And, oddly enough - the same three players that we believed would've made a difference last May-June are Jeff Green, Avery Bradley, and to some extent Chris Wilcox.
AB and Jeff Green are playing rather well right now, and Wilcox has been solid, too.
Even without Rondo, I still LOVE our opportunity.
Since Rondo went down, we've beaten the Lakers (probable playoff team, maybe more), Clips (playoff team even without CP3), TOR (IN TOR, and improved), CHI (A probable 2nd round team even without Rose), DEN (probable 2nd round team in the West), and MIA.....
Yep...I absolutely LOVE our chances, here. I was sad to see Barbosa go down, but even with THAT here is (IMO) our probable playoff rotation:
C - KG/Wilcox/Collins/Free Agent Big
PF - Bass/Wilcox/Green
SF - Pierce/Green
SG - Lee/Jet
PG - AB-Jet
I believe MIA does NOT have a clear path...if anything, I'm betting that they hope they don't meet us until the ECFs...for me, I'd rather get them EARLY...
Imagine that...an 8th seed beating a 1 seed....it has happened before:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XGt25SRmdgAnything's possible, right?
DEN had a tough, defensive-minded Center back then....we have that, too.