Boston batters LeBron, comes away with 76-72 win

BEIJING, May 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Boston baited, badgered, banged and bumped Cleveland's LeBron James into one of the worst nights of his career Tuesday on the way to a 76-72 win over the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

The Celtic defense held James to 12 points on 2-for-18 shooting; only once in his career has he made fewer baskets. He missed three drives and a 3-pointer in the final minute, including the potential game-tying finger roll with 8.5 seconds left.

"This was two heavyweights, just body-punching," said Kevin Garnett, who scored 28 points to make up for an off night for the rest of Boston's Big Three. "There was no finesse, no jabs, just an all-out, beat-down, defensive fight."

James scored Cleveland¡¦s first basket and then missed his next 10 shots before driving for a layup that cut Boston¡¦s lead to 66-65 with 5:34 left. He finished with nine rebounds, nine assists and 10 turnovers.

"I missed a lot of shots I know I can make," James said, staring at the stat sheet incredulously after scoring just two points in the second half and missing his last six shots in all. "I missed layups. Those layups I've made my whole life."

Paul Pierce and Ray Allen of the Celtics weren't doing any bragging, either. Pierce scored four points on 2-for-14 shooting, and Allen was 0-for-4 from the field for his first scoreless performance in his last 852 games since 1997.

Despite the worst offensive playoff performance of his career, he drew two charging fouls against James and the Celtics protected the home-court advantage that helped win their first-round series against Atlanta in seven games and could take them all the way to their NBA-record 17th championship.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who shot 31 percent and couldn¡¦t make a basket at the end of the game.

(Agencies)