Icon SMI

When Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Cavaliers last summer his goal was simple: “Win a ring for the King.”

Things didn’t quite work out like Shaq planned.

O’Neal and the rest of the Cavaliers have already been bounced from the playoffs, while his former team, the Suns, are still fighting for a trip to the Finals. Although it wasn’t the storybook season the 38-year-old center was hoping for, he has no regrets, at least personally.

“Obviously everyone is disappointed,” O’Neal said after the Cavs’ Game 6 loss to the Celtics. “But as a person, as a professional, I think I did everything that they asked me to do. [I] got injured and came back in better shape.”

The Cavaliers acquired O’Neal last off season for the primary reason of guarding Magic center Dwight Howard in the postseason.

Howard was a nightmare for Cleveland’s front line during last season’s Eastern Conference Finals. The now 24-year-old Howard averaged 25.8 points and 13 rebounds in the series, including a dominating double-double (40 points and 14 rebounds) in Orlando’s series-clinching Game 6 win.

O’Neal had some success against Howard during the regular season — the Cavaliers were 2-1 against the Magic this season with Shaq in the lineup — but the Celtics’ upset in the Conference Semifinals made the point moot.

O’Neal put up solid statistics against the Celtics — averaging 13.5 points and 5 rebounds in the series — although that doesn’t tell the whole story. He had trouble getting deep post position against the Boston defenders and the Cavaliers’ offense seemed to stall when the ball was in his hands.

“They just wouldn’t let me get my normal spot up but [in] playoff basketball that’s what teams are going to do,” O’Neal said. “They’re going to take away strengths.”

Now both the Cavs and O’Neal have to decide whether a continued partnership is in their best interest.

O’Neal is the oldest player in the NBA but has ruled out retirement this summer.

“I missed 360 games due to injury in my career so by my calculations I still have 3.7 years left, which means I am going to play until I am 41,” O’Neal said. “I’ve been here 17 years but I’ve missed a lot of games and I’m still feeling good. I still can play this game.”

Although it is a near certainty that Shaq will be on an NBA team next season, whether he wears wine and gold will likely depend on the eventual destination of LeBron James.

If James decides to sign with another NBA franchise this summer — such as Chicago, New York or Miami — the Cavaliers title hopes for next season would appear to leave with him. Without championship aspirations, bringing back a center who will turn 39 next March wouldn’t seem to make much sense for the organization.

If James resigns with the Cavs, however, O’Neal chances of returning will skyrocket.

With the reigning MVP on their roster the Cavaliers would still need someone to stop, or at least slow down, Howard during the playoffs. With no selections in the upcoming draft and limited cap space to work with, resigning O’Neal would appear to be the only viable option, outside of a trade, that would fill that bill.

The three-time Finals MVP made $20 million this season. It was the final year of a contract extension he signed while still playing with the Heat in 2005. His production has dipped considerably since then, meaning he will be looking at a major pay cut on the contract he signs this summer.

For now O’Neal will wait for July 1st, when free agency officially begins.

“We just have to sit back,” he said. “I’m sure everybody is going to do what is best for them.”

Icon SMI

Ever since the Cavaliers drafted LeBron James in 2003 they have attempted to upgrade their roster time-and-time again.

The team had some surprising success early on — reaching the 2007 Finals with an overachieving club — but that only lead to increased expectations, which the team has been unable to live up to. The Cavaliers have not made it past the Eastern Conference Finals the past two seasons, even though they have had the NBA’s best regular season record both years.

When time ticked away during the Cavaliers’ 94-85 loss in Game Six on Thursday night, the realization that LeBron James, who will be a free agent this summer, may never play another game in a Cleveland uniform seeped in to every Cavalier fan’s head.

Some in the media have claimed James’ chances of winning may be greater in Chicago or Miami. But let’s face it, the Cavaliers’ organization, namely Dan Gilbert, has done everything within their power to put a winning team on the court.

They traded for former MVP Shaquille O’Neal last summer, taking on his $20 million salary this season, so that the team would have a better shot at slowing down Magic center Dwight Howard. They’ve also signed numerous free agents – including Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker and Leon Powe — and traded for other players – including Mo Williams and Delonte West - over the years to add depth to the team. The expected final step to an NBA Title was trading for Antawn Jamison at the trade deadline this season, even though the 33-year-old forward is signed through the 2011-12 season.

[Also, in case you forgot, the Cavaliers built a $25 million practice facility in 2007 that ranks among the best in the NBA.]

All the trades and signings have led to one of the most expensive teams in the NBA but not a single Larry O’Brien Trophy.

The Cavs were picked by many to get past the fourth-seeded Celtics and move on to the Conference Finals, but, as has become the custom in Cleveland, the team heads into the off season a disappointment.

“The fact that it was our goal to win a championship and we came up short,” LeBron James said after Thursday’s game. ”It’s definitely heart-wrenching, it definitely hurts, but it’s over. I think the city of Cleveland feel the same way we feel.”

