PA SPORTSTICKER NBA PLAYOFF PREVIEW
         (BOSTON-CLEVELAND)



*Celtics searching for first playoff road win*
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Boston at Cleveland                                  8:00 pm EDT
Eastern Conference semifinals                  Celtics lead, 2-1


CLEVELAND (Ticker) - After a dominant regular season that
included a NBA-best 31-10 road mark, the first two rounds of the
Eastern Conference playoffs were supposed to be easy for the
Boston Celtics.  Not so.


The Celtics target their first road win of the playoffs when
they continue their best-of-seven game series in in Game Four of
the Eastern Conference semifinal round against the Cleveland
Cavaliers.


Following their impressive 66-16 regular season run, the road to
the NBA Finals didn't figure to be all that challenging with a
first-round match against the Atlanta Hawks, the lone team to
qualify for the 2008 playoffs with a losing record.


However, Boston was the only second-round qualifier to be
stretched to seven games, primarily due to its inability to
carry any of its dominance on its home court to the road.  While
the Celtics remain a perfect 6-0 at TD Banknorth Garden, they
are 0-3 away from home this postseason.


Saturday's 108-84 loss at Quicken Loans Arena was the Celtics'
biggest setback of the season and just the fourth double-digit
loss of the campaign.  Boston fell behind by 19 points after the
first quarter, trailed 43-17 in the second and never mounted a
serious threat after halftime.


"In the last two games, Cleveland has come out with more energy
to start and gotten off to great starts, and we've talked about
that we were lucky we were at home in Game Two," Celtics coach
Doc Rivers said.  "(When the other team) gets off to a good
start and you're at home, you can come back.


"You do that on the road, it's very difficult to get back in the
game and (Saturday) was a great example of that."


One player they likely need to step up is guard Ray Allen, who
is averaging just 8.7 points through three games in this series,
exactly half of his 17.4 average during the regular season.
The eight-time All-Star, who holds the NBA record for most
3-pointers in a season, is just 1-for-11 from the arc in this
series.


"I'm not concerned (about Allen)," Rivers said.  "He's a great
shooter and he'll make shots.  We have to work on getting him
better shots.  We like the matchup but we haven't gotten what we
want out of it."


LeBron James' 5-for-16 shooting from the field on Saturday was
actually an improvement from his combined 8-for-42 performance
over the first two games of the series.


The constant attention he usually draws finally allowed a number
of the Cavaliers' role players to thrive in Game Three as
Delonte West matched James' 21-point effort while Joe Smith
added 17 and Wally Szczerbiak 16.


"It's the playoffs and when you play against tough defensive
teams, they are going to try to do whatever they can to take
(LeBron) out of the game," Smith said.  "He's our leader out
there on the floor, so they feel that if they take him out of
the game, we are not going to be as effective.  I think he did a
great job of getting everybody involved and everybody pretty
good looks."