How we stack up against Miami

[Spilling Green Dye]

All NBA defender at SF isn't an all NBA defender at PG.

I think he should have never been NBA in defense.  It was something they did to hype him up.  But its a reach, you want to tell me he was a better defender than Tony Allen?  Heck no!  Another hat in his feather not earned by his Big Daddy Stern. 

Anyone who takes his all NBA defense seriously didn't watch him play much.  Sure he affects peeps on D more through tiring them out with his offense.   That was the case of PP this year.   Not with his lockdown D.  His all NBA selection was joke!

Yes, Lebron is that good on defense.  He absolutely destroys Pierce when he's guarding him.. and don't tell me it's because "Pierce was tired from guarding Lebron".  Pierce was looking over his shoulder before every shot and often times was too timid to make a move. 

Also, Lebron has practically played the PG position for a number of years.  In fact, I recall his rookie year in fantasy he was listed as a PG/SF.  Lebron is a facilitor on offense on the perimeter, which is what a PG is.  The only thing I don't see him doing all the time is bringing the ball up, but I'm sure he could do it. 

Rondo on Lebron isn't that bad.  I actually liked it in last year's playoffs.  Because Lebron has no real post-game, and the Celtics help defense down low was great, Rondo was picking him up at halfcourt and defending him for the first 5-10 seconds of the shot clock.  This worked out well b/c Rondo is fast enough to stay in front of him and harrass him. 

[Snakehead]

All NBA defender at SF isn't an all NBA defender at PG.

I think he should have never been NBA in defense.  It was something they did to hype him up.  But its a reach, you want to tell me he was a better defender than Tony Allen?  Heck no!  Another hat in his feather not earned by his Big Daddy Stern. 

Anyone who takes his all NBA defense seriously didn't watch him play much.  Sure he affects peeps on D more through tiring them out with his offense.   That was the case of PP this year.   Not with his lockdown D.  His all NBA selection was joke!

Yes, Lebron is that good on defense.  He absolutely destroys Pierce when he's guarding him.. and don't tell me it's because "Pierce was tired from guarding Lebron".  Pierce was looking over his shoulder before every shot and often times was too timid to make a move. 

Also, Lebron has practically played the PG position for a number of years.  In fact, I recall his rookie year in fantasy he was listed as a PG/SF.  Lebron is a facilitor on offense on the perimeter, which is what a PG is.  The only thing I don't see him doing all the time is bringing the ball up, but I'm sure he could do it. 

Rondo on Lebron isn't that bad.  I actually liked it in last year's playoffs.  Because Lebron has no real post-game, and the Celtics help defense down low was great, Rondo was picking him up at halfcourt and defending him for the first 5-10 seconds of the shot clock.  This worked out well b/c Rondo is fast enough to stay in front of him and harrass him. 

TA being a better defender than LeBron is laughable.  Green Dye is completely right, LeBron now owns Pierce and he is the best defensive SF in the NBA, that's the case.  You must not have been watching if you think not.

LeBron can completely play PG, he is a great passer but he also is a play maker.  He did in fact play point forward on the Cavs... if anyone thinks he did not I don't know what team they were watching.  Who did? Mo Williams?  Because he is just basically a SG who spots up brings the ball up the floor.  If all LeBron has to do to become a PG is bring the ball up the floor... I think he can handle it.

And again, Cavs had terrible offensive schemes. A good offensive gameplan with LeBron at PG?  I could see him averaging 10 assists a game.

Anyways, LeBron would probably match up with Rondo on D to use the "sag off" method everyone uses against us, but on other teams with PGs that can shoot, Wade can pick up PGs, and then Miller and Bron can pick up either the SG or SF depending on what is the better matchup.

[BballTim]

I think they're not very smart if they don't use LeBron as their PG.  They should have him start at PG, Wade at SG, and Miller as the SF.  This gives them way more matchup issues and gives them a great shooter in their starting 5 to compinsate for LBJ and Wade's deficiencies there.

I think that will happen, but we'll see.


Another thing to consider with their lineup is though their bench may not be great, they will probably be staggering Wade and LBJ in the lineup so that one of them can always be on the court.  These guys have carried teams of a similar quality, so I think that they can dominate the ball and keep the 2nd units still pretty productive.


