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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

The Celtics and Cavaliers Prepare for Battle

Both the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers closed out their first-round playoff series’ in five games, which means that on Saturday, May 1, the 1-seed Cleveland Cavaliers will host the number 4-seed Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Celtics were 2-2 against the Eastern Conference’s best team in the regular season, winning once in Cleveland and once at home, so the Celtics definitely have a very good chance of winning. Not only that, but, despite the fact that the Lebron James-led Cavaliers have been to the Eastern Conference Finals twice and the Finals once since Lebron has been on the team, this Celtics team has more championship experience, having won a championship just two seasons ago.

But, there will be a cloud of doubt surrounding this Celtics team for as long as they last in the playoffs this year, as they have played shaky and inconsistent at times this season. And, at other times the Boston Celtics have showed signs of being a championship-caliber team. Despite their inconsistent play in the regular season, the Celtics had no problem with the 5-seed Miami Heat, blowing past them in 5 games in the first round of this year’s playoffs.

So, despite the Cavaliers looking and playing like a team that is posed to win a championship, the way the Celtics played in the first round certainly gave hope to Celtics fans alike that they could possibly dismantle the Cavaliers.

In order to dismantle and upset the Cleveland Cavaliers, they will have to deal with one of the NBA’s premier players, Lebron James. James averaged a ridiculous 31.8 points per game during the regular season, and so far in this postseason it has not been much different. So, the first area that the Celtics must focus on defensively is defending Lebron James, which will not be an easy task for any Celtic that is assigned to guard him during this series.

Another player that could cause more problems for the Boston Celtics is Shaquille O’Neal, Although he averaged a lack-luster 9.2 points per game during the regular season and did not make the kind of big splash that the Cleveland Cavaliers had hoped he would, O’Neal is a champion. O’Neal knows how to win in the postseason. With three championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and one championship with the Miami Heat, Shaquille O’Neal knows when the time is right to play his best basketball. And, this is the semifinals, so if there was any time that Shaquille O’Neal could turn it on and start playing the Hall of Fame player he will be, it could definitely be in this series.

The series will definitely be aggressive, as both teams are not the biggest fans of each other. As Lebron James put it, “We don’t like them, they don’t like us.” If anybody believes that the Celtics can win this series, it is their players, especially Paul Pierce. He said, “ It‘s a huge mountain we are going to have to climb, but I think this team is ready to face the test. We are playing as good as basketball we have been playing all season long, and we are ready.”

The Boston Celtics definitely have a big chance of winning this series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. They definitely have the players and good coaching needed to win a big series like this against a number one seed. They just have to play consistent like they did in the first-round against the Miami Heat. But if the Celtics play shaky and inconsistently like they did at points in the regular season, then this could be one long series for the Celtics.

Information and quotes from this article is courtesy of:

www.csnne.com

www.nba.com/cavaliers

www.nba.com/celtics