This should be a great matchup as LeBron James will have to deal with the triplets in Boston. Here’s a close look at the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD: Delonte West was a Celtic last season and he didn’t really like the way he was handled by them, so now is his chance to pay them back. West had a solid first round against the Wizards as he started all 6 games and he averaged 30.5 minutes, 10.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He also hit 9 of 18 shots from three point range.

Rajon Rondo has really been a solid player on both ends of the basketball court for the Celtics this season. He started all 7 games for the Celtics in Round #1 against the Hawks and he averaged 30.9 minutes, 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 7.3 assists and 1.7 steals.

EDGE: SLIGHT FOR CELTICS

SHOOTING GUARD: This will be a matchup of two players who were part of the same off season trade in Wally Szczerbiak and Ray Allen. Szczerbiak saved his best basketball for the deciding game against the Wizards and he will need to keep up the good work in this series. Szczerbiak started all 6 games in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 25.5 minutes, 10.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Ray Allen’s numbers were down this season but that’s because of the team concept the Celtics had. He started all 7 games against the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 37.9 minutes, 16.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game. Allen could have a big game at any time in this series.

EDGE: CELTICS

SMALL FORWARD: Kobe Bryant might have won the MVP Award in the NBA this season but LeBron James is the best player on the Planet Earth. Despite a lot of dirty play by the Wizards, James still dominated them! He started all 6 games against the Wizards in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 41.5 minutes, 29.8 points, 9.5 rebounds, 7.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocked shots. Look for more of the same in this series as King James has dominated the Celtics this season.

Paul Pierce is the silent assassin for the Celtics as he has been in Boston through both the good and the very bad. He started all 7 games against the Hawks and he averaged 33.4 minutes, 18.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Pierce will make James work on defense and that is a good thing for the Celtics. He will also score quite a few points himself.

EDGE: CAVALIERS

POWER FORWARD: Ben Wallace hasn’t been the player the Cavs thought they were getting when they traded for him. But, he can still rebound and play defense and that’s all the Cavs will expect from him in this series. Wallace played in all 7 games against the Wizards and he averaged 23.2 minutes, 3.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Wallace will have a very important job in dealing with Kevin Garnett.

Kevin Garnett was his usual self against the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs. He started all 7 games against the Hawks and he averaged 36.7 minutes, 21.0 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.9 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.4 blocked shots per game. The Celtics will need a big effort on the boards from K.G. if they are going to win this series because the Cavs are one of the best rebounding teams in the NBA.

EDGE: CELTICS

CENTER: Zydrunas Ilgauskas is one of the most underrated centers in the entire NBA. He started all 6 games against the Wizards and he averaged 31.2 minutes, 14.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He also shot 53% from the floor and can hit a long range open jumper which could cause problems for Kendrick Perkins on defense.

All the Celtics want Kendrick Perkins to do is play defense and rebound and he did a solid job of that against the Hawks. Perkins started all 7 games in the first round and he averaged 24.1 minutes, 7.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.7 blocked shots.

EDGE: CAVALIERS

BENCH: Both of these teams have deep benches. With the Cavaliers it all starts with PG/SG Daniel Gibson who nailed 15 of 30 (50%) three pointers against the Wizards in the first round. Gibson played in all 6 games off the bench against the Wizards and he averaged 29.5 minutes, 11.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. LeBron James has a knack for finding Gibson when he’s open and the Celtics can’t afford to do that. Joe Smith has been backing up Ben Wallace which means that he will likely have to deal with Kevin Garnett. Smith played in 6 games against the Wizards and he averaged 19.5 minutes, 5.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Devin Brown will be the backup shooting guard in this series and he had a rough time shooting the ball against the Wizards. The Cavs can’t afford him to be heaving up bricks against the Celtics in this series. Brown played in 6 games against the Wizards and he averaged 14.3 minutes, 5.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Anderson Varejao will back up big Z at center for the Cavs. He played in all 6 games against the Wizards and he averaged 18.7 minutes, 3.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. “Wild Thing” is very effective at taking charges and that could be huge in this series. Damon Jones is a three point gunner that really doesn’t have any other skills. He played in 3 games in the first series and he averaged 4.3 minutes, 1.0 point and 0.3 assists per game. Sasha Pavlovic was the forgotten player in the first round for the Cavs. He only played in 1 game (2 minutes) against the Wizards and he didn’t even score.

The Celtics bench is a nice mixture of veterans and kids. James Posey gets the most P.T. of the bench crew and his main skills are defense and long range shooting. Posey played in 7 games against the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 23.4 minutes, 7.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. Reserve power forward Leon Powe was very effective in the first round for the Celtics. He played in all 7 games for the Celtics against the Hawks and he averaged 17.7 minutes, 6.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Sam Cassell will give Rajon Rondo a break at the point when he needs one. Cassell played in all 7 games against the Hawks and he averaged 13.1 minutes, 5.9 points, 1.0 rebound and 1.3 assists per game. Glen “Big Baby” Davis played in every game against the Hawks but not many minutes. He averaged 7.9 minutes, 2.3 points, 1.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Tony Allen was a disappointment this season for the Celtics and he didn’t get much P.T. against the Hawks. He played in 6 games in the opening series of the playoffs and he averaged 4.7 minutes, 1.8 points and 0.3 rebounds per game. Veteran power forward P.J. Brown didn’t get much playing time against the Hawks but I have a feeling he will get more against the Cavs because of his rebounding skills. Brown played in 6 games against the Hawks in Round #1 and he averaged 0.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.3 assists per game. Eddie House played in all 7 games against the Hawks in the first round of the playoffs and he only averaged 4.3 minutes, 0.4 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists per game.

EDGE: CAVALIERS

PREDICTION: THE CAVALIERS ARE NOT THE HAWKS. WITH THAT IN MIND I LIKE THE CAVALIERS IN 6 GAMES.