5 Things to Keep an Eye on Tonight: Celtics at Cavaliers, Game 6 - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Celtics-Cavs Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 6 this evening.

Nowhere To Go But Up. Or ... Home: Demolished in Game 4. Daniel Gibson out. Unable to get LeBron hot. Rajon Rondo shaking off doldrums. Kevin Garnett. There's a mountain of stuff lined up against Cleveland tonight. They are at home, but as much as it's been a saving grace for teams so far in the playoffs, that's got to end at some point. I hate using cliches, but they're unavoidable in this situation. The Cavaliers are in a position to bond together, give 110%, rise to meet the challenge, and let the hometown crowd buoy them to a Game 7 in Boston. It's not quite that simple though.

Delonte's Inferno: Okay, Delonte West. You're up. Gibson is down, you've been great at home, and this team needs a shooter like nothing else. If the Cavaliers are going to push this thing back to Boston against all odds, they need West to do three things. Create, contain, and close. He's got to spark the offense. He's done a better job of that than even Gibson has done, and has done well both in transition and in the half court set of finding the open man and making the right decision. He's got to contain Rajon Rondo and send him back to his dreadful pre-Game 5 ways, and he's got close out by knocking down and defending three point shots.

3. Death By Efficiency: Interesting twist. LeBron James doesn't have to be huge. He just has to be efficient. Even though James had 35 in Game 5, it was useless. He also was only 12 of 25 from the field, had only 3 rebounds, 5 assists, and had 4 turnovers. So maybe the key for the Cavs isn't for LeBron to go off and score a bazillion points. He needs to break 25, no doubt about that, especially with Gibson out. But he needs to be more active in all stages in the game, getting rebounds, creating open shots for Z on the baseline and West on the perimeter, and playing hard enough to exhaust Paul Pierce. Cleveland doesn't need a bigger King, it needs a smarter, more efficient L-Train (worst nickname, ever).

4. Back To What Doc Knows: The best thing Doc Rivers can do tonight? Stay out of the way. In Game 5, 4 out of 5 starters (Perkins being the predictable exception) played 40 minutes or more. Essentially, the same problem with Doc Rivers is the same problem it's always been. He's a bad coach. Okay, but more specifically, the man couldn't manage a lineup to save his soul. So the best option for him is just to ride his starters. Would it be nice to rest the big guns for later on? Yes. But they need to close this out so there's not a Game 7. They need to kill Cleveland while it's weak and doubting itself. Otherwise Game 7 is going to be just more intensity and physical strain.

5. MIA: Ray Allen and Zydrunas Ilgauskus. So much for veteran leadership and scoring. Both players were absent for Game 5, and Allen's been a dud for the entire playoffs. This is an elimination game. Both teams need everything their players have. The Cavs cannot win with Zydrunas Ilgauskus in single digits. It's a simple formula. For the Celtics, they don't need Allen to shoot a lot, just hit the few he takes. But that's not really his style, any more than Z's style is no longer attacking in the post. Both players need a renaissance tonight.