Let’s back-track to my playoff predictions I made a month ago… “Yes, Lebron has the ability to carry Cleveland deep into the playoffs, but I don’t see him doing it against an all-star ridden Celtics team or a playoff tested Pistons squad. In the end, I think Boston will represent the East.”

I bring this up because of Game 1 between the Celtics and Cavaliers. Lebron is without a doubt one of the top players in the NBA, but what happened when he went up against a veteran, determined, defensively-dominated team in Boston? SHUT DOWN!

Yes, I do realize this was probably the worst game in Lebron’s still young career, but look at the numbers and you will see just how good this Celtics team is. They stumbled against the Hawks, but as the cliché goes, defense wins championships; and this team can play defense.

"King" James was held to 2-18 from the floor, finished with 12 points, and, here is the kicker turned the ball over 10 times! He went 0-6 from deep, and was outscored by Ilgauskas and Szczerbiak. Lebron did have 9 rebounds and 9 assists, so he was obviously still working and was probably still the reason the ‘Cavs almost won; but 2 for 18 with 10 turnovers…pitiful!

The Celtics are just that good. They won it at the end because they needed a big shot from a big player, and he delivered. K.G. finished the night with 28 points on 13 of 22 shooting; and oh, by the way, played all 40 minutes!

Some people will look at the Hawks series and the fact that Boston nearly lost game 1 on Lebron’s worst night ever and they will say Boston is not as good as we thought. They will say Boston is not playing well enough to win it. Stop there. Please.

Last night Paul Pierce and Ray Allen combined for 4 points on 2 of 16 shooting. They turned it over a combined 10 times and had 9 rebounds and 5 assists between them. The Celtics still won! And why did they still win…because their defense made King James look more like a court jester than a king.

The Celtics are still for real and I’m sticking with them to win it all.

Andrew Liebetrau