It was Sunday, May 18, 2008, and the C's and Cavs were fighting for a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals. Boston had won the first two games of the series in its building; Cleveland grabbed the next two at Quicken Loans Arena. They split Games 5 and 6, and found themselves back in Boston to slug it out for all the marbles.
It ended with James going off for 45 points and Pierce nearly matching him with 41. The Celtics fought off a fourth-quarter charge to hold on for the 97-92 win and would advance to the conference finals.
Two years later, the Celtics would love to draw upon this experience for inspiration. But ask any of the guys who were around in 2008, and they'll tell you they know better.
"Two years ago was two years ago," Pierce said this week. "They have new players, we have new players. This is a whole new team.
"They’ve got a lot of the same players and we have a lot of the same players, but it’s just like, you grow up. Things change, you become better. You can’t go off what you did in the past. There’s nothing to that last series."
The Celtics, of course, had their same old starting five in '08 of Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins. The Cavs? Well, aside from James and a trio of reserves (Delonte West, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao), their roster has been gutted.
They've moved West to the bench in favor of Anthony Parker. Instead of Wally Szczerbiak, they now have an All-Star in Mo Williams. Instead of Ben Wallace, they've got another All-Star in Antawn Jamison. Instead of Big Z, they've got one of the greatest big men of all time in Shaquille O'Neal.
"They have better players," Garnett said of the 2010 Cavs. "They have Shaq. They have guys that have been there. They have experienced players who were there two years ago. Delonte is better. Jamison is there, he's been through the grind. They have better players, more experienced people."
The roles have been reversed. In '08, the Celtics were the No. 1 seed and the Cavs, the No. 4. The C's were clear favorites.
The Celtics are now on the opposite side of the one-versus-four matchup, and it's humbling. They're not taking anything from what happened two years ago.
"I don’t really think it makes a difference," Allen said. "That was yesterday. Now we’re trying to do this all over again. We remember Game 7 very vividly, but it’s a new series. They’re geared up against trying to get past us going to the conference finals. The ground has to give one way or another, and we look forward to taking more ground."
Starting Saturday, the Celtics will get that chance. But they won't be the favorites this time.
