So Cavs coach Mike Brown had a larger-than-usual audience when he was asked if last night's affair was a statement game.

``For me or for you guys?'' he asked.

``No, I don't call this a statement game. If they win, it means they won tonight. If we win, what does that mean?

``I don't look at it as a statement game, but you can watch a game like this to see how you stack up against the best team in the NBA in the Celtics, and I'm sure they'll watch the tape to see how they kind of stack up against a pretty good team.''

But it was more than usual, according to LeBron James.

``It's not just a January game, but it's not like if we win tonight or Boston wins tonight we control the homecourt for the rest of the season,'' the Cavs star said. ``It means a lot because it's the next game for both teams, and both teams are definitely trying to get homecourt throughout the whole playoffs or for however long you can.''

The Celtics weren't expecting this to be anything like the season opener, when they raised a championship banner and beat the Cavs by five.

``Opening night was just a strange night,'' coach Doc Rivers said. ``I mean, it was a great night for us. We got things we wanted our whole lives in the rings, but it was not a typical game. It threw everybody off a little bit.''

The Celts were hoping not to be thrown off again last night.

``It's been a tough stretch for us early in the year,'' said Rivers, whose club had lost six of its last eight. ``We've played a lot of games, more than most teams have - especially with all the back-to-backs and all those things. We're going to get a break later. We've just got to get through this.''

The Celtics were having trouble just getting through the first quarter last night.

Kendrick Perkins was their best offensive weapon with nine points, but he aggravated the muscle behind his left shoulder on a foul by Ben Wallace with 3:17 left.

Perkins had gone scoreless in 23 minutes against Houston on Wednesday, and the Cavs were leaving him to attend to others. The Celts found him free, and Perkins hit 4-of-5 shots.

The C's hit 11 of their first 21 and produced 23 points, but slowing the Cavaliers was another matter.

Cleveland shot 72.2 percent from the floor in the frame and put 33 points on the board against a defense that continued to spring leaks.

James had nine points and four assists in the period, but he missed 4-of-7 shots. The only other Cav to miss was Mo Williams, who was 2-for-3.

The defenses arose in the new period - or maybe the teams got a little sluggish.

Leon Powe scored inside three times in the first four minutes of the quarter to cut the Cleveland lead in half, but James hit a pair of 3-pointers and Daniel Gibson stepped back into the right corner to make another as the Cavs' lead grew to 14.

Paul Pierce hit a 3-pointer and Perkins scored inside again to send the C's into halftime with a 49-40 deficit.

- sbulpett@bostonherald.com