Celtics - Cavaliers: Pierce and Allen Finally Heat Up, LeBron James Doesn't

That’ll teach me to question the Celtics’ bench.

All season long the “experts” have pointed to the Celtics’ bench, calling it their biggest weakness. 

It was supposed to be the thing that was going to prevent them from winning a championship (well, the other thing…but they can’t question the point guard position anymore).

Once again, the Celtics’ bench proved everyone (including me) wrong. 

They not only were better than the Cavs’ bench on Thursday, but they were better than the Cavs' starters.

The victory for the Celtics began with the bench taking over the game towards the end of the first quarter. They brought an energy into the game that was, for whatever reason, missing at the start as the Celtics fell behind by twelve points early. 

The Cavs struggles, meanwhile, begin and end with LeBron James. 

LeBron James just cannot figure out James Posey. Posey’s long arms and extremely active and energetic defensive style has given him fits.

LeBron hasn’t just been human in the first two games, he’s been awful.  Historically awful.

King James is a whopping eight for forty-two in the first two games of the series. 

I’m no math major, but I consulted one, and he said that was a pretty abysmal shooting percentage. 

Look, I’m a LeBron James fan. 

He’s the best combination of size, strength, athleticism and talent that I’ve ever seen on a basketball floor. 

But he’s not the best player in the NBA.  He can’t hold Kobe’s jock right now. 

Anyone who thinks LeBron is a better player than Kobe is delusional on a level known only by Hillary Clinton and her supporters.

He may very well end up being better than Kobe. 

He may end up being one of the best ever. 

But he’s not right now. 

Put it this way, if the Celtics dare Kobe to shoot the ball from the outside and triple team him when he drives, he’ll simply kill them from the outside.  LeBron just starts throwing up bad shots, turning the ball over, and playing all around bad basketball.

His jump-shot is a gaping hole in his game.  He won't be the best until he learns to drain his jump-shot consistently.

I heard someone on Sports Center (not sure who, I was only half paying attention) say that the Big Three stepped up, but the Big One didn’t.  

That pretty much sums up the first two games for the Cavs in Boston.

It was bad.  It was really bad. 

The scores don’t come close to reflecting exactly how bad it was. 

As a matter of fact, if it weren’t for Zydrunas Ilgauskas getting hot, the Cavs would have lost game two by forty.

I’m starting to buy into the Cedric Maxwell theory that this series doesn’t go past game five. 

But, then again, I didn’t think the Hawks’ series would go past game five either…and we all know how that one turned out.

Sean Crowe is a Senior Writer at Bleacher Report. You can email him at [e-mail].  His archive can be found here. You can find everything he writes, including articles for other publications, here.