INDEPENDENCE: If the Cavaliers are to reclaim some ground in their NBA Eastern Conference semifinal series at Quicken Loans Arena tonight, they're going to have to do it without forward Ben Wallace.

Wallace left Thursday night's game against the Boston Celtics at the 8:20 mark of the first quarter after experiencing dizziness. He did not return.

''I got light-headed,'' he said after the game. ''My head started spinning. There was smoke in the first quarter. You can't play basketball with your head spinning like that.''

The smoke came courtesy of the Celtics' pregame pyrotechnics.

On Friday, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic diagnosed Wallace with allergies and a viral inner-ear infection in his left ear. He is listed as doubtful for Game 3.

''It's going to be like it was all year. If he can go, he'll go. If not, someone will have to step into his spot and play big minutes for us,'' coach Mike Brown said after practice Friday.

That somebody probably will be Anderson Varejao, who, like many of the Cavs, isn't playing his best right now. Varejao has played almost 45 minutes in two games and has scored four points and grabbed 11
rebounds.

If the Cavaliers have any advantage in coming home, it's that they have been in this spot before: one year ago, when they played in the Eastern Conference finals against the Detroit Pistons. In that series, the Pistons went ahead 2-0 and the Cavs came roaring back to take the next four games.

More important, the Cavs know the stakes.

''This is a must-win game,'' guard Wally Szczerbiak said. ''Obviously, the pressure is on us to win this game, and obviously, we have to go out and play like that and win this game. I'm not going to deny that we would have liked to have split (the first two games in Boston).

''That was our goal going in, but we didn't. They had both their games at home. They did what they were supposed to do, and now it's up to us to step up and do what we're supposed to do.''

Guard Daniel Gibson said that experience against the Pistons will help the Cavs against the Celtics.

''If you haven't been in this situation before, you might be a little bit discouraged the way things are going, but knowing the series isn't over until a team wins four games and knowing that you've been in that situation before and done it before, that's a great factor in relying on that experience,'' he said.

Brown said the playoff experience the team has gleaned in the past couple of seasons should help, also.

''If you can have that kind of experience of what we went through last year and what we went through the year before, I think it will help out,'' he said. ''And the one thing it does for our team, truly does for our team, is tell us that no series is over until someone has won four games.''

Tarnished crown

The talk across the nation after Game 2 deals with — what else? — LeBron James' shaky play in the series. No one on the team is worried that it will continue, however.

''Even though he's not making shots, he's still LeBron. He's still making things easier for other guys,'' Gibson said. ''We just have to make plays for him, make it easier for him since their defense is so locked in on what he wants to do. If we make shots, it will make the game a lot easier for him.''

Brown said the Celtics have found the right way to play James. If teams are overly aggressive or too passive, it allows James to get into a rhythm. He said the Celtics are playing him just right and added that James needs to be more aggressive — be it driving to the hoop or making jump shots. He has missed all 10 of his 3-point attempts in the series.

''He's got some open looks; he's just got to not hesitate and knock them down,'' Brown said.

Official change

The NBA rescinded the flagrant foul that the Celtics' Sam Cassell was assessed during a play on James in Game 2.