Summit meeting tonight

Cavaliers hoping to show who's boss

January 09, 2009|Marc J. Spears, Globe Staff

CLEVELAND - As Cavaliers star LeBron James's media session wound down after a blowout win over Charlotte Wednesday, the climax of the Celtics' game against Houston was being shown on three flat-screen televisions in Cleveland's locker room. Once James answered his last question, which involved tonight's showdown against Boston, he walked directly in front of the TV closest to his locker and became transfixed with the Celtics' 89-85 loss. He openly rooted against the Celtics, as did teammates Daniel Gibson and ex-Celtic Delonte West.

And when Yao Ming's putback lay-in with 12 seconds left sealed Boston's second home loss, a smiling James exclaimed, "Oh!" while West yelled, "It's over." Cheers from the Cavaliers' training room, where the game also was being shown, could be heard. And after the buzzer sounded, center Ben Wallace walked into the locker room from the showers and jokingly said, "Code 10. Definitely a man-down situation."

While the Cavaliers (28-6) aren't feeling sorry for the struggling Celtics (29-8), there isn't a team they respect more than the champs and they openly expressed excitement about tonight's matchup.

"We look forward to the challenge," said James, who is averaging 27.4 points. "If you want to be one of the best teams, you got to beat the best. Boston is the best."

Said coach Mike Brown, "They're NBA champs. We want what they have and we're not going to get it in the regular season. But we can definitely get better and work on trying to get to where we need to get to for the postseason. When you do talk about NBA champion, when you do talk about trying to attain a certain level, the team that does come to mind is the Celtics because they did it last year and they're the current NBA champions."

A lofty perch While this is a tough time for the Celtics, losers of three straight and six of eight, these are memorable times for the Cavaliers.

Before Wednesday morning's shootaround, media relations intern Jeff Schaefer changed the NBA standings in the locker room, reflecting more significance than had been evident in a long time. The Cavs had leapfrogged Boston to hold the top spot in the East by a half-game. It's the first time Cleveland has been atop the conference this late in the season since March 21, 1989. The Cavaliers have lost only once since Dec. 13 and triumphed in 27 of their last 31 games.

But just like the Celtics when they were hot, winning 19 straight games, the Cavs aren't getting overly excited about their success.