Coming into Thursday night’s matchup against the Boston Celtics, the Cleveland Cavaliers were looking to get their first big win over a legitimate title contender with newly acquired forward Antawn Jamison in the lineup alongside LeBron James.

Despite losing three of the last four games since acquiring Antawn Jamison,the Cavs brought some momentum into the game against the Boston Celtics after beating the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday night in Cleveland 105-95.

The Celtics got to a big lead in the first quarter 31-21, but as the game progressed the Cleveland Cavaliers started to gradually get back into it and when the second half rolled around the Cavs started to dominate even though they were planning without Shaquille O’Neal who injured his thumb and didn’t return to the game.

The Cavs may have been without Shaq and a solid inside presence in the paint besides Anderson Varejao, but the Boston Celtics were without their leading scorer in Paul Pierce was also out with a thumb injury.

Ultimately, the Boston Celtics playing without their leading scorer really started to hurt them in the second half as they just couldn’t get anything going on offenseand eventually let LeBron James and companyget the best of them winning with a 20 point victory108-88.

So once again, the injury bug has bitten the Boston Celtics and they will have to balance it with heavyweights in the Eastern conference like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic and the surprisingly good Atlanta Hawks team.

Without Paul Pierce and lineup, Ray Allen shoulder the scoring load the 21 points while hitting four of eight from deep. Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett were the only other Celtics to score in double figures with Rondo 19 points and KG’s 10.

Lebron James on the other hand lit up the scoreboard like only he can with a game-high 36 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Anderson Vajerao and Mo Williams also had notable performances with 19 points from Williams and 14 points and 10 rebounds from Vajerao.