This time, Paul Pierce and the Boston Celtics made sure that they left the court with a victory.

Two days after letting Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals slip away, the Truth and Co. dominated the Cleveland Cavaliers, 104-86, to even the series at 1-1 as it swings to Boston for Game 3 on Friday night.

No. 34 dropped 14 points, pulled down four rebounds, dished out four assists and picked off one steal in 32 minutes of action to lead Boston to a crucial win.

Paul and Boston finished the job Monday night (Getty Images).

A strong third period, in which the Celtics outscored the Cavs, 31-12, helped give Boston what seemed to be an insurmountable lead. But a 23-point edge at the end of the third quarter quickly turned into a 10-point lead with 4:33 to go. Still The Truth knew the Cs needed to just get back into their offense after going 5:40 without scoring a point.

"We had just stopped moving the ball," Paul said. "We were making the extra passes and then stopped for like a three or four minute stretch there. Once we swung it around, got a couple of looks, got a couple of layups, that eased us back down and we were able to put the game away."

To do so, the Captain took that upon himself to make it happen:

"Paul Pierce got a finger roll to go with 3:28 left and by the time Garnett drained a 19-footer with 1:14 remaining the Celtics could let down their guard. They had finally built a lead the Cavs couldn’t recover from. At that point, the remaining fans began to clear out, refusing to watch the Celtics finish off a 104-86 Game 2 victory."

The Truth said the run by the Cavs is something the Celtics expected and were ready for.

"You know they're going to make a run." No. 34 told reporters at his locker after the game. "We're on the road. Everything is pretty much against us and that's the way it should be when you're playing against the best team in the NBA. Against the MVP, in his house, it's going to be tough. You have to expect a team to make a run, but I was happy with the way we responded after that, finishing the game."

Despite watching LeBron James receive his MVP trophy before the start of the game, the C’s were focused on the task at hand: getting a win in Cleveland to, in effect, steal home court advantage. They did so, emphatically, as the Boston Globe described:

"The good people of Cleveland could not believe what they were seeing. They watched the Cavaliers fall behind by 10, 15, 20, 25. They watched LeBron James in handcuffs (15 shots) and Mo Williams in leg irons (1-for-9 shooting).

Local fans booed their own team. Demoralized, some of them started filing out of Quicken Loans Arena with the Celtics leading, 91-66, with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter. A frustrated fan hurled a plastic beer bottle on the court after Paul Pierce horse-collared Williams."

NEXT UP
The series heads to Beantown as the Celtics host the Cavaliers in Game 3 at the TD Garden on Friday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

RELATED STORIES
Celtics utilize big advantage (Boston Globe, May 4, 2010)
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/05/04/celt...
Beating left them red-faced (Boston Globe, May 4, 2010)
http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2010/05/04/beat...
Celtics play rough and tumble Cavs in Game 2 (Boston Herald, May 4, 2010)
http://bostonherald.com/sports/basketball/celtics/view/20100503rajon_ron...
Hanging tough (Boston Herald, May 4, 2010)
http://bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/view/20100504hanging_tough_cel...
For once, Sheed comes up big (ESPN.com, May 4, 2010)
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/nba/columns/story?columnist=forsberg_ch...

• Add new comment