The Cavaliers’ payroll this season was over $84 million, the fifth-highest in the NBA. It looked as if the ownership’s willingness to spend, spend, spend was finally paying off when the team won 61 regular-season games.

But, as Gilbert and Co. are learning, the postseason is a different ballgame.

“You look at regular season records and you realize how they are meaningless in the NBA playoffs,” Gilbert said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. ”… You’ve really got to look at how are you built to win in the playoffs.”

The Cavaliers have a number of players, especially Williams and Jamison, who have been reliable during the regular season, but fade under the bright lights of the postseason.

Williams has averaged 17.8 and 15.8 points the last two regular season, respectively, only to see his shooting percentage and scoring average diminish during the playoffs. Although he is the one of the team’s best three-point shooters, the 27-year-old point guard was just 4-for-19 from beyond the arc against the Celtics in the Conference Semifinals.

Jamison was solid in his 25 regular season games with the Cavaliers, averaging 15.8 points and shooting nearly 49 percent from the field. He continued to play well in the team’s first-round series with the Bulls, shooting at least 50 percent in four of the five games, but was a train wreck against the Celtics. He shot just 2-for-10 in Thursday’s elimination game and had trouble keeping Kevin Garnett out of the paint all series.

Williams and Jamison were just two parts to a team that seemed to self destruct against the Celtics. The Cavs’ players didn’t seem to completely buy into coach Mike Brown’s game plan, especially when the team fell behind. That led to some lopsided games, as the Cavs four losses to Boston were by an average of 17 points.

“We just didn’t play up to our capabilities and they did a fantastic job of playing well,” Jamison said. ”Just wish you could have done better but that’s not the case. Learn from it and move forward.”

The problem for the Cavs is that the future could be worse than the present.

There is the possibility that James will sign with another club, and even if he doesn’t the Cavaliers are saddled with some rough contracts.

Jamison, Parker and Moon, who are all over the age of 30, will make nearly $20 million combined next season. Sebastian Telfair is on the books for $2.7 million next season, even though he didn’t play a single minute during the playoffs, and Daniel Gibson still has over $12 million left on his deal over the next three seasons.

Still, money doesn’t appear to be an obstacle for Gilbert and the rest of the Cavaliers’ ownership group.

“It’s a lot more expensive to lose than it is to win,” Gilbert said. “Ironically, if you look at the highest-payroll team tend not to lose the most amount of money.”

Step one for the team this off season is obviously to sign James. He will surely be wined-and-dined by the Knicks, Nets, Clippers and many other teams, but the dream of bringing a championship to Cleveland may be enough to keep him in town.

It is, after all, his home.

“I love the city of Cleveland of course. The city, the fans,” James said after Thursday’s loss. ”It was a disappointing season to say the least but at the same time we had a great time together. We’ll see what happens.”

Whether James returns or not, the Cavaliers will be a different team next season.

Brown’s coaching job is in danger after the team’s collapse against the Celtics. The Cavaliers are currently “going through the evaluaton process” in regards to his position, Gilbert said. The team’s two aging centers, O’Neal and Ilgauskas, will be free agents this summer and it is unknown whether the team will attempt to retain them.

“[Thursday's game] could be the last time together for a lot of people so it’s obviously sad, but that’s life so you’ve got to be a grown up,” Ilgauskas, who will turn 35 this summer, said. ”You’ve got to take your shots and move on.”

The Cavaliers roster this season was built for the present, not necessarily the future, meaning the front office will have a lot of work to do this off season. If they simply sign James and nothing else they will find themselves falling behind the Magic, Lakers and others. Trades will need to be attempted, free agents will need to be courted, and a new voice will likely be needed to head the coaching staff.

With Gilbert at the head of the organization, it will undoubtebly be an interesting, active summer.

“What we are going to do is regroup,” Gilbert said. ”We are going to dig deep, like we always do, and we are going to try and improve this franchise and get better.”

Icon SMI

Game 6 seemed like a likely elimination game before the Cavalier-Celtics began their current Eastern Conference Semifinal Series.

It just wasn’t supposed to be the Cavs in danger of heading home for the summer.

Cleveland has been on a short list of championship contenders all season, and the addition of Antawn Jamison at the trade deadline only increased the hype surrounding the team. Shaquille O’Neal, who has four NBA Titles to his name, has even claimed it may be the most talented team he has ever played with. It seemed like a lot to live up to, but for the longest time the Cavaliers did it.

They finished with the NBA’s best record during the regular season, winning 61 games, earning home-court advantage throughout the postseason.  They got a mild scare from the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs, but ultimately took care of business, winning the series 4-1.

Then came the Celtics and everything changed.

Suddenly the team began to look out of sync. Mike Brown juggled his rotation, Mo Williams couldn’t hit a jumper and LeBron James became, well, human.

