CELTICS JOURNAL
By KEVIN McNAMARA

CLEVELAND - If the Celtics are going to upset the Cavaliers and move on in these NBA playoffs, Rajon Rondo has to continue his coming out party.

The Rondo who dominated the first half of Game One needs to remain consistent the entire series. When he's running, driving and attacking the basket, the Celtics' offense is at its best. When the Celts' attack slows, Rondo's effectiveness nosedives.

"We stopped being aggressive and turned the ball over," said Rondo. "They capitalized. Not just on offense. We stopped attacking on defense, too."

The Cavs had major problems defending the Celtics high ball screen when Rondo had the ball. He continually took off for easy jaunts to the hoop and dominated the opening half with 19 points and 8 assists. That changed in the second half as the Cavs worked the screens better, ran back on defense much harder and controlled the player who Mo Williams called "the engine to their vehicle."

"Give the Cavs credit," said Doc Rivers. "I thought they made some adjustments. I thought we walked the ball up the floor a ton. A lot of it wasn't Rajon's fault. I thought Rajon kept pushing the ball up the floor but there were three guys behind him."

In the third quarter, Rondo's defense slumped and the Cavalier's Mo Williams took his turn in the spotlight. Williams scored 14 points in the quarter as the Cavs wiped out an 11-point halftime deficit to lead after three quarters, 79-78.

"We knew he was capable of it," Rondo said of Williams. "We give him a lot of credit because he made some tough shots. He brought them back in it personally and they closed it out as a team."

(PIERCE DOESN'T WANT TO HEAR IT)
Want proof that some media people around the NBA do look at this as the last round-up for a team of `old' Celtics? Paul Pierce was asked after the game if the Celtics old legs wore down late in the game.

"Just keep talking and we'll keep playing," he answered. "I don't know what you all want me to say. We feel that we have a great team, that we have a championship team here, regardless of what everybody else says."

Pierce, who shot 5-of-17 from the floor, was still upset that he did not knock down a few open shots with the game on the line. The first came with 2:46 left when he missed a 12-footer in the lane and his team down, 94-91. Kevin Garnett missed a point-blank offensive rebound look. LeBron James made a tough runner in the lane to extend the lead to 96-93 but Pierce found himself wide open with 1:23 left for a tying 3-pointer. That shot also missed.

"It's crazy. We liked everything we did down there," he said. "There were a couple shots that I had that I'll take 99 out of 100 times. We were right there. We'll take those same shots."

(LeBRON FEVER)
This city that sits on the shores of Lake Erie is engulfed in LeBron James Fever.

After posting the NBA's best regular season record (61-21), the Cavaliers and their fans have every right to think this will be the year that the franchise wins its first-ever championship. Yet intertwined in the quest for a ring is an uneasy nervousness that has rumbled throughout the city, and the state, for a few years now. James, the Akron-born prep phenom who grew into the NBA's MVP, will be a free agent after this season. Since he is The Franchise, the uncertainty of his future plans is literally a giant issue.

It's so big that it's on billboards. A fan group calling itself LeBron2010.com has purchased a slew of signs around the city. They read "Born Here. Raised Here. Plays Here. Stays Here."

What will keep James in Cleveland? For the past few years he's openly pined for additional help in his chase for a championship. General manager Danny Ferry obliged, signing Shaquille O'Neal in the off-season, grabbing Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon off the free agent scrap heap and then maneuvering for a trade of Antawn Jamison in February. That's given James his best chance yet of winning a championship. If he and his new teammates fall short, James may own the out he needs. Then again, maybe he'll feel he needs to win in his home state before he opts for a change of scenery in New York, Miami or wherever else they own the salary cap space to pay him.

James will accept his second straight NBA MVP award Sunday at the University of Akron. He is the 10th NBA player to be the MVP in consecutive seasons, joining Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan and Steve Nash. Russell, Chamberlain and Bird won it three times in a row.

(LeBRON'S ELBOW HOLDS UP)
The health of LeBron James' right elbow has captivated Cavalier fans and the rest of the NBA, for that matter. First of all, the elbow issue is not a joke. The Cavs say James has a strain and bone bruise in the elbow. Speaking before Game One of the Celtics' series, James says he's taken it easy the last few days and wasn't quite sure what to expect when he started banging with Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and the rest of the Celtics. He said any pain he felt "would just come and go. It's been coming and going the last few days but it's been easier to deal with."

James is such a special talent that he went out an posted 35 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists and clearly didn't play all that well. He never dominated for a consistent stretch and missed several close shots that he normally makes. He said he was thinking about his elbow early in the game.

"I thought about it and I came out tentative," he said. "If I'm on the court, I have to be productive."

James was more than happy to share the post-game spotlight with Williams, the shooting point guard who changed the game with his third quarter onslaught. "

(TWO FAMILIAR RIVALS)
Two years ago, Paul Pierce and LeBron James' mother got into a shouting match on the apron of the floor after a hard foul. Two months ago, James and Kevin Garnett ended a game jawing at each other after James missed a potential winning shot. Anderson Varejao and Glen Davis should just end all the pretense and square off at midcourt for all the NBA to enjoy.
One of the underlying themes of the Cleveland-Boston series is the two teams don't seem to like each other very much. As Mo Williams said after Saturday's 101-93 Cleveland win in Game One, "they don't like us and vice-versa. That's what makes the game fun," he said.

Ray Allen says he hopes there aren't many hard fouls, smack talk or pushes and shoves but that's often the norm in the playoffs.

"It's typical this time of year," said Allen. "We're trying to take ground from them and make more ground for ourselves. There's no love lost but at the end of the series you shake hands, no matter who won or lost. At this point we want to beat them. At the end of the day there's a victor."

The Cavs and Celts both predicted a potential showdown sometime in the playoffs. That it's happening in the second round and not the Eastern Conference finals is just semantics. "They did their job and we did ours," said Allen.

Doc Rivers enjoyed his share of playoff rivalries during his playing days with the Atlanta Hawks. He says he enjoys them.

"You actually shouldn't like the team that's trying to beat you," said Rivers. "I've always said that. If you've played them in the playoffs a couple times then you shouldn't like them more. It's just two teams in each other's way and somebody has to move."