These two teams met in the most-hyped Opening Night game in NBA lore (won by Boston) and players on both clubs have basically admitted they expected this matchup to happen in the playoffs – although most thought in the conference finals. It could be argued that LeBron James left Cleveland because of the Celtics as they eliminated him from the playoffs in 2008 and last season, when many accused James of quitting at the end.

Boston won the season series 3-1, but was crushed in the most recent meeting, 100-77 on the final Sunday of the regular season. That basically gave Miami the No. 2 seed in the East and home-court advantage in this series. The Celtics are hoping that Shaquille O’Neal can play – they do expect him in this series but it’s not clear as of this writing if he will go in Game 1. O’Neal has played in only one game, for five minutes, since Feb. 1 because of a right calf strain. Miami, meanwhile, isn’t expecting either Mike Miller or Udonis Haslem to play in this series. Miller barely played in the first-round series win over the Sixers due to injury while Haslem has been out since foot surgery in November.

Probably the key to the series is Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo as that is the one position there is a clear discrepancy among the starters on both teams. Rondo struggled late in the year – he had just 7 points, 5 assists and 1 rebound in that one loss to Miami – but was stellar in the first-round sweep of the Knicks, averaging 19 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 12 assists. He had a triple-double in Game 3 of that series (15 points, 11 rebounds, 20 assists). Mike Bibby and Mario Chalmers will take turns trying to contain Rondo, but don’t be surprised if LeBron gets some defensive time on him.

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