"All year long we've been tough to beat at home," said Paul Pierce, who had a team-high 19 points. "And this is where we want to defend our home court and not let anybody come here and get comfortable."
The next two games are in Cleveland, with Game 3 tomorrow night. The Celtics won an NBA-best 31 road games in the regular season, but lost all three road games in the first round against Atlanta. Boston was also 0-2 in the regular season at Cleveland.
"We are going into a hostile building and we know they play really well at home," said Kevin Garnett, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds. "It's easier said than done, but some way we have to carry this energy over and take one game at a time."
"Being down, 0-2, that's a tough hole to dig yourself out of," said Cavaliers star LeBron James. "But we're going to have to do it if we want to move on."
The Celtics entered last night allowing only 76 points per game and a .351 field goal percentage in five postseason home games. They continued their stingy defense in Game 2, holding Cleveland to 35.6 percent shooting, 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
"I thought our defense was pretty much the same, pretty solid," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said.
James averaged an NBA-best 30 points in the regular season. After being limited to 12 points in Game 1, he scored a game-high 21 last night but missed 16 of 24 shots.
"Defensively, they're very, very aggressive," James said. "They're very good. I'm just missing shots I normally make. They haven't fallen in this building the last two games."
Said Pierce: "LeBron is what makes them go and if we somehow control him, then we control their team."
The Cavaliers opened the game with a 21-9 run, making 10 of 16 shots. Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas quickly scored 10 of his 19 points, making five jumpers in that stretch.
The Celtics finished the first quarter trailing, 24-17. Cleveland shot 52.4 percent from the field in the first quarter and outrebounded the Celtics, 10-6. The Celtics missed 8 of 15 field goal attempts in the quarter and allowed 6 points on four turnovers.
