CAVS BLAST CELTICS, IMPROVE TO 39-1 AT HOME

So much for the Boston Celtics being a legitimate threat to the Cleveland Cavs’ home court record.  On Sunday afternoon at the Quicken Loans Arena the Cavs improved to 39-1 at home with 107-76 dismantling of the defending NBA champions.  Cleveland jumped out to a 31-9 lead after the first quarter and the Celtics were never close to threatening after that.  The Cavs are now one victory away from tying the 1985-1986 Celtics for the best home record in NBA history at 40-1.

A Celtics partisan would note that for their team this was a ‘meaningless’ regular season game, and that superstar Kevin Garnett was held out to try and make sure he’s healthy for the playoffs.  Still, Cleveland was clearly trying to make a statement and did so by utterly annihilating the defending champs in every phase of the game.    Of particular note was the disparity in team field goal percentage, with the Cavs shooting a torrid 55.1% while holding Boston to a season low 35.8%.  It could have been much worse, however, as LeBron James noted in his post game interview:

"I looked up at the scoreboard one time and they were shooting 15 percent from the floor. That's unbelievable."

LeBron denied that his team was trying to send a message to the defending champs:

"Haven't we sent enough messages this year? We know we're a good team. It wasn't a message. It was just about getting better."

Intentional message or not, Cleveland’s lopsided victory was their biggest winning margin ever in 173 games against the Celtics.  This despite Cavs’ coach Mike Brown pulling several key starters for the entire fourth quarter.

LeBron James led Cleveland with 29 points in only 30 minutes of action, one of five Cavs to score in double digits.  Reserve Daniel Gibson added 15, Delonte West and Mo Williams scored 13 apiece and center Zydrunas Ilgauskas produced a ‘double/double’ with 11 points and 10 rebound.  Paul Pierce led the Celtics’ paltry scoring attack with 14 points, with Glen Davis adding 12 and Mikki Moore 10 as the only Boston players in double digits.

Cleveland will travel to Indiana on Monday night before returning home to face the Philadelphia 76ers as they try to go to 40-1 at Quicken Loans Arena.  Boston will play at Philadelphia on Tuesday before concluding their regular season schedule on Wednesday at home against the Washington Wizards.