No Road Woes In Sight

Posted by Craig Kolodny May 9, 2008 at 4:49 pm

So you’re sitting there thinking: we’ve seen this before. Just last round the Celtics had what appeared to be a commanding 2-0 lead heading on the road. Doc Rivers’ crew failed in all three opportunities to win down in Atlanta and we all knew we’d hear more about their “road troubles” once the Celtics eliminated the Hawks and moved on to Round 2.

Forget all that nonsense. Maybe it was a lack of focus (inexplicable), or maybe it was just a bad matchup with the Hawks (athletic bigs), but the Celtics will NOT return to Boston for a Game 5 with the series tied 2-2. The Celtics will assuredly grab at least one of the games in Cleveland, if not both, simply because they match up incredibly better with the Cavs.

I know LeBron and company will play better at home, but I can’t see the Celtics showing up without a sense of urgency. The defense against LeBron has been outstanding. They are forcing him to take shots he doesn’t want to take. He has been hesitant to get to the hoop and he’s turning the ball over at an alarming rate. Wally and Delonte have been virtually invisible, and so far Boston has proven to be the deeper team.

The Celtics had the best road record in the league this year (31-10), and all they really need to do is take one game in Cleveland to secure a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. Look for a strong performance by the green team tomorrow night in hopes of quieting all the critics of whether or not this group is good enough to win the road in the postseason.