The Celtics enter their playoff series with Miami with no small amount of expectation, hope and worry. They know, as do the Heat, that the road to the championship must go through the other. While there are other hurdles to clear they have always known that South Beach would be on their postseason travel itinerary.

“We assumed when they put this team together at some point -- if we want to put another banner up -- then we’ll probably have to go through them,” Doc Rivers said. 

Can they continue to execute their offense, will the second unit provide help, can their big men stay healthy? These are all concerns for the Celtics, no matter the opponent.

But Miami is no ordinary foe. Hate them, love them, get all schadenfreudy when they stumble in close games or marvel at their open-court brilliance, the Heat ceased being a normal basketball team and became more of a cultural touchstone the moment LeBron James and Chris Bosh signed on with Dwyane Wade.

They have their own basketball concerns, namely trying to contain Rajon Rondo and figuring out which of their role players will fit with their stars. 

But from a national perspective there is this: LeBron James must defeat the Celtics and he has to do it now while Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett are healthy and playing at an All-Star level and while Rivers is calling the shots.

There is no telling how much longer the Celtics run has left. Maybe another year, maybe less, but as currently constituted they are still the grizzled standard in the Eastern Conference. Just as surely as Michael Jordan had to vanquish the Bad Boy Pistons, so too must LeBron get past the Celtics to rightfully ascend to the throne he has claimed since his NBA birth.

If he doesn’t do it now he may never get the chance again and James has played the Celtics twice in the postseason and lost both times. In 2008 he was part of a thrown-together-on-the-fly collection of oddball parts and spare labor. There was no shame in going down in seven games to the eventual champions, especially considering his Game 7 performance when he dropped 45 points in defeat. Last season was different. The Cavs were the favorites and the Celtics were the unlikely upstarts.

Aside from Miami’s homecourt advantage, this time it’s as close to a level field as a series will allow. The Heat are what they are – an insanely talented trio of stars who have come together with a vagabond supporting cast and won 58 games, which still seems like a disappointment. The Celtics won 56 and that too felt like a letdown after they blitzed through the first four months of the regular season. For both, the regular season was just one long prelude to the main event.

While the Heat didn’t come close to the 70-win domination some predicted, they are in the words of Celtics president Danny Ainge, “scary,” as he told the Big Show on Thursday. (Listen to the interview here).

“First you have to stop them in transition,” Ainge said. “You have to prevent LeBron and [Dwyane] Wade from getting to the rim in the halfcourt and in transition and then you have to stop their 3-point shooting with [James] Jones and [Eddie] House and Bibby. And then you have to keep them off the glass. That combination is scary and is difficult to defend.

The Celtics are – if not frightening – then impenetrable and foreboding. As long as the big three walk without a limp and Rondo runs the show, they are old man swagger personified, with a blast of turbo boost.

This is a toss-up series and you can make an argument for either side, just not a confident one. And because of all that, LeBron must win.
His teams have not won a playoff series against a higher seed since the Cavaliers’ unlikely run to the NBA finals in 2007, a run that seemed destined to catapult him onto the penultimate stage each year. That is, until the Celtics showed up.

The man that will be primarily tasked with containing James understands the stakes, as well as the narrative. 

“When you lose to a team consecutive times in the playoffs -- I mean, it would be personal for me,” Pierce said. “I’m sure he’s going to take it personal and you’ve got to expect his best.”

Pierce and James have had their battles over the years, none greater than in Game 7 of the 2008 semifinals when James went for 45 and Pierce matched him almost shot for shot with a 41-point outburst. No one on the roster understands the historical ramifications of playing for the Celtics better than Pierce who noted after that game that he now had a piece of Game 7 lore alongside Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins.

To most outside of New England, Pierce’s legacy is an afterthought: Outstanding player, made a lot of All-Star teams, changed his game to help win a championship. All in all that’s a great career in 20 words or less.

But Pierce has always wanted more. He’s played more games in a Celtics uniform than everyone except for John Havlicek, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale and scored more points than anyone not named Havlicek or Bird. Despite all the accomplishments, he desperately wants a second championship to validate himself alongside those greats.

Guarding James is Pierce’s toughest challenge. The numbers from last season’s playoffs were rough: 161-81 in points, 56-29 in rebounds. But Pierce is smart and tough. He shook off the first three games and held James to less than 40 percent shooting in the final three, all Celtics wins.

This season Pierce has defended James as well as anyone in the league. According to a piece on ESPN.com, Pierce guarded James on 69 percent of his possessions against the Celtics and held him to 75 points per 100 possessions. That’s freakishly tough. 

Pierce knows what he has to do -- keep James in front of him, try to make him into a jump shooter, make him work on the other end of the floor – but more than that he has to have a short memory. James is capable of extended stretches of brilliance, and unlike last season there is no Tony Allen waiting in the wings to try and cool him off. Jeff Green will provide support, but really the task is on Pierce and he has to be locked in whenever he’s on the court.

“He has no choice,” Rivers said. “When you’re playing against Wade, LeBron and Bosh, if you don’t up your game and your defensive intensity it’s not going to go well for you. It’s in some ways easier to maintain your focus because if you don’t you’re going to look bad.”

Ordinarily we’d have to wait until the finals for a legacy-defining series. That’s what makes this Heat-Celtics matchup so compelling. For Pierce it’s a chance to enhance his and further define this Celtics era, but for LeBron it’s really an all or noting proposition.