Why does no one give the C's a chance vs. Cle?

[FallGuy]

It's a tough read right now. Miami is a bad basketball team, as we've seen. So it's hard to take that much from us running them over. But we have been playing with a lot more focus, effort and intensity since the playoffs. Which is a big positive no matter who our opponent is. I would still pick Cleveland at this point - they're hungrier than Boston this year, have more frontcourt depth and the best player in the series. But I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games.

[incoherent]

We beat the Cavs during our Final run.

We played MUCH better against Orlando then CLE did last year and we could have beat them then too if we faced them.

[BballTim]

It's a tough read right now. Miami is a bad basketball team, as we've seen. So it's hard to take that much from us running them over. But we have been playing with a lot more focus, effort and intensity since the playoffs. Which is a big positive no matter who our opponent is. I would still pick Cleveland at this point - they're hungrier than Boston this year, have more frontcourt depth and the best player in the series. But I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games.

  When you say Miami's a bad basketball team, remember they won 18 of 22 before the playoffs. I don't know that puts them in the "bad" category.

[Fafnir]

It's a tough read right now. Miami is a bad basketball team, as we've seen. So it's hard to take that much from us running them over. But we have been playing with a lot more focus, effort and intensity since the playoffs. Which is a big positive no matter who our opponent is. I would still pick Cleveland at this point - they're hungrier than Boston this year, have more frontcourt depth and the best player in the series. But I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games.

  When you say Miami's a bad basketball team, remember they won 18 of 22 before the playoffs. I don't know that puts them in the "bad" category.

True but their last twenty-two games were a rather easy stretch of their schedule.

Miami clearly doesn't match up well with the Celtics. They're undersized, lack the altheticism to attack us, and are completely reliant on Wade to create offense. They're the 13th best team in the playoffs.

[snively]

The Heat are kind of a junior varsity version of the Cavs so it does make for an interesting extrapolation.  Just about every player in the Heat rotation is a poor man's version of a Cav's counterpart.  Arroyo's a homeless man's Mo Williams, Wade is a solid approximation of LeBron, Q-Rich and Parker are the 3-point shooting journeymen, the O'Neals are washed-up scoring big men, Jamison and Beasley are the stretch 4s who are supposed to pick up the scoring slack for their dominant wings, Haslem and Varejao are the hustle-oriented rebounding bench bigs, Wright and Moon are the elite athletes who mostly just shoot 3s and Chalmers and West are the inconsistent combo-guards who theoretically provide scoring and playmaking off the bench.  Heck, even Magloire and Z are both ex-all star sloth big men.

Offensively, I think we should have similar success against the Cavs as we have against the Heat.  The Cavs have the same problems denying pick and roll penetration, perhaps even moreso than the Heat, with Shaq/Z seeing significant time.  KG will again enjoy a significant height/post-up advantage at the 4.  Ray and Paul's averages against the Cavs this season are nearly identical to their production thus far in the playoffs.  

Defensively is where our success vs Miami is harder to project.  Playing against Wade is a nice prep for playing against Bron, but LeBron's slightly more dangerous, and unlike, Wade, he has 2 excellent 3-point shooters to pass to in Mo Williams and Anthony Parker (as opposed to one for Wade), as well as 2 consistent secondary scorers in Williams and Jamison, compared to none for Wade (JO shooting under 20%, Beasley wildly inconsistent).

The defense we're throwing at Wade involves heavy overplays that Jamison and Mo Williams would make us pay for.

Still, if Baby continues to show that he can rebound and play quick-footed help defense and we get KG for 35 minutes per night, I think we'll be able to a passing imitation of our defensive performance vs the Heat, and thus we'll have a decent chance.

[LarBrd33]

I understood that prior to the playoffs beginning; the Celts were just playing too poorly.

Now, I think it's a bit of a different story.  With the Celts rolling and playing up to their potential, it should be a very compelling series. 

Are we really rolling... or is Miami just horrible?

We aren't expected to beat Cleveland, because we sucked this year.

[Greenbean]

I understood that prior to the playoffs beginning; the Celts were just playing too poorly.

Now, I think it's a bit of a different story.  With the Celts rolling and playing up to their potential, it should be a very compelling series. 

Are we really rolling... or is Miami just horrible?

We aren't expected to beat Cleveland, because we sucked this year.

There is always a way to spin anything that happens this way.

You really arent encouraged by what you have seen from the Celtics the past 2.5 games?

[Jon]

I understood that prior to the playoffs beginning; the Celts were just playing too poorly.

Now, I think it's a bit of a different story.  With the Celts rolling and playing up to their potential, it should be a very compelling series. 

Are we really rolling... or is Miami just horrible?

We aren't expected to beat Cleveland, because we sucked this year.

There is always a way to spin anything that happens this way.

You really arent encouraged by what you have seen from the Celtics the past 2.5 games?

While I'd agree that Miami isn't stellar, they finished the season on a tear, while we sucked.  I think it says something that we're taking care of them the way we're doing it.  If we sweep, I think it says a good bit about the C's being back.

That said, it doesn't mean we're beating Cleveland.  However, we did split the season series with them 2-2, and the one blowout loss we had came without PP. 

I think they at least have a shot.  The frontcourt is a tough matchup for us.  With all the defense that's going to have to be played on LeBron, Jamison, and Shaq, Ray and Rondo better be ready to carry the offensive load. 

[Yakmanev]

I understood that prior to the playoffs beginning; the Celts were just playing too poorly.