It has all led to the current situation, which is this: If the Cavaliers lose on Thursday night their season will be over and the team’s superstar, James, will be an unrestricted free agent.

Obviously there will be a lot at stake when the Cavs steps foot on the TD Garden tonight, and rest assured the players know it.

“We as a team know what we have to do,” Anthony Parker said at Cleveland Clinic Courts on Wednesday. ”It’s backs against the wall. This is it.”

Most of the weight of Game 6 will fall on the shoulders of James, who was a shell of himself on Tuesday night.

He scored just 15 points on 3-for-14 shooting and didn’t seem as assertive as one would expect in a crucial postseason game.

“Offensively I never really got involved from a scoring point, but my game is not always about scoring,” James said. ”Last night I didn’t shoot particularly well from the field.”

James has typically risen to the challenge in big games — like when he scored the Cavs’ final 25 points in Game 5 of the 2007 ECF — which made his struggles on Tuesday that much more surprising.

“It was uncharacteristic of what he’s done throughout his career, and that happens to anybody from time-to-time,” Brown said. ”But I’m more than confident that he will bounce back and have a good Game 6 for us.”

The Cavaliers have already won in Boston once in this series, in impressive fashion.

They beat the Celtics 124-95 in Game 3, with James pouring in an explosive 21 first-quarter points on his way to a 38-point game. If James and the Cavaliers can repeat that performance, they will find themselves in position to close out the series in Cleveland.

“I do think that they are under pressure to close it out in Boston, but both teams feel it I think,” Parker said. ”I’m sure they don’t want to come back to Cleveland for a Game 7.”

If the Cavalier can force a winner-take-all Game 7, that will become the biggest game in franchise history. For now, though, that title belongs to their current elimination game., possibly the last game in the LeBron James Era.

“We have to do everything correct,” O’Neal said. “This is a game we can’t afford to have any lapses, can’t afford to make any mistakes.”

Icon SMI

The Boston Celtics continue to prove that the regular season can sometimes carry little weight once the postseason begins.

The Cavaliers earned the NBA’s best record for the second year in a row this season, but they now find themselves in danger of falling short of the Larry O’Brien Trophy once again after an embarrassing 120-88 loss to the Celtics on Tuesday night. The blowout victory gives Boston a 3-2 stranglehold on the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series that now will head to Massachusetts for Game Six.

Playing in front of a sold-out crowd at Quicken Loans Arena in Game Five, the Cavaliers failed to perform to the level fans have grown accustom to seeing since the 2009-10 season began back in October. They were sloppy, lackadaisical and just about every other negative adjective you could find in a dictionary.

As is usually the case, LeBron James set the tone early that he and his teammates would follow the rest of the game. On this night, that wasn’t a good thing.

James had just eight points in the first half and didn’t connect on his first made field goal until nearly six minutes had gone by in the third quarter. He finished the game an undesirable 3-for-14 from the floor for 15 points.

“I just missed a lot of shots,” James said after the game. ”I missed a lot of open shots, shots I’m capable of making. You don’t see it out of me a lot so when it happens it’s a big surprise.”

James did grab six rebounds and dish out seven assists in the contest, but three of those rebounds and three of those assists came in the first quarter when the Cavalier offense was its most effective.

For a big chunk of the final three quarters James was a minimal part of Cleveland’s offense. He took just two field goals in the second period — both three pointers — and went 3-of-10 from the field in the second half.

The only way the 25-year-old superstar really found a way to contribute was from the free-throw line, where he went 9-of-12.

“He had an off night tonight, which is abnormal,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “He brings it for us almost every night and he tried to bring it tonight, but it was an off day.”

James was merely a spectator on many of the Cavaliers’ offensive possessions, a rarity for the two-time league MVP, leaving teammates such as Mo Williams and Anthony Parker to create their own looks.

As a result the Cavs were left with challenged, forced shots at the end of the shot clock on most possessions. Even when Cleveland did find an open shot they came up empty, leading to just 41 percent shooting for the game.

“You’ve got to give Boston credit, they’re doing a great job of when we do get open looks, flying out and contesting and trying to run us off the three-point line as best as they can” Brown said. “So, we either have got to let it go or attack the rim, one of the two. But, we have to keep being aggressive offensively.”

The Celtics, on the other hand, could do not wrong offensively in Game Five. They shot 55 percent from the floor as all five starters scored in double figures.

Paul Pierce scored 21 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out seven assists. It was a throwback performance for the 2008 Finals MVP, who has struggled to hit shots consistently throughout this year’s postseason.

“[Pierce] came out aggressive,” James said. “He did a good job of just trying to attack and just trying to get a good feeling for the game.”

The other two/thirds of the Celtics’ ‘Big Three,’ Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett, added 25 and 18 points, respectively.

The Cavaliers did a decent job on point guard Rajon Rondo, who has torched them all series, but seemed to forget that the rest of the team, although aging, might still have something left in the tank.

