And they were well on their way until King James struck in the third quarter.
After mounting a 13-point lead midway through the first half, the Celtics went completely cold from the floor in the third quarter and fell victim to LeBron James' 36 points in a crushing 108-88 home loss to the Cavaliers.
The Celtics certainly faced a tall task without captain Paul Pierce, who will be held out until next week with a finger injury. Rajon Rondo did his best to fill the void, logging 45 minutes and registering 19 points and 11 assists, but it wasn't enough to keep the Green afloat.
The C's were outscored 60-32 in the second half, and despite shooting 60 percent from the floor in the first half, Boston finished shooting just 40.7 percent from the floor.
Though he admirably kept James at bay through the first half in lieu of Pierce, Marquis Daniels couldn't silence James in the third, when the King got into a rhythm and registered 11 points to help the Cavs narrow the deficit to one and eventually take the lead.
Ray Allen finished with a team-high 21 points for the C's.
Cavaliers 108, Celtics 88
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Feb. 25, 2010
Headliner: With Paul Pierce out of the lineup, the C's entered Thursday's matchup fully aware that containing LeBron James would be a tall task — and though they did it through the first 24 minutes, the luck didn't last. After a very slow first half, LeBron tallied 11 points in the third quarter to make up for it, almost single-handedly cutting all the way into Boston's lead until the Cavs were within one point by the end of the frame.
LeBron finished with a game-high 36 points to go along with seven rebounds and nine helpers.
Unsung Hero: Rajon Rondo was hot out of the gate, victimizing Cleveland's Mo
Williams and racking up 10 points and five assists in just over seven
minutes to start the game. He had a hand in each of Boston's first 21
points as the C's raced out to a nine-point lead, a much-needed fast start
against the best the Eastern Conference has to offer.
By the time there were seven minutes left in the third quarter, Rondo had earned
yet another double-double with his 10th assist of the evening, and it
wasn't easy — he played a whopping 45 minutes. He finished with 19 points and 11 assists on 8-for-19 shooting.
Cleveland's Anderson Varejao led his team in rebounds with 10 after logging 31 minutes off the bench. He didn't have a bad night offensively, either, finishing with 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting.
Scrub: With Paul Pierce out of commission, the Celtics badly needed Marquis Daniels' assistance in shutting down LeBron James. Barely recovered
from a bout with the flu, Daniels performed as well as he could for as long as he could, holding the King to just 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting in a
critical first quarter in which Boston outscored the Cavs 22-6 in the
paint.
As evidenced by the final score, though, Daniels' dominance didn't last. After such a promising first frame, he finished with just four points on 2-for-5 shooting in 24 minutes, sitting out the entire final quarter.
The Cavaliers are certainly hoping that Antawn Jamison ends up panning out better than he looked on Thursday. Jamison shot 4-for-9 in 31 minutes on the floor, finishing with a paltry nine points and three rebounds.
Key Moment: Though the Celtics led by as many as 13 in the first half, it didn't last. After a big third quarter which ended with a LeBron free throw that pulled the Cavs within one, Cleveland took its first lead since the score was 6-4 when J.J. Hickson dunked. A Delonte West 3-pointer with 8:27 left stretched the lead out to four and the pressure was on for the Celtics.
Unfortunately, they couldn't bounce back. Boston went completely cold from the floor, shooting 6-of-20 through the third quarter and just 1-of-7 to begin the fourth, allowing Cleveland to seize control and stretch the lead out to 10 with 5:40 remaining.
Up Next: There's nothing like a date with the Nets to erase the bitter taste of a tough loss to the Cavs. The Nets boast a winning percentage of 0.088 and have won just five games this season, falling 32 games behind the C's for the lead in the Atlantic Division standings. The Nets have been off since absorbing a 102-93 loss to the Trail Blazers on Tuesday.
Since winning their first game back from the All-Star break, the Nets have lost four in a row and 12 of their last 13.
Center Brook Lopez leads the Nets in points (19.1), rebounds (8.9) and blocks (1.9).