Now, I think it's a bit of a different story.  With the Celts rolling and playing up to their potential, it should be a very compelling series. 

Are we really rolling... or is Miami just horrible?

We aren't expected to beat Cleveland, because we sucked this year.

There is always a way to spin anything that happens this way.

You really arent encouraged by what you have seen from the Celtics the past 2.5 games?

While I'd agree that Miami isn't stellar, they finished the season on a tear, while we sucked.  I think it says something that we're taking care of them the way we're doing it.  If we sweep, I think it says a good bit about the C's being back.

That said, it doesn't mean we're beating Cleveland.  However, we did split the season series with them 2-2, and the one blowout loss we had came without PP. 

I think they at least have a shot.  The frontcourt is a tough matchup for us.  With all the defense that's going to have to be played on LeBron, Jamison, and Shaq, Ray and Rondo better be ready to carry the offensive load. 

We also blew a big lead in that game without Pierce if I'm not mistaken. Hold on to that and it's 3-1. I think we play Cleveland pretty well.

Maybe the Celtics really were waiting for the playoffs to start. Everything looks to be more efficient. It's been the best defense I've seen all year long. There wasn't near as much movement on the court during the regular season - it seems.

[FallGuy]

It's a tough read right now. Miami is a bad basketball team, as we've seen. So it's hard to take that much from us running them over. But we have been playing with a lot more focus, effort and intensity since the playoffs. Which is a big positive no matter who our opponent is. I would still pick Cleveland at this point - they're hungrier than Boston this year, have more frontcourt depth and the best player in the series. But I wouldn't be surprised if it went seven games.

  When you say Miami's a bad basketball team, remember they won 18 of 22 before the playoffs. I don't know that puts them in the "bad" category.

True but their last twenty-two games were a rather easy stretch of their schedule.

Miami clearly doesn't match up well with the Celtics. They're undersized, lack the altheticism to attack us, and are completely reliant on Wade to create offense. They're the 13th best team in the playoffs.

Agreed re: Miami's schedule and match ups. Not pulverizing Miami would be cause for concern. So far, the C's are doing what they're supposed to be doing. But I don't think we can draw any real conclusions until we see them against Cleveland.

[PosImpos]

I'd give the C's a 10-20% chance in that series.

Yes, they played them even in the regular season, but Cleveland just has so many weapons and you'd better believe the refs will be on their side.  The Big 4 will have to step up big time in order for them to have a shot at winning the series.

One way or another, I think it'll go 6 or 7 games.

  It's not much (if any) worse than 50-50. But beyond that, would you favor Cleveland over Orlando? I don't know that I would.

I would've given them a 10-20% chance against Cleveland (assuming they won in the Quarter-Finals of course) before the playoffs. After these last 3 games, I'd say it's 50-50. What the Celtics did this season, is smart when you think about it. Last season, PP/RA were too gassed carrying the load when KG went out, KG missed the playoffs, because they went balls-to-the-wall for 2 seasons straight, including 40 playoffs games combined. The Celtics definitely have a better chance against Cleveland because they saved it for the playoffs than if they played the season with the same intensity level of the last 2 years. It almost feels like we traded for 4 future Hall-Of-Famers and some good D when the playoffs started. lol

Eh.  I'm inspired like the rest of you by the Celtics' recent play, especially Paul Pierce's heroics.  Still, I feel pretty much the same about the Cleveland series as I did about this Miami one...I'll have a pretty good idea what to expect after Game 1.  

Until then, I will go far enough to say I think the C's have a solid chance if they can continue playing like this...but I still think Cleveland has the decided edge.  The question remains, too - can the Celtics continue playing like that?  The C's honestly could go ahead and lose the next two games.  They have it in them; we saw it in the regular season.

Still, I'm optimistic.  We basically have this series wrapped up, and the Celtics have given themselves the momentum to really give Cleveland a run for their money.  Time will tell how well they can do.

[guava_wrench]

Clev is a better team and a tougher matchup for us because they have more than just one good player.

I think we have a chance, but they would be heavy favorites. Nevertheless, a 25% chance is still 1 in 4.

[Mike-Dub]

Clev is a better team

Cleveland a better team?  We'll see.

[radiohead]

The C's seem to be peaking at the right time. Cleveland on the other hand, has proven to be an excellent regular season team, but has been disappointing in the playoffs the past two seasons. The Cavs may be favored against the C's, but if this develops into one of those grinding, defense-oriented series, the Celtics may just pull it off!

[GreenFaith1819]

Well, considering how up and down we've been this season, I cannot fault those who may have questioned us against CLE.

I always thought that if we could get by MIA convincingly, that would be a tell-tail sign for me that The Celtics were back to playing Celtics Basketball.

Over the last 3 games, I am seeing Defensive Patterns I haven't seen in MONTHS with this team - the classic funneling the opposing slashers to the waiting arms of Perk and KG..Rondo flying all over the place...Pierce playing with Swagger..Ray Ray having two very solid offensive games.

The Amazing thing with Pierce is that His Body Language told me that Every Shot he took on Friday was going in, even if it didn't.

As for CLE: Sure they are a Top Notch Contender. They can be Taken, though. Lebron had better not make the mistake of making his dislike of Boston personal in a potential series with us.

If he scores 40-50 in any game, we win that game I think.

No one man can beat Boston.

All we have to do is make Lebron work on Defense. Pierce will do that, considering how he is playing now.

All odds against Boston right now. Just the way I like it.