The last time we saw the Cleveland Cavaliers on the Garden parquet, David Stern was handing out rings and Paul Pierce was thanking everyone he had ever met at any point in his life. The last time the Celtics saw the Cavs at all, it was at the end of their mid-season (pick your adjective) swoon/slump/re-tooling and were basically Ushered (pun intended) off the Cavs’ home court.

Now they meet again and both teams are going through something of a transition. The Celtics, as we know, have been busily indoctrinating Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore into the ways of Ubuntu with mixed results, at least on the floor. Injuries to Kevin Garnett, as well as Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine, have messed with their lineup and their depth requiring Doc Rivers to work the new signees into the lineup ahead of schedule.

With Scalabrine out a month, Allen out for longer, and Garnett working the treadmill, Rivers equated the situation to having five new players as it effects his rotation up and down the roster. 

The Cavs had had their own issues. Ben Wallace is out with a broken tibia, which basically limited Mike Brown’s bench to Daniel Gibson, Wally Szczerbiak and rookie J.J. Hickson. Help is on the way in the form of Joe Smith, the could-have-been and maybe would-have-been Celtic. (Side note: Danny Ainge will be judged on two things this year. Not re-signing James Posey and snatching up Moore before Smith and Drew Gooden became available. Whether he would have had a shot at either one of those players, we’ll never really know for sure).

The Cavs had been openly pining for Smith, who solves an immediate problem as they were relying on the talented but inexperienced Hickson as the first (and really only) big man off the bench. Much like the Celtics, Cleveland’s bench has become worrisome.

During an arduous four-game road trip that began with a blowout loss at Houston and could have resulted in a couple of more losses if not for bravura performances by LeBron James, not one of the Cavs reserves who played meaningful minutes produced a positive +/- score. James is the best player in the league. Period. But he has been forced to log Pierce-like minutes lately, and even at 23 years old, that has to have an effect on him.

All of this may take some luster off Friday night’s game, but the Cavs are in seemingly better shape than the Celtics for this showdown. They have two games in hand in the loss column, and unless there is a complete surprise, the champs will be without Garnett.

This sets up an intriguing proposition for the Celtics. If they can win without KG, it will not only cut into Cleveland’s advantage for homecourt, it will also put some serious doubt in the minds of the Cavs. For all the talk about how Boston folded in Cleveland during the playoffs, it’s worth remembering that the Cavs have never won a game in Boston during the Big Three era.

Both in the standings, and in the numbers, these teams are as close as can be, which is why (again) homecourt is such a big deal. (Hoops Analyst has a decent little study on the historic nature of the Cavs/Celtics/Lakers seasons, by the way). 

But right now both teams are in survival mode, and it would be fitting if two of the league’s great survivors — Pierce and James — were able to recapture their Game 7 magic Friday night. Beyond that, this is one which wise men would steer clear of. In other words, all bets are off.