“We let one guy control the series, but you knew the ‘Big Three’ were going to get it going at some point,” Antawn Jamison said. “Not only them, but their whole team tonight pretty much did whatever they wanted to do.”

Jamison allowed Garnett to get strong post position on him several times, resulting in easy buckets for the former MVP each time, and the Cavaliers’ starting forward did little to make up for it at the other end. He scored just nine points on 4-for-10 shooting.

Just two Cavaliers besides James scored in double figures.

Shaquille O’Neal led the way with 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting. The 38-year-old center worked to push his defender, usually Kedrick Perkins, deep into the paint possession after possession and was the Cavaliers most promising offensive weapon all night.

Still, the fact that O’Neal’s highest scoring game of the current postseason means little since it came in a Cavalier loss.

“It’s hard to beat a team who has five or six guys in double-figures,” O’Neal said. “We just have to go out and play hard.”

Playing hard is something that has come and gone for the Cavs in this series.

Sensing his team needed a spark on Tuesday, coach Brown turned to a couple of starters from the Cavaliers’ 2007 NBA Finals team, Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Daniel Gibson.

The two veterans played a total of 11 minutes in the first four games of the series, most of it garbage time.

Ilgauskas hit a jumper soon after he checked in late in the first quarter and finished the game with five points and three rebounds. He played well around the basket, especially defensively where he blocked four shots and deterred several other attempts.

Gibson got the bulk of his playing time in the second half after Brown became frustrated with the defense of his starting point guard, Mo Williams.

Williams guarded Allen for most of the first half and also began the second half on him. The Cavaliers’ coaching staff decided to switch Parker onto Allen early into the third quarter after the sharp-shooting guard hit two long threes that extended the Celtics’ lead to 56-44. The switch moved Williams onto Rondo, who has given him loads of trouble all series.

Rondo immediately took advantage of the mismatch, driving by Williams for layups several times, which quickly brought Gibson off the bench.

“We have to do a better job with our team defense,” Brown said. “Mo had gotten beat a couple of times, but there were times also where we didn’t play the right defense behind him.”

The Cavs will now need to find a way to rebound from the worst playoff loss in franchise history in a hurry.

Game Six is Thursday night.

“There was little that we did right throughout the course of the game,” Brown said. “We can’t dismiss this game, we have got to look at it and see what we can do better in the next game.”

Icon SMI

There has been a common theme in the Cavaliers’ two losses to the Celtics this series.

An abundance of missed threes.

The Cavaliers made just 19 percent of their three-point attempts in Games Two and Four, leading to low offensive efficiency in both contests. Although inconsistent outside shooting is not the sole reason the top-seeded Cavs have dropped two of four games to the Celtics, it surely hasn’t helped.

The Cavaliers 4-of-21 performance from beyond the arc on Sunday was a far cry from their Game Three win, when they made 5-of-12 three-point attempts.

“We shot the ball extremely well last game, nobody expects to shoot it that well every game,” Anthony Parker said after Game Four. ”The law of percentages went against us today.”

The Cavaliers have been one of the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA all-season long. They were second in the league in three-point percentage during the regular season (38 percent), behind only the Western Conference Final-bound Phoenix Suns.

But when the Cavs needed the likes of Parker, LeBron James and Antawn Jamison to come up with threes in the fourth quarter of game four, they were unsuccessful.

Cleveland hit 0-of-5 three-point attempts over the final period. Any one of those missed shots could have changed the outcome of the game had they went down. At several points during the quarter the Cavs found themselves down by as little as two points.

“We missed a couple threes,” James said. ”Myself and [Parker] missed some, some really good looks.”

What has made the many missed threes even more detrimental is that the Celtics’ offense has taken advantage of the long rebounds.

“They just got on the break,” James said. ”When they get out on the break they get layups, they get open threes and we didn’t do a good job of getting back in transition.”

For the Cavaliers to be successful at both ends of the court in Game Five they will have to be a more consistent threat from the three-point line.

Icon SMI

Maybe the Cavaliers should have saved some of their baskets from Game Three for Sunday afternoon.

After winning easily in Boston, by 29 points, on Friday night, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing by nearly double-digits at halftime of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Although Cleveland managed to make things interesting in the second half, the Celtics – led by Rajon Rondo – ran away with the game late for a 97-87 home victory that evened the series at 1-1.

Rondo already had a triple-double by the end of the third quarter, but the young point guard wasn’t done doing his damage just yet. 

He added eight points, seven rebounds and three assists in the game’s final period to finish with a monstrous 29 points, 18 boards and 13 dimes.

“He [imposed] his will on this game,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said after the game.”Whether it was driving the basketball and looking to try and finish or get to the free throw line or kick or offensive rebounding.”

Even though he was guarded by taller defenders most of the game, namely Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon, Rondo kept finding a way to come up with rebounds.

It isn’t common that a 6-foot-1 guard records 18 boards, especially against a solid rebounding team like the Cavs.

