Celtics-LeBron's

Tonight will be Game One of the second round playoff matchup between the Boston Celtics and LeBron James. While the Celtics did completely blow out the Atlanta Hawks in Game 7, there should have never been a Game 7 in the first place. Boston underachieved and Atlanta overachieved. The only closure I got out of that series was seeing Kevin Garnett floor Zaza Pachullia on a pick in the fourth quarter. Other than that Game 7 showed me nothing about the Celtics and I find myself concerned going into a matchup with LeBron James.

Areas of Concern:

1) LeBron James averaged 32.4 points per game against the Celtics, the most of any player against them. In Round 1 we saw what Joe Johnson did to the Celtics. Joe Johnson is lucky if he is half as talented as LeBron. I would like to see Paul Pierce and James Posey as the only guys to guard James. This should enable Ray Allen to concentrate more on his offense. Something he couldn't do when guarding Joe Johnson.

2) Can the Celtics win on the road? Unless you were living under a rock, you know that Boston did not win one game in Atlanta. The Cleveland atmosphere will be a lot more raucous. How will the Celtics respond? Since the Celtics have home court advantage throughout the playoffs, they will not have to win on the road as long as they go undefeated at home.

3) The Cavs went out and got former Celtics Wally Sczerbiak and Delonte West, and 2 big men in Ben Wallace and Joe Smith. The Cavs got to the finals last year without these role players. They look to be in better shape this year because of these trades. Having Wally and Delonte on the perimiter allows LeBron to drive and kick out for an open jumper. Not to menton the Cavs also have Damon Jones who never misses and my main man Daniel "Boobie" Gibson. If I am the Celtics I do my best to contain LeBron and let the role players beat me.

4) Which Kevin Garnett will show up? Will the Celtics have the intense KG that the Celtics fans saw all season long. Or will they have the KG who laid an egg on the road in the Atlanta series? As Garnett goes, so go the Celtics. His defensive energy is infectious. The Celts need that to stop LeBron.

The series starts tonight. My prediction: Celtics in 6.

-Scottie