"The celtics are going to get in their way"

[celticinorlando]

cavs are built to beat orlando..not boston. i don't buy the cavs are not playing hard. i think they are getting pushed around and they know it.

[celticinorlando]

and i think james' is hurt and he knows it. he missed all of practice today getting his elbow worked on. i think he is timid because he can't use his arm like he is used to. varaejo is day to day..prolly will lay but wont be close to 100 percent..

boston has a chance to knock these guys out this weekend

[hwangjini_1]

to be honest, i am disappointed in the celtics so far since they only won one game in cleveland. they really should have taken the first game as well.

but as they have often done, once they took a large lead they sat on their heels defensively and on offense settled for too many long jump shots.

to beat cleveland, who is a very very good team, the celtics have to play very smart basketball. they have to play very great passion, and they must be totally dedicated to defense for the ENTIRE 48 minutes.

as long as boston plays as above, they are the better team and they should win in  games max.

and i made this prediction before the series began.

go celtics!

[BballTim]

Since 2008, no one wanted to give the credit our defense deserved. They always pointed to the other team playing poorly, and that's why our defense was looking as good as it did...

Cleveland playing poorly IS a direct consequence of our defense on them. They're uncomfortable. Nothing they're trying is working. It's demoralizing, and they're not handling it well.

 This is the truth of the situation.

[Trifecta]

Well sure it's easy to talk that way, "Oh the Cavs only have to step it up a notch, they're fine, etc., etc." I personally don't have a problem because the last thing the C's need is to think they've already won this series.

HOWEVER, if I'm a Cavs supporter, I have to wonder where the Cavs are going to go to get some contributions. LeBron is not going to single-handedly beat the Celtics, I don't care if Mr. Miyagi works out his elbow before every game.

Mo Williams aside from his super quarter is Rondo's punching bag. Shaq looks like he weighs 500 pounds out there and Perk is limiting him severely. Jamison can't guard KG and can't shoot over him either. Someone else has to go up about 2-3 gears for the Cavs to have a chance. Who is that guy going to be?

If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say JJ Hickson.  I can see him kicking it off from sheer energy alone.  Before this series, I was most afraid of Anderson Varejao on the Cavs, but now Hickson has taken that spot..

I'm still a believer. Celtics can do this.

Yeah, Hickson had a good night. However I'm not sure he is a 20 pt type of guy. If we cn get any production out of Baby and Sheed we should be able to neutralize him..

JJ Hickson is overrated. He's an energy guy and only gets his offense from good passes from teammates. He's young and athletic, yes, great energy guy, but he can't get his own offense consistently enough for me to be afraid of him.

[Thruthelookingglass]

i think KG is better than jamison and i think perk is playing shaq to a draw

A Draw? Shaq is shooting 36% for the series. When was the last time Shaq shot under 40%? And he is a liability on Defense. Perk giving the Celtics 10point to go along with 10rebounds. Perk wins this match-up in a landslide.

Perk deserves hazard pay for this assignment.  Shaq dwarfs Perk and is shoving him around something fierce, but Perk's bothering him into a horrible series.  I love watching Perk this series.

Shaq's been most effective for the Cavs when he is knocking Rondo to the floor.

[Spilling Green Dye]

i think KG is better than jamison and i think perk is playing shaq to a draw

A Draw? Shaq is shooting 36% for the series. When was the last time Shaq shot under 40%? And he is a liability on Defense. Perk giving the Celtics 10point to go along with 10rebounds. Perk wins this match-up in a landslide.

My friend and I were discussing this just today, and we easily concluded that it's a draw.  Perk's defense might be a bit better, but his offensive ability is less than Shaq's. 

Despite Lebron playing worse than usual, in large part due to the improved defense of the Celtics, I still think he's playing much better than Pierce is in this series. 

In all I think the Celtics have 3 clear-cut matchup advantages, 1 draw, and 1 mismatch not in their favor.

[CoachBo]

You want to be careful not to boil this series down exclusively to matchups, because there's one x factor that may or may not have been mentioned earlier.

The onus has been on Rondo all series, but it's even moreso now because of this: Unless Mike Brown is an idiot, the Cavs will come out Friday night intent on running, intent on pushing the tempo higher.

Where Rondo has been his most brilliant in the first two games is in his absolute refusal to allow a higher tempo than our old ballclub can handle.

The pressure will really be on him to deliver that in Game 3, and beyond. We cannot run with the Cavs and win.

[jdub1660]

The Celtics SHOULD be up 2-0, but they chose to blow it in the 4th quarter as usual in game 1. Either way, the matchup problems that I was expecting haven't actually made a difference.

Jamison has yet to be a difference maker. An 80% KG is shutting him down and scoring all over him.
MoWill has yet to have an OUTstanding game above Rondo.
DWest and Parker haven't really caused Ray any problems.
And Shaq and Z are as old and slow as they were in the season.

Celtics should win this in 5. Win both games in Boston then close it out in Cleveland to prepare for Orlando, b/c the Hawks can't beat the Magic.