Home Cooking
Boston,Mass – The home team has won the last 14 meetings between the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, including all seven games of the teams’ second-round playoff series last spring.
But if the defending NBA champion Celtics want to leave themselves with a realistic chance of claiming home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference again, they may have to tackle a different challenge – beating Cleveland without Kevin Garnett.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Celtics -2 point spread favorites for Wednesday’s game against the Cavaliers. Current NBA Public Betting Information shows that 57% of more than 238 bets for this game have been placed on the Celtics -2.
The league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year will miss his seventh straight game Friday night against LeBron James and the Cavaliers, who will have a chance in Boston to strengthen their hold on the East’s top spot in a possible conference finals preview between the budding rivals.
Both the Cavs and Celtics are officially heading back to the playoffs after becoming the first two teams to clinch berths Wednesday night, but there’s no longer a clear favorite between them after Boston finished 21 games ahead of Cleveland last season en route to its first NBA title since 1986.
Instead, the Cavs (48-12) have taken a slight lead in the standings behind an MVP-caliber season from James and the arrival of point guard Mo Williams to support their superstar.
Cleveland’s improved defense also has surpassed the Celtics (48-14) statistically, allowing NBA lows of 90.3 points and 42.7 percent shooting.
"We got one goal," James said after a 91-73 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday, the team’s fourth straight. "That’s to win an NBA championship."
To do that, they’ll likely have to go through the Celtics, who are looking for their first back-to-back titles in 40 years. But Boston has run into problems lately owing largely to the absence of Garnett.
The team’s emotional leader has not played since Feb. 19 due to a knee strain and the Celtics have struggled at times without him, losing at the lowly Los Angeles Clippers and at home to Detroit.
They needed a late charge to earn a 115-111 win at New Jersey on Wednesday, as Paul Pierce’s 31 points were capped by a go-ahead jumper with 20.9 seconds to play.
Earning a victory Friday will be tougher, even though Boston will be trying to become the 15th consecutive home team to win a Cavs-Celtics game.
That run includes each game of the teams’ dramatic playoff series last May, as well as a 90-85 Boston win to open the season Oct. 28 and a 98-83 Cleveland victory Jan. 9 as the rivalry has intensified.
"I think you have to play a team in the playoffs to get a better rivalry, like us with Cleveland," Boston coach Doc Rivers said after the most recent meeting, when James scored 38 points.
"I think that’s what starts it," the coach added. "You see a team every night, seven times, the next time you see them in the next regular season, you can’t love each other anymore."
Home-court advantage figures to be key if the East’s leaders meet again in the postseason, and a Cavaliers victory Friday would give them a comfortable three-game edge on the Celtics in the loss column.
"It’s going to be a big heavyweight bout," Cavs guard Delonte West said.
Garnett has missed one game against the Cavaliers since joining the Celtics, with Boston losing 114-113 at Quicken Loans Arena on Feb. 5, 2008. In addition to his absence, the Celtics are adjusting to a pair of new faces in their rotation after signing Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury in late February.
Cleveland will likely have a new player in uniform Friday after bringing back Joe Smith earlier in the week. Smith, who was waived by Oklahoma City, averaged 7.6 points on 62.2 percent shooting for the Cavs against the Celtics in the playoffs last season.
The Cavs were searching for another interior player with Ben Wallace sidelined due to a broken leg.
"It’s a great thing for us," center Zydrunas Ilgauskas said. "… We’ll have a big who can shoot, play good defense, a great teammate who knows the system. I expect him to fit right in."
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Posted: 3/6/09 1:30AM ET
