The Boston Celtics' Toughest Playoff Series

To be sure, the Celtics were not at the top of their game.

But it was the toughest series of the playoffs for the Celtics.

It will be forgotten under the glaring lights of the super-hyped NBA Finals, and the league's golden glitter boy MVP.

The Detroit series is marked as where the Celtics "got their groove back." The upstart Hawks and their newfound fans received notoriety in going the distance against the league's regular-season "champs" before being knocked out in the last round. Mike Woodson played Mickey to the Hawks athletic version of Rocky Balboa.

But it was the Cleveland Cavaliers that gave Boston its toughest series. Doubts started to creep in when things had not gone as expected in the first round against the Hawk.

In the glow of the Finals victory, we forget how grim it was looking. The back page of the Boston Herald from Apr. 30 read:

C's in Choke Hold
Will go down as biggest collapse in Hub history if they fail to oust Hawks

You would think Game Seven was going down that night. It was Game Five. The Celtics had surprised and shocked everyone by how ordinary they looked against a sub-.500 team.

They were 39-1, demolishing those teams in the regular season. Then 2-2 went to 3-3. But the possibility of a choke became a fleeting memory, as the Celtics went on to pummel and thrash the Hawks in Game Seven, a 34-point beatdown at home, just for being so belligerent.

Whew. Glad that's over.

After finally appearing to find their selves in Game Seven, they would be ready to take down the solid, but still beatable, Cleveland Cavaliers.

True, the Celtics hadn't won a road game yet. True, the Cavs played them tough this season. True, Cleveland center "Z" gives Perk and the C's trouble. True, LeBron James might just be the best player in the whole league. True, this team went to the Finals last season.

But the Cavs made a trade that looked like a sideways trade at best. Some thought they got worse with an aging Ben Wallace, aged Joe Smith, former Celtics Wally Szczerbiak and Delonte West, a combo guard of unfulfilled potential who had been buried on a terrible Seattle team's bench.

The newly-comprised team hadn't gelled during the short time they had together. The post-trade was team was just 14-13, and the hoped-for chemistry just wasn't there.

To make things worse, the Cavs best starting lineup that season was 11-2, with Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Minus that lineup, the Cavs were just 34-35, another sub-.500 team.

The disappointing and unhappy Hughes was moved while bringing in some other big salaries, as Danny Ferry tried to strengthen the bench and give Coach Brown more options. He added outside shooting in West and Szczerbiak, defense with Wallace, and a little of both with Joe Smith.

The Cavs lost a decent power forward that could rebound, play D, and step out and hit the mid-range jumper in Drew Gooden. Drew had played well against the Celtics this season. The Cavs were 2-1 against Boston before the trade. They were 0-1 to Boston after the trade.

The only teams that outright won the season series against the C's were the Washington Wizards (3-1), a team the Cavaliers just dispatched by 4-2, and the Orlando Magic (2-1). The Cavs had already shown that they could give Boston trouble.

But a look at Gooden's playoff performance in 2007 would shed some light on why they would be willing to trade him.

Gooden's scoring in the 2007 playoffs:

Wizards 10,24,14,10
Nets 14,10,12,8,4,16
Pistons 6,4,12,19,7,7
Spurs 14,13,13,11

Just how much are they missing that outside shot of his?

He had four single-digit scoring games against the Pistons. While more consistent against the Spurs, Drew didn't score more than 14, even when Larry Hughes went out with injury. A more-productive showing last season might possibly have led the Cavs to view him as part of the core in any future plans.

In the 2008 playoffs, the Wizards, led by DeShawn Stevenson, woke up a sleeping giant in LeBron James, with comments of "overrated," that were picked up and chanted by Wizard fans. The Cavs took out the Washington club in six games.

LeBron closed things out in Washington 105-88, with a 13/13/27 triple-double, supported by 26 points from Wally Szczerbiak, and seven assists from West, while the previously middling Cavs defense had suddenly found itself.

Part two up soon.

This article first appeared at the CelticsCentral at forum.connpost.com.