BOSTON -- All season long, the Houston Rockets and NBA champion Golden State Warriors ran 1-2 in the Western Conference, eventually ending up in the conference finals with little resistance.
Over in the East, the Toronto Raptors charged to the top seed and appeared to be in good shape to represent the conference in the NBA Finals.
However, the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers, the Nos. 2 and 4 seeds, respectively, overcame all kinds of adversity and open their second straight conference finals Sunday at TD Garden.