.

On the other end of the court, Cleveland’s Antawn Jamison and Anthony Parker put up shots about 40 minutes after Allen finished with his. After a couple of misses, the pair joked that the ice under the parquet was responsible for some cold shooting.

More to come.