Celtics visit Cavs for Game 1 of East semis

Basketball Betting Lines

05/01/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The incidental stuff has been taken care of.

Now, the top- seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and the veteran-laden Boston Celtics are preparing to do some heavy lifting, as the teams meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals in a rematch from two years ago when the Celtics survived in seven games on their way to an NBA championship.

Both clubs finished off their opening round opponents this year in just five games, as Cleveland dispensed of Central Division rival Chicago, while the Celtics sent the Miami Heat back to South Beach.

With the 4-1 series victory over Chicago, Cleveland reached the East semifinals for a fifth straight season. The Celtics, meanwhile, are toiling in the semis for a third consecutive year.

The Cavs suffered a bit of a scare in their Game 5 clincher. Superstar LeBron James, who will be awarded his second straight MVP trophy on Sunday in his hometown of Akron, had to fight through a right elbow injury as he narrowly missed his second straight triple-double in the set. By the end of the game, James was shooting a free throw using his left hand.

"I've never had a problem with my elbow before," James said. "Probably minor stuff in the past. I don't know exactly when it happened. I can't figure it out. Hopefully it doesn't continue to bother me as we continue to move on in the postseason."

X-Rays and an MRI, as well as an examination on Wednesday night revealed James strained the elbow and also has a bone bruise of his olecranon. He is scheduled to undergo daily treatments and a repeat MRI will be performed next week. It is not anticipated that James will miss any playing time, although he is expected to wear a protective sleeve to help absorb contact.

The Celtics, meanwhile, had no trouble closing out their first round set on Tuesday when Ray Allen hit 5-of-6 from behind the arc and scored a team-high 24 points to help the Celtics to a 96-86 Game 5 victory at TD Garden.

Cleveland has won 12 of its last 13 postseason games at Quicken Loans Arena and is a gaudy 25-7 at The Q since the 2006 postseason, the second most home wins in the playoffs over that span (LA Lakers are 26-5).

The Cavs and Celtics split four games in the regular season and this will be the fifth playoff meeting between the two clubs dating back to the 1975-76 season when Boston won the Eastern Conference finals over the Cavs in six games.

"We're looking forward to the challenge. It is a team we knew we had to face at some point," James told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "We're not much of a talking group, but we're not going to back down from nobody. It is going to be a fun, physical series."

The C's also won a first round series over Cleveland in 1984-85, and in the East semis in 2007-08. The Cavs only win in the postseason over Boston came in the East semifinals during the 1991-92 season, also a seven-game set.

"I think it's something that's kind of turned into a rivalry," Boston forward Paul Pierce said. "We played them already one time in the playoffs and it just seems every game we play against them, whether it be at home or on the road it gets kind of heated.

"This is a big series for us. You have to expect some tempers to probably flare. It'll be a physical series, just two heavyweights going at it, battling for one thing and that's to advance and go to the next round."

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Monday in Cleveland.

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