LBJ Still Out Celtics Win Round Two Top Cavaliers 80-70

Ray Allen scored 20 points, and Rajon Rondo added 12 as the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers early Sunday afternoon 80-70. Cleveland played without All-Star forward LeBron James for the second game, and are 0-2 in those two contests, and are in the midst of a three game losing streak. James sprained his left index finger Wednesday night in the second quarter of the Cavaliers loss to the Detroit Pistons. James left that game soon after the injury and has not played since. Cleveland had won their four previous games, including handing Boston their second loss of the season.

Cleveland right now is severely depleted player wise, besides LBJ being hurt fellow starter Larry Nance,veteran forward Donyell Marshall, and Cedric Simmons are all hurt as well. Cleveland coach Mike Brown tried the same starting lineup he had against Toronto on Friday night. He had Sasha Pavlovic move over to the small forward position, to cover for James, and inserted veteran guard Devin Brown into the two-guard position, which he did a nice job in Friday night. He was not effective in the least Sunday, shooting 0-4, with 2 assists, 1 rebound, something tells me even if James is not back for Cleveland’s next game Brown will not be in that starting lineup. The problem for Cleveland is there is no take charge player on the floor for them in the starting lineup right now. The only player that fits that description that is on the active roster is Eric Snow, and his best days are far behind him. Zydrunas Ilgauskas led the Cavaliers with 12 points, a game high 13 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot. Pavlovic who fouled out of the game had 11 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 blocked shot, and Drew Gooden had 10 points, 11 boards, 1 blocked shot.

Boston was certainly not playing any awe inspiring basketball, as Allen and Rondo were the only to Celtics players in double figures. Kevin Garnett scored 9 points, and a team high 8 rebounds, Glen “Big Baby” Davis another nice game off the bench with 9 points, 7 boards, and Paul Pierce scored just 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists. Boston shot only 37.5% from the floor, this game will not be in the season ending compilation DVD, trust me! But the bottom line is that Boston won and now had the NBA’s best record at 14-2 while the Cavaliers are back at .500 at 9-9.