Big travel plans
Cavaliers must break through in Boston
INDEPENDENCE, Ohio - Championship-caliber teams win on the road in the NBA. Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson knows that. His coach preaches it.
Tonight in Boston, the Cavaliers can take a step toward that level when they visit the Celtics for Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
"It just shows how strong you are as a team when you're able to go into a hostile environment and stick together and come out of there with a win," Gibson said yesterday at the Cavs' practice facility.
The Cavs evened the series, 2-2, by winning the last two games in Cleveland. But with the Celtics owning home-court advantage, the Cavs know holding serve at home will not be enough. Road success equals long-term playoff success.
"That's what good teams do," LeBron James said after leading the Cavs to an 88-77 win in Game 4 Monday. "The better team has to win on the road. The series doesn't start until a team wins on the road. We're looking forward to going to Boston and winning a game on the road."
James didn't talk with the media after practice yesterday. But like the rest of his teammates, he appeared relaxed and ready to go as the Cavs shot around once practice ended.
"Everybody's focused, everybody's ready to go out there and try to get a win," Gibson said.
To get a win, the Cavs know they must play much better on offense than they did last week in Boston. They averaged just 72.5 points a game, shot 33.1 percent from the floor, and turned it over 33 times.
"We can play better on the road," said coach Mike Brown. "The one thing we have to do is we have to take care of the basketball, and we've not done a good job of that. That's the biggest thing."
Gibson thinks the team will play better the second time around in Boston.
"Once you've experienced an environment, going back to it, it's kind of like we've been here before, and we felt like we were right there to win a game," Gibson said. "So we know what we're capable of doing on that floor. We're going into it with a lot of confidence and trying to get a win."
Cleveland's confidence is high because of what it did the last two games on its floor. The Cavs raised their shooting percentage 16 points, more than doubled their 3-point output, and cut their turnovers nearly in half.
"We have a lot of guys stepping up, and those contributions are going to be needed in order to win at Boston," guard Wally Szczerbiak said.
But the challenge is to do it in Boston, where the Cavs are 0-4 in 2007-08.
"When you go in, you have to be focused," Gibson said. "You have to know exactly what you want to do, know the game plan, and execute it. You can't have too many mistakes."
The Cavs have had success on the road this postseason; in the first round, they took two of three at Washington.
"I tell my guys that if you expect to win in the playoffs, you've got to know how to defend and you've got to know how to win on the road," Brown said.
The Cavs are 10-12 on the road in the postseason during Brown's three seasons. That includes close-out wins at New Jersey and Washington last year, and the double-overtime win at Detroit in Game 5 of last season's conference finals when James scored his team's final 25 points.
James, who's shooting just 25.6 percent in this series, has yet to be dominant against Boston. But he showed flashes Monday. He scored or assisted on 15 of Cleveland's last 17 points, including his windmill dunk over Kevin Garnett to put the game out of reach.
"That was the first real highlight-type play that he's really had in the series," Szczerbiak said. "Any time you can put the nail in the coffin that way, I think that sends a message."