“He plays much bigger than he looks because of his long arms,”LeBron James said. ”His speed and quickness, his ability to just play the game. … He’s an unbelievable talent and a rare talent we have in this league with the size and the speed that he has.”

Rondo grabbed four offensive rebounds in the contest — more than the entire Cavalier team — with two of them coming in the crucial final minutes as the Cavaliers attempted to steal the win.

With just under three minutes remaining and the Celtics lead trimmed to just three, Rondo came up with the rebound off a missed layup by Ray Allen and found teammate Paul Pierce for an easy dunk. About a minute later the point guard grabbed his final offensive board — off a missed jump shot by Kevin Garnett — and put up a layup that pushed the Boston lead to 92-85.

“He’s got a great nose for the basketball,” Brown said. ”All of his rebounds aren’t necessarily ones that come right off the rim; if they’re long and they hit that ground and you stand and watch, he’s coming up with them because he’s extremely quick to the ball.”

Rondo out shined the league MVP, James, who finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.

On the surface it may not look like a terrible game for James — he also added two steals and shot 8-of-11 from the foul line — but he shot just 7-of-18 from the floor and turned the ball over seven times.

“I think for myself I was inconsistent sometimes coming off pick and rolls if I wanted to shoot it or make passes and I turned the ball over uncharacteristic of myself,” James said.

James and the Cavaliers stalled offensively for much of the game, although a strong spurt coming out of halftime seemed to get them back into the contest, at least temporarily.

After trailing by nine at halftime, the Cavaliers went on an 11-4 run early in the third that trimmed the Celtics’ lead to just four. The two teams played nearly even the rest of the quarter and the visitors headed to the fourth down just two, 74-72. 

The team’s second comeback win of the series looked possible, but James and his teammates proceeded to miss shot after shot after shot over the game’s final 12 minutes.

They were outscored 23-15 in the fourth and didn’t hit a single shot outside the paint. James was included in that offensively-challenged quarter, pouring in just five points on 2-of-7 shooting.

Although the Cavalier offense was at its worst in the final quarter, it wasn’t much better in the other 36 minutes. They shot just 40 percent from the floor for the game, including a 4-for-21 performance from the three-point line.

The only offensive option that seemed viable for most of the afternoon was Shaquille O’Neal in the post.

O’Neal made 5-of-9 field goals and 7-of-11 free throws for 17 points.

All of O’Neal’s missed field goals came when Kedrick Perkins forced him to post up outside the paint and take low-percentage shots. When he was able to get deep position, however, it seemed the Celtics had no answer for him.

“I don’t want to dwell on the past but tonight he did great,” James said. ”When Shaq goes to the line 11 times he’s being really aggressive. That’s what we want out of him.”

O’Neal picked up his fifth foul less than a minute into the fourth quarter and did not return. James said he was “kind of surprised not to see him back on the floor” later in the period.

“They definitely turned it around after [Shaq picked up his fifth],” James said. ”They were able to get some stops, get some run outs.”

Mo Williams, who averaged nearly 16 points per game during the regular season, had his third-straight rough shooting night.

He was just 3-of-9 from the floor and has now made just eight of his last 26 shots. Although Williams is not expected to put up Rondo-type numbers, the Cavaliers will need him and the rest of the team’s guards to start scoring more consistently.

“I haven’t had an open look all series from the three-point line and that’s why I’ve been attacking the rim,” Williams said. ”With that being said you have to adjust, that’s what the playoffs are all about. … We’ve got to keep attacking if they’re going to give us that and get a win in game 5.”

Icon SMI

Everything that could go wrong for the Cavaliers on Monday night did go wrong, and the Celtics were right there to take full advantage.

After leading throughout most the first half, Boston broke open the game early in the second half, outscoring the Cavaliers 31-12 in the third quarter. The Cavaliers attempted to make things interesting in the game’s final minutes, but the visitors held on for a 104-86 victory at Quicken Loans Arena.

The win ties the Eastern Conference semifinal series at 1-1 and puts home court advantage in the hands of the underdog Celtics.

There was a lot not to like about the way the Cavs play, especially defensively.

The Celtics shot over 51 percent from the floor and were nearly as accurate from the three-point line, hitting 9-of-19 from beyond the arc. Five of those three-pointer belonged to Rasheed Wallace, who finished 3-of-4 on threes.

Boston did turn the ball over 19 times, but it seemed every time they didn’t commit a turnover they got an open look inside or from the three-point line.

The Cavs finally picked up their defense to begin the fourth — holding the Celtics to just eight points over the first eight minutes of the quarter — but by that point it was too late.

“I’m concerned our defense was not there tonight,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said after the game. ”We tried to turn it up for a little bit and we got physical and there was a sense of urgency in that fourth quarter for about three minutes, but we were down.”

Rajon Rondo ran wild on the Cavaliers for the majority of the contest, finishing with 13 points and a game-high 19 assists.

