Photo: AP/Mark Duncan

Tonight's Cavaliers-Celtics matchup was tagged as the first glance at two new-look teams. However, the Cavaliers, now equipped with Shaquille O'Neal, Anthony Parker, and Jamario Moon, and the Celtics, with new additions Rasheed Wallace and Marquis Daniels, put on a show that had a feel very much like the battles of the past two years. Although one key difference was that the home team did not come out on top as the Cavaliers lost to Boston for the first time in the Q since December 2004, and the home team lost for the first time in the two's last 16 meetings (including playoffs).

Fast out of the gate: In typical Q-style fashion from last season, the Cavaliers didn't waste any time in jumping all over Boston as they hit 6-of-7 field goals to start the game and take a 13-2 lead. During this stretch, the Cavaliers offensive movement was excellent since everyone was getting their hands on the ball. Shaquille O'Neal got three low-post buckets in 1-on-1 situations with Kendrick Perkins, and the Cavaliers got out and ran a little bit, beating Boston down the court on several occasions. Cleveland also forced multiple Boston turnovers by getting their hands in the passing lanes, especially Anthony Parker. In the first quarter, the Cavaliers shot 12-for-23 (52 percent), and 9 of those 12 baskets were assisted. The Cavaliers led by as much as 14 points in the first quarter.

LeBron James as "The Eraser": LeBron continues to revolutionize the chase-down block and trademark it as his own. In the first quarter alone, James blocked three shots, including a highlight-reel pursuit of Rajon Rondo in which he slammed the ball off the backboard and prevented the layup. Opposing players continue to hesitate and try to time up their shot attempt according to when LeBron jumps. This often doesn't work though because of LeBron's ability to seemingly hang in the air for seconds. LBJ also scored nine in the first and had two assists.

Wide Open Spaces: Anderson Varejao is going to be a very happy man this season playing big minutes alongside Shaq and LeBron. The Wild Thing is the fifth offensive option in the starting unit, and consequently, he is going to be in a position for backside layups and open 12-15 foot jumpers on about every other possession. Andy had a few buckets early, and you can bet on the fact that his scoring average is going to rise this season, because opposing defenses must commit to stopping James and O'Neal.

Rotation Equation: Without Delonte West, the Cavaliers utilized a nine-man rotation tonight. With five minutes left in the first, Mike Brown went to Daniel Gibson and Zydrunas Ilgauskas to relieve Mo Williams and O'Neal. A minute later, J.J. Hickson checked in for Varejao, and Jamario Moon rounded out the first-time subs in the first when he checked in with 2:30 to go for Parker. LeBron played the entire first quarter as usual. The breakdown of minutes tonight was the following: LeBron (45), Parker (40), Williams (35), Varejao (33), Shaq (29), Z (25), Gibson (14), Moon (14), Hickson (6). What stands out is that LeBron and Parker each racked up 40+ minutes in game number one, and J.J. Hickson was on the floor for just six minutes.

Hmm, this is familiar: When LeBron James took his customary rest to start the second quarter, the Celtics made their move. The Cavaliers were -6 with LeBron out, and the lead was cut from seven to one in just three minutes. The Cavaliers' unit deployed to counter James being out was Daniel Gibson, Mo Williams, Jamario Moon, Anderson Varejao, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. For the life of me, I don't know why they wouldn't want to set the rotation so that you have Shaq out there when LBJ takes a breather. This team can't afford to keep it's two top players out at once. The Celtics took their first lead of the game with just under five minutes before intermission.

..and so is this: Finishing quarters has been a problem for the Cavaliers in past seasons, especially if it's the second or third quarter. Tonight was no difference as the wine and gold had a series of unfortunate circumstances happen to put them down six at the break. First, the officiating crew had the opportunity to waive the first NBA bucket off because of a shot clock violation, thanks to a new rule change in the offseason. That's right, officials can now take a look to see if a player got rid of the ball before the shot clock expired. The first bucket waived in this fashion was a LeBron James layup with just under a minute to go in the quarter. The defecit as a result increased from two to four. Then, Jamario Moon fouled Paul Pierce as Pierce was committing a traveling violation. The call: a foul on Moon before the travel. Kevin Garnett received a technical foul for initially arguing the traveling call, but Daniel Gibson missed the free throw. As a result, the Cavs trailed by six at the half when they could have just as easily been down just one.

