Boston 105, Cleveland 94

Best win of the year.


[recap] [box score] [highlights]


In a game that Boston essentially needed to win to stay alive for home court advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs, they could not have played much better on either end of the floor.


Defensively, they frustrated LeBron James, holding him to 5-for-15 shooting and forcing him into four turnovers. Beyond those numbers, though, James looked uncomfortable the entire evening, unassertive. It was the same defensive scheme more or less contained James during much of last year's epic Eastern Conference finals. I can't remember watching a game where James played this ineffectively.


Offensively, they shot better than 54 percent against what was the league's stingiest field goal percentage defense (Boston is now a tenth of a percentage point better in that category), and assisted on 31 of 45 baskets. Paul Pierce led the way with 29 points and nine assists, but it was Leon Powe's best game of the year -- 20 points, 11 rebounds off the bench -- that keyed the victory.


Powe, along with Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis, just played harder and tougher than Cleveland's frontline the entire evening. It was the same kind of thing we saw against the Lakers in last year's Finals. The difference, however, is that guys like Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, while highly skilled, have something of a "soft" reputation. Cleveland's frontline, especially Anderson Varejao and the newly-reacquired Joe Smith, is a physical group that doesn't get outworked very often. Yes, the Cavs were without a key piece of that frontline, Ben Wallace, but his absence is more than balanced -- much more than balanced -- by the fact that his opposite number, Kevin Garnett, was missing from the Celtics' lineup.


No Garnett. His replacement (Davis) ejected in the third quarter for a flagrant-two on Varejao. A Rajon Rondo slowed by an ankle injury suffered early in the game. Twelve free throw attempts to Cleveland's 38.


And a relatively comfortable 11-point victory.


Boston's next game is another big test with playoff implications, a home date with Orlando on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern (no national TV).