The 24-year-old point guard didn’t do as much scoring as he did in game one — when he had a team-high 27 points — but was an absolute artist in finding his open teammates.

He assisted on seven of his team’s ten third-quarter field goals, including two big Ray Allen three-pointers that were key in the Celtics’ stretching their lead past 20 points.

“He just comes off multiple pick and rolls,” Shaquille O’Neal said. ”We have to do a better job of staying attached to him, stay in front of him and stay attached to their shooters. He’s a great player.”

Rondo dominated his matchup with Cavaliers’ point guard Mo Williams, who finished with just four points on 1-of-9 shooting. Williams’ didn’t get a single shot off inside the paint, settling for contested mid-range jumpers and three-pointers instead.

Williams, like the rest of the Cavaliers, seemed passive.

“For 48 minutes, we did not play with a sense of urgency,” Brown said. “… We have to decide if we are going to take the fight to them and take these games. Nothing is going to be given to us at all.”

Even LeBron James struggled for the Cavs.

He finished with a very average 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. James, who was presented with the NBA MVP trophy before the game, seemed hesitant to make plays offensively. He had five turnovers, mostly coming on force passes to teammates.

James did get to the foul line 15 times, but ten of those attempts came in the fourth quarter when he became more aggressive offensively.

After the game the All-Star forward stopped short of blaming his elbow injury for his unspectacular play.

“For me, I’m going to go out and continue to try to be the player that I am,” James said. ”I’m not going to use this elbow as an excuse, I would never use an injury as an excuse. Like I said before, if I’m on the court, I’m going to try and be as productive as possible.”

At halftime the Cavaliers found themselves still in contention, trailing by just four points. That changed quickly when the third quarter began.

The Celtics shot 10-of-17 from the floor in the third, compared to just 5-of-16 for the Cavs.

The Cavaliers gave the visitors plenty of open looks in the quarter, which shooters Paul Pierce and Ray Allen took advantage of.

Allen scored 10 points in the period, while Pierce added five.

“I think all five guys that were on the court at one time weren’t communicating,” James said. ”We weren’t in tune with one another and the game plan.”

The Cavaliers finally pulled things together on both ends of the court during the fourth quarter.

The Celtics held a 91-66 lead with about nine minutes remaining in the game, but the next few minutes belonged completely to the home team.

Cleveland scored 15 straight points, with nine of the points coming at the free-throw line. J.J. Hickson poured in seven points during that stretch, while James added six.

When Pierce ended the run with a finger roll with 3:28 remaining, the score stood 93-81 Celtics.

“We were stuck on 91 points for an hour it felt like,” Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. ”I just kept telling our guys ‘the clock is still moving’ and they’re not really scoring, we’re still getting stops. We made some silly fouls in that one stretch.”

It looked as if the Cavs might have a chance to pull the score even closer, but Boston started hitting shots again and ended the game on an 11-3 run.

The Cavaliers may have been the better team in the fourth quarter – the outscored the Celtics 26-21 in the fourth — but their sloppy, uninspired play earlier in the game was too big an obstacle to overcome.

“We don’t want to keep shooting ourselves in the foot by digging big holes like that,” O’Neal said. ”Now it’s a series, they’re a veteran team over there and we’re a veteran team over here. We just have to go get one or two games there.”

Icon SMI

The Cavaliers headed into the locker room at halftime on Saturday night trailing by double-digits.

Mo Williams took notice and shot the Cavs back into the game.

Williams scored 14 of his 20 points in the third quarter as the Cavaliers outscored the visting Celtics by 19 points in the second half to win 101-93 and take a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals series.

The 27-year-old point guard rattled off 10 straight Cavalier points midway through the third to cut the Boston lead to just five. He added another jump shot later in the quarter to trim the deficit to one, and by the time the period ended the Cavaliers found themselves with a one-point lead.

Although Williams scored just two points in the fourth quarter, his high-scoring third was crucial to the Cavalier offense getting back on track.

“He really did a great job of attacking the rim tonight and it really got him going,” Antawn Jamison said after the game. ”Eventually, we were going to wake up and get things going in the right direction, but that was the key point of the game.”

Williams even added a dunk over Celtics’ guard Paul Pierce during his explosive third-quarter, causing a uproar of cheers from the home bench. It was the 6-foot-1 guard’s first dunk as a member of the team and appeared to change the momentum of the game in favor of the Cavs.

“My intention was to kind of shoot what I call a floater layup and try to fade away from him a little bit so he couldn’t get to it,” Williams said. ”I realized I was a little high. So I was like ‘I think I might try it.’ It turned out good.”

James took over most of the Cavaliers’ scoring in the fourth quarter, pouring in 12 of his game-high 35 points during the period.

“Obviously, LeBron came in and closed the game,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. ”He is our closer.”

James made several jump shots in the fourth, something he was unable to do early on in the game.

He took just two shots outside the paint in the first half, missing both, although he was still able to accumulate 14 points in the opening half.