Halftime number-crunching: The Cavaliers cooled off to the tune of 5-of-16 shooting in the second quarter to finish at 44 percent for the half. Meanwhile, the C's shot 9-of-15 to heat up to 52 percent in the first 24 minutes. What really gave them the upperhand, though, was their 7-of-9 sharpshooting from beyond the arc in the first half. Most of these were transition threes courtesy of either Ray Allen, Eddie House, or Rasheed Wallace. The Cavaliers did a good job of taking care of the basketball, with just three turnovers at half, but when they did turn it over or miss shots, the Celtics made them pay dearly.

Hitting the snooze button: Another chronic issue for the Cavs is slow starts out of the half. The Celtics sprinted to a 10-2 advantage that the Cavaliers could never really match the rest of the way. Protecting the basket became an issue early when Rajon Rondo did a nice wraparound layup on Varejao, and the Celtics got a couple of other easy ones.

Finally waking up: The Cavaliers woke up in time to make it a game once again. Their 18-10 push to close out the quarter got it back to just a seven point hole. Thirteen of those points came from LeBron James (7) and Mo Williams (6), who looked tentative on the offensive end for most of the evening.

Unlikely Dynamic Duo: Tonight, we saw a double dose of 7-foot Cavalier center on the floor at once. That's right, Shaq and Big Z played together for one offensive possession at the end of the first quarter and then for a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter. Surprisingly, the two helped shut the Celtic offense down for over 4 1/2 minutes as Ilgauskas covered Rasheed Wallace and O'Neal handled Garnett. Shaq played surprisingly tough defense on Garnett, but at times it wasn't enough, including on one play where Garnett threw up a ridiculous banker overtop a wall o' Shaq. I'm quite intrigued that this lineup worked so well for a few minute stretch, and it tells me that Coach Brown will not be afraid to use it at any time if he was willing to use it in the first game against the rival Celtics.

Batman fights 4th quarter battle alone: In the all-too-familiar story of Cavalier 4th quarters against top teams, LeBron was forced to do too much on his own. King James had 15 of the team's 24 points in the quarter and 24 of his 38 points in the second half. Tonight, the rest of the team shot just 17-of-48 (35%) as James's 12-of-22 shooting performance was quite impressive as the Celtics dared him to shoot long twos and lightly contested threes. The troubling thing is that O'Neal and Parker failed to score in the fourth, and in fact, the only real help James got was from Ilgauskas, who scored all six of his points in the final quarters. While the Cavs did get four in double figures, no one else had more than 12 (Williams), and Parker and Shaq had just ten apiece.

goes to: LeBron James, who help get the team off to a fantastic start and kept the game close late. James finished with 38 points on 12-of-22 shooting, totaling 4 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals, and 4 blocks as well.

Team Grade: C

It's going to be a few weeks before we see what the Cavalier squad can do when they're firing on all cylinders. They're a step slow on defense, and you have four guys in your nine-man rotation (Shaq, Moon, Parker, Hickson) who are clearly not comfortable running all the sets yet. They truly, truly missed Delonte West tonight, and they'll continue to miss him (although it may not show up nightly in the win-loss column). But, I did see that this team can have success against the Celtics with different lineups, including one with Shaq and Z in there at once. Shaq poses a matchup issue for the Celtics, and LeBron still has an upper hand on anybody, including Pierce, one-on-one. The key is going to be everybody else (Mo, Parker, Delonte when he gets back, Varejao, and Z), and how they hold their own and contribute to combat the Celtics' deep roster.

The two key factors tonight were three point shooting and bench points. The Celtic bench of Wallace, Daniels, Williams, and House outscored the Cavalier bench of Ilgauskas, Moon, Gibson, and Hickson 26-10. As far as trey balls, the Celtics won that category by hitting 9-of-19 attempts, compared to the Cavaliers' 6-of-17 shooting, with one of those coming when the outcome was decided. The Cavaliers were one of the best in the NBA at shooting the three pointer last season, and they need to continue that to be at the top of their game.

The Cavaliers get right back at it tomorrow night when they travel to Toronto to take on Chris Bosh and the Raptors.

All for one. One for all.

Kirk

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