CELTICS ELIMINATE CAVS

The pride of Akron, Ohio, walked away in silence Thursday night, moving swiftly and purposefully away from profound disappointment and into the great unknown. LeBron James is out of the playoffs, and perhaps out of Cleveland. His title run was clipped prematurely once again, this time in the second round, by the Boston Celtics, who completed a six-game series victory over the Cavaliers with a 94-85 win at TD Garden. The Celtics will face the Orlando Magic for the Eastern Conference crown. James will face countless questions about what went wrong, and even more about what comes next. James plans to become a free agent July 1, with the Knicks, Nets, Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat and others lining up to woo him. When the final buzzer sounded, just before 11 p.m., it officially started the clock on his free agency, and the most anticipated N.B.A. off-season in history. An hour later, dressed in a black-and-white windbreaker, James sat on an interview podium, looking drained. He scratched his head. He fielded a dozen questions but betrayed no emotions and offered little insight. “I’m going to approach this summer with the right mindset,” James said. “Me and my team is going to figure out what’s the best possibility for me. I love the city of Cleveland, of course, the city, the fans. Another disappointing season, to say the least, but at the same time we have a great time together. So we’ll see what happens.” James was repeatedly frustrated by a Celtics team that was deeper, more talented and more defensively tenacious throughout the series. Playing with a sore right elbow, an injury he constantly played down, James averaged a stout 26.8 points, 7.2 assists and 9.3 rebounds. But he shot poorly and committed 19 turnovers in the final three games, all losses. Boston largely succeeded in keeping James out of the paint, forcing him to become a jump shooter. James claimed his second straight Most Valuable Player award, but he was overshadowed in the series by Rajon Rondo and, in the end, by the Celtics’ still-formidable threesome of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. After the final buzzer, James — who was criticized for failing to congratulate the Magic after the Eastern Conference finals last spring — lingered and shared embraces with the Celtics. Then, jersey untucked and stare fixed straight ahead, he walked through a tunnel and stripped off his Cavaliers uniform for perhaps the final time. “First of all, I want to win,” James said later. “That’s my only thing, that’s my only concern.” James said the Cavaliers were committed to winning — a fact that was evident in their acquisitions of Shaquille O’Neal and Antawn Jamison in the last year. But a series of postseason failures will raise reasonable doubts about James’s desire to stay with Cleveland. The Cavaliers have never acquired a true second star to pair with James, and are considerably less talented than the Magic, the Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Still, the Cavaliers had the league’s best record for the second straight season, and James said he was “definitely surprised” to be out of the playoffs so soon. “A friend of mine told me after the game, ‘I guess you have to go through a lot of nightmares before you finally accomplish your dream,’ ” James said. “And that’s what’s going on individually for myself right now.” James was alternately spectacular and sloppy in the finale: he collected a triple-double with 27 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists, along with a team-high 9 turnovers. His shooting was erratic (8 for 21). As a team, the Cavaliers had 24 turnovers, leading to 27 points for the Celtics. “We just never got a rhythm in this series,” said Cavaliers Coach Mike Brown, whose job status is also in doubt after another postseason flameout. He declined to speculate on James’s future, saying: “Right now, we just lost a series. I’m not thinking about that.” The Boston crowd delivered a series of parting taunts, most prominently a chant of “New York Knicks” each time James stepped to the free-throw line. In the final minutes, the fans added one more, a sing-song style “LeBron is leaving!” Nearly lost in the Cavaliers’ shocking early exit was the sudden revival of the Celtics. Two years removed from a championship, the Celtics had been dismissed as too old, too creaky and too fractured to contend for another Eastern Conference title. Now they are four victories away from another finals appearance. They open the Eastern Conference finals Sunday at Orlando. “One thing we don’t lack, and that’s confidence,” said Garnett, who re-emerged as a force in the series. He added, “I thought we hit our stride at the right time.” Cleveland’s high-priced acquisitions came up short. O’Neal, who was acquired to match up against Orlando’s Dwight Howard, was rarely effective at either end of the court against the Celtics. Jamison was possibly worse: a dud on offense and a liability on defense. He was repeatedly exploited by Garnett, who had 22 points and 12 rebounds Thursday. Jamison went 2 for 10 from the field in Game 6 and shot 42.2 percent in the series. A day earlier, James had expressed absolute confidence that the Cavaliers could save the series. “Because they got me,” he said. True as that may be, the Cavaliers needed much more. Mo Williams, the second-most criticized Cavalier in the series, initially answered the call, with 20 points in a tight first half. But he had just 2 points after halftime. The Cavaliers erased a 10-point Celtics lead in the first half, fell behind by 12 in the third and faced an 11-point deficit early in the fourth quarter. They pulled to 4 points down after James hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Then everything fell apart. James fumbled the ball on a crossover move, starting a Rondo fast-break layup. Seconds later, Pierce hit a 3-pointer, and the arena rocked with anticipation. Then came a Rasheed Wallace 3-pointer, a Williams turnover and another fast break, finished by a thundering Garnett dunk for an 88-74 lead with 5 minutes 50 seconds to play. James’s pending free agency hung over the series like a damp rag. With the Cavaliers on the brink of elimination, it only grew heavier. First came the “New York Knicks” chants — a taunt instigated by Bill Simmons, an ESPN columnist and lifelong Celtics fan, via Twitter. In the second quarter, the in-house video camera found a fan wearing a Knicks jersey with James’s name across the shoulders, over the No. 6 — the number James plans to wear next season, wherever he lands. In Cleveland, paranoia over James’s intentions warped perceptions of the series, especially after his detached, lackluster performance in Game 5, a 120-88 Celtics rout. Disillusioned fans were in full meltdown, flooding Cleveland talk shows with conspiracy theories: James does not care anymore. James has mentally checked out. James is tanking games to justify leaving. With the fury came heresy: fans actually dared James to go. Commentators were no kinder, speculating endlessly about James’s makeup and his desire. It might be weeks or months before anyone knows what exactly was bothering him in this series — the sore right elbow, teammates, coaches, a personal matter or some as-yet unannounced injury. James acknowledged that his elbow injury “limited me some,” but left it at that. On free agency, James stressed that he had merely given himself options. “You never can predict the future, but at the same time you hope for things that’s much brighter than what’s going on right now,” he said. Then he pushed a pair of sunglasses on his face, strapped on a backpack and departed the arena, destination unknown. (NY Times)