James didn’t dismiss the fact that his injured elbow played a part in his early hesitation to shoot jumpers. But he also pinned his first-half play on wanting to get into the paint and score some easy baskets.

“I was able to still be aggressive and get to the free throw line and be aggressive that way,” James said. ”As far as me worrying about shooting a jumper or shooting outside the three point line, I just take what the defense gives me.”

The main reason the Cavaliers needed big second halves from James and Williams was the strong play of Celtics’ point guard Rajon Rondo.

Rondo scored 19 points in the first half, mostly on free-throws and layups. The Cavs tried a number of defenders on the All-Star guard, including Williams, Anthony Parker and Delonte West, but Rondo continued to find his way to the hoop.

“He poses a threat to our interior because he’s so fast and gets into our interior,” James said. “He breaks our interior down where he’s able to get a layup or kick out for a three-pointer like we saw tonight with Ray one time, or a couple layups for KG or for Perkins. We have to do a better job of trying to keep him out of the paint.”

James and the Cavaliers played better defensively in the second half, especially against Rondo.

He scored a quick five points to open the third quarter, but managed just three points, all at the foul line, the rest of the way.

The Cavaliers’ increased offensive efficiency in the second half — they scored 58 of their 101 points after halftime — helped limit Rondo’s ability to score in transition.

“I thought as a team in the second half, we did a really good job on him,” Williams said. “That had a lot to do with the way we played in the second half. We made shots. … We shot 20-30% throughout the first half and when you do those things, you’re playing into Rondo’s hands.

“You’re down one or two guys and when he gets on that break, it’s tough to guard him. ”

The Celtics were able to force the Cavalier starting front court, Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison, into inefficient offensive nights.

O’Neal was just 4-of-12 from the field, while Jamison made just 2-of-6 shots. O’Neal did come up big in the fourth quarter, though.

The 38-year-old center scored six points in the final period, including a tip in off a pick-and-roll with James that pushed the Cavaliers’ lead to 98-93 with just one minute remaining.

“Shaq has been around this block more than once,” James said. “He knows how to take advantage of certain situations.”

J.J. Hickson may have had the best offensive game of all the Cavalier big men.

Hickson scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting in 12 minutes of action.

The second-year pro averaged just 5.8 minutes in the first round against the Bulls, prompting James to campaign for increased playing time for his teammate midway through the series.

Brown must have listened to his superstar’s advice.

“I thought J.J. might be able to bring us some energy, some quickness, some athleticism and give Boston a different look, so I threw him out there and he did,” Brown said. “All our guys obviously all year, we have said that they have kept themselves ready to play and J.J. is in that category.”

Two years ago, when the Cavaliers and Celtics played a gritty seven-game series, players like Hickson, O’Neal and Williams weren’t members of the Cavs yet.

Still, they know the history of the rivalry as the two teams continue what looks to be another hard-fought series.

“I think it’s well documented,” Williams said. “They don’t like us and I think it’s vice versa. That’s what makes the game fun.

“I think that’s what the game is played for.”

Icon SMI

Consistent minutes have been tough to come by for Jamario Moon all-season long, but it wouldn’t be surprising if that changes after his performance Monday night.

In 20 minutes of action, the 29-year-old forward scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, all from the three-point line, and also added two blocks to help the Cavaliers to a 112-102 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

Moon was on the floor for the entire fourth quarter — even though he played just seven total minutes in game one — as the Cavaliers built up a double-digit lead.

Even though he hasn’t been a mainstay in coach Mike Brown’s rotation this season, Moon was prepared to make his contribution when his number was called.

“I didn’t put any pressure on myself,” Moon said after the game. ”I understand the business and I understand you have to stay ready to play because like I said, you never know when your name is going to be called…it’s just all about staying professional and staying ready to play.”

Moon played in just 12 of 17 games in March, during which time he averged 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds. It looked as if he had fallen out of favor with the coaching staff, but he kept working.

“It’s just all about doing what you have to do to stay ready to play,” Moon said. ”Everyday after shootaround, the coaches and I get together and shoot some extra jumpers after we’re done with the walk-though. It’s all about getting up those extra shots to stay ready.”

When the Cavaliers clinched the NBA’s best record near the end of the season, they decided to rest LeBron James for the postseason. With James out of the lineup, Moon’s playing time rose dramatically.

Moon played well during that time, scoring in double figures in the final four games of the regular season. He saved his best for the team’s final game, where he scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds. He was hot from beyond the arc in those final games, hitting 7-of-14 three-point attempts.

The momentum he gained from those games was evident on Monday night, when he led the team with his four threes.

“There are going to be certain guys that come in a make a difference,” Antawn Jamison said about Moon’s performance. ”… Coach always says ‘you have to be ready’ because you never know when your opportunity is going to come. He did an awesome job of knocking down shots when we needed him.”

Moon’s journey to the Cavaliers has been a long one.

