The Celtics and Cavaliers split their season series 2-2.

Both LeBron James and Kevin Garnett missed one of those games to injury.

James averaged 32 points per game in the three contests he played in. The Cavaliers won two of those three games.

In Boston's lone regular season victory over the James led Cavaliers, the Cetlics held LeBron to 26 points on 7-for-26 shooting. The Celtics won that game 92-87 on February 27th.

Keys for Boston

1. Stop LeBron James

The San Antonio Spurs held LeBron to 22 points per game and 36% from the field in their NBA Finals sweep over James' Cavaliers last season.

How did they do it?

By making him a jumpshooter.

Bruce Bowen and Co. kept him out of the paint and shut down Daniel Gibson's catch-and-shoot 3-point opportunities.

The Celtics had the best defense in the league this season. Boston led the NBA in virtually every defensive category and were second in the league in points allowed. Even more impressive is the fact that they accomplished all of that without the luxury of a lock-down defender on the perimeter.

That may came back to haunt them versus LeBron.

James led the league in scoring this season by averaging 30 points per game. LeBron also led in 4th quarter scoring (9.1 pts) and the Cavs had seventeen 4th quarter comebacks.

The Celtics don't have anyone on the perimeter to defend him one-on-one.

But they do have Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett.

If I was Doc Rivers, I would place KG on LeBron for key stretches in this series. Garnett doesn't have LeBron's explosiveness but he can afford to play a step off because James won't beat the Celtics with his jumpshot.

James outweighes Garnett by twenty pounds but gives up 3 inches to the 9-time All-NBA defender.

KG's long arms and great hands could disrupt many of James' forays into the paint.

Is this strategy uncoventional?

Of course.

And KG might be better suited to roam the paint and contest LeBron's penetration from the weakside. It's not as if he'll have to worry about Anderson Varejao or Ben Wallace scoring a ton of points off of LeBron's drive-and-dish skills.

But if LeBron starts to takeover like he did against Detroit in last year's playoffs, why not place the best defensive player in the game on the "chosen one?"

Stopping LeBron James is key to Boston's chances of advancing out of the second round, it's the only key.

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The Boston Celtics marched through the regular season with an NBA best 66 regular season wins.

After beating the Atlanta Hawks by an average of 21 points in Game’s 1 and 2, most people had them penciled in for their first NBA Finals appearance since 1987.

But the Hawks aren’t going down without a fight.

After shooting 38 percent in the first two games of the series, Atlanta has shot 47 percent in the last two games.

How have they managed to get back into the series?

By playing fast perimeter oriented basketball and getting down the floor before the Celtics can set up their defense. [Read]

(Photo by RealGM)

The NBA announced today that Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics is the recipient of the 2007-08 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award presented by Kia Motors.

The 6-11 forward led the Celtics in rebounds with a 9.2 average (7.3 defensive rpg), to go along with 18.8 points, 1.2 blocks and 1.4 steals. He recorded a team season-high seven blocks against Chicago on Dec. 12.

Garnett helped the Celtics to league-best records of 66-16 (.805) overall and 31-10 (.738) on the road. Boston held opponents to just 90.3 points (second in the NBA) after allowing 99.2 points per game a season ago. Garnett led the Celtics to the biggest one-year turnaround in NBA history as the team won 42 more games this season than in 2006-07 (24-58), surpassing the previous record of 36 games, set by the San Antonio Spurs in the 1997-98 season.

As a Laker fan, I want my team to win the NBA championship every season.

Every NBA fan feels that way about their team.

But a part of me will be pulling for Kevin Garnett and the Boston Celtics this postseason.

Why?

Because I believe Kevin Garnett represents all that is right about the NBA and basketball in general.

He is a selfless superstar who leaves it all on the floor every single night.

I admire his passion for the game and his dedication to his craft.

Before this season, I oftentimes wondered if Garnett and Duncan's legacies would have been switched had KG been afforded the opportunity to play with two superstars like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

I got a glimpse of what KG's career might have been like if he had been surrounded by a championship caliber supporting cast this season when Garnett was traded to the Celtics and teamed with superstars Paul Pierce and Ray Allen.

The Celtics were the best team in NBA this season but none of that matters now.

The only thing that matters is an NBA championship. Tim Duncan has four of them. KG doesn't have one

We'll never know what may have been had KG been drafted by an organization like the San Antonio Spurs but an NBA championship would silence many of his doubters.

It's time to put up or shut up.

KG and the Celtics are primed for an NBA championship but there can only be one.

The Most Valuable Player is presented to the NBA player who receives the highest point total from a panel of chosen sportswriters. These sportswriters cast a vote for their first, second, and third place selections. First place votes receive five points, second place is worth three points, and third place is worth one point. The player who receives the highest point total is then awarded the distinction of Most Valuable Player.

The MVP has historically gone to the best player on one of the teams with the top record in the NBA. No player whose team has won less than 50 games has won the award in the past 25 years.

The Most Valuable Player Award is one of the greatest honors in basketball. It should be regarded with distinction. It shouldn't be a popularity contest controlled by PR much like the ridiculousness that has become the NBA All-Star Game.

The distinction of MVP should not blindly award the best player on the best team. The voting panel needs to do their job or a new committee or criteria should be developed in order to guarantee that the NBA player who is of the most value to his team receives the credit that he rightly deserves.

Team success should not be the barometer by which an individual player is considered to be of most value to his team. Rather than award the title of Most Valuable Player to the best player on the top team, it should go to the NBA player who is of most value to his particular team, with less significance placed upon that team’s win-loss record. Basketball is a team sport. No one player can win consistently without the luxury of a quality-supporting cast.

The value o####reat player encompasses a myriad of basketball intangibles that sadly, are not always guarantors of victories.

Nowhere is this more evident than the Most Valuable Player Award tallies of Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Bill Russell won the MVP award in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, and 1965. The Celtics won the NBA championship in every one of those seasons but 1958.

Wilt Chamberlain didn’t enter the NBA until the year after Russell won his first MVP. Chamberlain was MVP in 1960, his rookie season, and again in 1966, 1967, 1968. Wilt was 1st team All-NBA every season he was MVP. [Read]