Boston Celtics defeat Cleveland Cavaliers, 80-70

Athletes may be the ultimate creatures of habit.

Everything must be just so, whether it's the day-of-game routine or the pregame ritual. Thus, when a wrench is introduced into the equation, well, you get games like we got yesterday. Nature abhors a vacuum. Players abhor afternoon games.

It's probably safe to say that neither team was happy with yesterday's 12:30 p.m. start - and both teams played like it was an irritation to their daily karma. The LeBron-less Cavaliers ...

The clock oddly struck at 12:30 p.m. for tip-off. Cavaliers star LeBron James was sitting on the bench in street clothes. And the weary Celtics and the sold-out TD Banknorth Garden crowd seemed in need of some strong coffee and maybe some brunch, too.

The sluggish Celtics eventually shook off a poor first half start during a rare matinee to defeat the Cavaliers, 80-70, yesterday and improve to 14-2. Boston easily scored a season-low in points (previous low 91) and shot ...

The Celtics used a "Big Baby" to get some much-needed energy yesterday.
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Rookie forward Glen "Big Baby" Davis scored 9 points and made 4 of 5 shots, grabbed seven rebounds, had one block and one steal to spark the weary Celtics during an 80-70 victory over the Cavaliers yesterday at TD Banknorth Garden.

Davis was the leading reserve scorer on a bench that combined for 28 points.

"Being a part of the bench, we have to bring something to the g...