The following is a break down of the matchups between starters for Cleveland and Boston based on what we have seen during the regular season and the first two games of round 2.

Rondo/ West

Cleveland has left Rondo open on the perimeter to take jump shots, but Rondo has not taken the bait. West does a better job staying front of Rondo, but when West has to work around a pick he can get swallowed up by a bigger defender. At times Rondo will get in the air without a plan and it can lead to a turnover, but it is important that Doc let him be aggressive, because when the offense breaks down Rondo can create an opportunity about as well as anyone not named Kevin Garnett. It also makes an opponents defense pay more attention to him. West can be a good player, but he excels at secondary skills and is inconsistent with primary skills. West has done nothing against Boston in first two games, hitting a shot would be nice but there are too many possessions where West is just handing the ball off to Lebron and watching.

Advantage Heading into the Series - Rondo
Playoffs - Rondo

Allen/Szczerbiak

The Cleveland sound bites after Game 1 really focused on stopping Ray Allen. The approach worked the first six quarters of the series, but it is a huge mistake if the Cavaliers coaching staff thinks that by stopping Allen they will win four out of seven games with this approach. Doc Rivers has run plays for Allen out of time outs and the Cavaliers defense has given Szczerbiak help on both sides of the screens and Allen has passed on these shots when contested, Ray should be credited with not forcing more shots just to get himself going. Szczerbiak will look to post undersized defenders like Allen and he is actually really good at this but the Celtics send help too quickly for Szczerbiak to be isolated with Allen for a long enough of a time to set this up. In this series Szczerbiak won’t shoot it unless he has the basketball, he is also only grabbing over 1rpg. Szczerbiak is a better defender than you would think and an overall better player than he has shown in Cleveland but the offense can be so bad at times, Wally looks like he is trying to get himself going with some questionable shots.

Advantage Heading into the Series - Allen
Playoffs - Allen

Pierce/James

During the regular season Pierce shot only 37% vs. the Cavaliers, now 33% in the playoffs, it is directly related to defending Lebron. Pierce was in foul trouble in Game 1 and looked tired in the 4th quarter. James defends off of Pierce and does a poor job of anticipating defensively, he will go for up fakes and that is really the only way to attack him. When Pierce will get in post position towards James he doesn’t want to go at him like he does with other players, physically it is a mismatch for Pierce. Pierce is usually stronger than most players defending him, not the case with James. James has had two of the worst games of his career at the worst time. James is never in rhythm, rarely attacks and just seems confused on what to do against the Celtics. Pierce plays off of him and tries to send him away from the paint where as Posey plays right up on him and knows if he gets beat that he has help from behind. James attempted 4.8 3PA during the regular season compared to 7.3 3PA versus the Celtics (Second highest against any team in the league) so clearly James has had trouble in the paint against the Celtics. Cleveland has tried to help with screens but so many of them are too far away from the basket to be effective. James is 1/18 outside the paint, this will not continue.

Advantage - James
Playoffs - Push

Garnett/Wallace

Whether it is Wallace, Joe Smith or Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Cleveland really has no shot at stopping Garnett. Garnett is much more comfortable going at or over Wallace than he was in the first round attacking Josh Smith in Atlanta. Wallace is not even close to the level of athleticism he showed in Detroit, he can’t stay in front of KG, and when Wallace sets screens he is useless because no defender is going to follow him. The more touches Wallace gets the better for Boston. One would think that Cleveland coach Mike Brown may play Wallace less, because it allows Garnett to float on defense.

Advantage - Garnett
Playoffs - Garnett

Perkins/Ilgauskas

Perkins has done a nice job against Ilgauskas, extending his defensive pressure to the three point line and chasing James around screens. Ilgauskas has been the only dependable offense for Cleveland, but Z has been more efficient as a face up shooter through the first two games than as a post threat. If you can get Ilgauskas to move his feet in the post he can get into trouble. Perkins job has been to watch James, bother Ilgauskas jumpers and try to get what he can amongst the trees for rebounds. Cleveland really crashes the defensive boards.

Advantage - Ilgauskas
Playoffs - Ilgauskas

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