Although he is approaching 30 years old, this is just his third year in the NBA. Before the Toronto Raptors signed him in 2007, Moon played a variety of teams, even the Harlem Globetrotters at one point.

“Coming from where I came from and the road that it took for me to get here, it feels great,” Moon said. ”To understand the opportunity that this team has this season, it feels wonderful.”

Moon’s three-point shots in game two weren’t anything for the Sportscenter Top 10 — like some of the high-flyer’s dunks have been this season – but they certainly were clutch.

Two of his four threes came in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers tried to hold off a late rally by the visiting Bulls. Chicago was doing all they could to stop Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James, leaving Moon open to hit his big shots.

“He stayed and he waited, and when they went to double or they made a mistake on LeBron, LeBron did a terrific job of getting that ball out and Jamario was ready to catch and shoot,” Brown said. ”Not only did he make shots, he had a couple of big blocks for us and he had some nice rebounds. He contributed in a lot of different ways for us tonight, which was good to see.”

Icon SMI

The Chicago Bulls seemed to be in position to steal a game in Cleveland early in the fourth quarter on Monday night.

LeBron James decided that was unacceptable.

James scored 15 points over the final eight minutes of the game to secure a 112-102 Cavalier victory and give the team a crucial 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round series.

After a short rest to begin the final quarter, the 25-year-old superstar returned to the game with 8:34 remaining. From that point until the game’s final buzzer, James made a three pointer, two mid-range jumpers, a couple layups and four foul shots.

“I just felt like it was the fourth quarter and that’s when I make my mark as an individual, either scoring for me as a player myself or create things for my teammates,” James said after the game. ”I can’t look at one point where I felt like I just had it going, but I’ve always been a confident player.”

The Cavaliers’ scoring over the final few minutes wasn’t completely on James’ shoulders. Mo Williams, Jamario Moon and Anderson Varejao all contributed at least one field goal.

Still, although it wasn’t quite the takeover James pulled in the Conference Finals against the Pistons three years ago — when he scored 29 of the team’s final 30 points — there was no question that he was the number one option on each and every play.

“We didn’t do anything tricky,” Cavs coach Mike Brown said. “We just came down and threw him the ball and he made plays in crunch minutes. Whether he made shots, (went) to the rim, or (took) jump shots or he got the ball out of double teams and found his teammates on the perimeter for a great look, he made plays when it counted.

“Having a guy like that on your side makes everybody’s job easier.”

James’ big fourth quarter was necessary because of a solid all-around game by the Bulls, just two days after the Cavaliers ran them out of Quicken Loans Arena in game one, 96-83.

The Bulls took excellent care of the basketball, committing just four turnovers all game, and out rebounded the Cavs 38-37 after losing the rebounding margin 50-38 in game one.

“We did a much better job in those two areas [turnovers and rebounding],” Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro said. ”We got good solid performances from a bunch of guys, which I was pleased with. … I thought, tonight, we played well enough to steal a game, but they earned it.”

Joakim Noah led the Bulls with 25 points and 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-11 center was heckled by Cavalier fans all game long, culminating in a “Noah Sucks” chant during the second half, after he criticized the city on Sunday.

After the game Noah did not seem to regret what he had said.

“You think Cleveland is cool?” he said. ”I’ve never heard anyone say ‘I’m going to Cleveland on vacation.’ What’s so good about Cleveland?”

Fellow starters Derrick Rose and Luol Deng added 23 and 20 points for the Bulls, respectively. Former Cavalier Ronald Murray added 14 points off the bench.

Jamario Moon led the Cavaliers’ bench offensively, scoring 12 points, all on three-pointers.

Two of those three-pointers came during the fourth quarter, including one that pushed the Cavalier lead to 94-88 with just under six minutes remaining.

Although Moon played just seven minutes in game one, scoring three points, and has gotten inconsistent playing time all year, he had no reservations about taking any of his five three-point attempts.

“It’s about being confident and being ready to shoot the basketball,” Moon said. ”My teammates kept believing in me and I kept believing in my shot and I was knocking them down.”

Moon was in the Cavalier lineup down the stretch as Brown relied a different group than usual. There was no Shaquille O’Neal, who played just 15 minutes in the game, Antawn Jamison or Anthony Parker. Instead there was Moon, Anderson Varejao, Mo Williams, Delonte West and, of course, James.

“The group that was on the floor, they were doing a terrific job out there,” Brown said. ”I felt a little bit of confidence, swagger and momentum from that group. … I said it earlier when I first came out here, I said it all year, I said it to our guys: everybody’s got to stay ready. ”

With that group, the Cavaliers outscored the visitors 25-16 over the final seven minutes of the game.

As usual, none of it would have been possible without James, who finished the game with 40 points on 16-of-23 shooting, eight rebounds, eight assists and two blocks.

“That’s why he’s the unanimous MVP,” O’Neal said. ”He’s on a mission, everybody’s on a mission.”