I think the inside game will be the matchup we have to work.  LBJ and Wade may tear us up but hopefully the bigs can meet them at the rim and at least not make it too easy.

im not sure if Lebron being at pg will help them, Rondo yes can blow by Chalmers easily, but don't forget Rondo knows Lebron's game...for the last 2 seasons Lebron made Rondo looked bad...this year's playoffs, Rondo basically outplayed the whole Cavs...

I expect Rondo to also blow by James, and I expect a lot of steals from Rondo

also, with Mike Miller at starting sf, yes he can shoot really well, but he won't guard Paul as good as James did in the playoffs

i could be wrong we'll see

James is a very good defender, an All-NBA defender, so I don't think he will be blown past that badly.  Rondo can blow past a lot of people but James can also meet him at the rim and the big part is that he can sag off of him in the half court just like everyone else does since he is not a shooting threat.  Then he can roam around and help and double team and also rebound, this is how Kobe had such a bad Game 7 but so many rebounds, he crashed the boards while sagging off Rondo.  That would be a big problem.

  If LeBron could cover Rondo, why didn't they try it in the playoffs? James has plenty of speed and quickness for a sf, but Rondo would go right around him.

[Snakehead]

I think they're not very smart if they don't use LeBron as their PG.  They should have him start at PG, Wade at SG, and Miller as the SF.  This gives them way more matchup issues and gives them a great shooter in their starting 5 to compinsate for LBJ and Wade's deficiencies there.

I think that will happen, but we'll see.


Another thing to consider with their lineup is though their bench may not be great, they will probably be staggering Wade and LBJ in the lineup so that one of them can always be on the court.  These guys have carried teams of a similar quality, so I think that they can dominate the ball and keep the 2nd units still pretty productive.


I think the inside game will be the matchup we have to work.  LBJ and Wade may tear us up but hopefully the bigs can meet them at the rim and at least not make it too easy.

im not sure if Lebron being at pg will help them, Rondo yes can blow by Chalmers easily, but don't forget Rondo knows Lebron's game...for the last 2 seasons Lebron made Rondo looked bad...this year's playoffs, Rondo basically outplayed the whole Cavs...

I expect Rondo to also blow by James, and I expect a lot of steals from Rondo

also, with Mike Miller at starting sf, yes he can shoot really well, but he won't guard Paul as good as James did in the playoffs

i could be wrong we'll see

James is a very good defender, an All-NBA defender, so I don't think he will be blown past that badly.  Rondo can blow past a lot of people but James can also meet him at the rim and the big part is that he can sag off of him in the half court just like everyone else does since he is not a shooting threat.  Then he can roam around and help and double team and also rebound, this is how Kobe had such a bad Game 7 but so many rebounds, he crashed the boards while sagging off Rondo.  That would be a big problem.

  If LeBron could cover Rondo, why didn't they try it in the playoffs? James has plenty of speed and quickness for a sf, but Rondo would go right around him.

Because he was too busy shutting down Paul Pierce, our best scorer.  And again the idea with him covering Rondo is not in the open court it is sagging off in the half court set like we have seen over and over again against us.

[Bankshot]

How do they stack up against us?
Bosh is an all star but he honestly doesn't scare me in the least.  Wade is a guy who can't be stopped period.  James is great but has shown against the celtics to (giveup?) or be simply outplayed by our defense.
pg celtics big advantage
sg heat advantage
sf heat advantage
pf celtics advantage
c celtics advantage
bench celtics advantage big time

I actually think miami is better with miller starting

You think Miller should start over Lebron?

[hwangjini_1]

What worries me is this. The cavs with lebron  almost beat the celtics. What would have happened if the cavs last year had Dwayne Wade on their team as well?

Could the celtics had beaten them?

Now add bosh to the cavs as well last year.

It would have been a much much closer series. Miami will be.a very tough team to beat, especially after they have played together for a year. The celtics can win, but it will be hard.

[2short]

How do they stack up against us?
Bosh is an all star but he honestly doesn't scare me in the least.  Wade is a guy who can't be stopped period.  James is great but has shown against the celtics to (giveup?) or be simply outplayed by our defense.
pg celtics big advantage
sg heat advantage
sf heat advantage
pf celtics advantage
c celtics advantage
bench celtics advantage big time

I actually think miami is better with miller starting

You think Miller should start over Lebron?

I'm laughing, as a celtic fan yes I think he should, bench bosh while they are at it
I actually think a lineup that would create problems for other teams is miller, wade, bosh and lebron on the floor at the same time, throw any rebounding c in there.  Wade is good enough to guard most pgs in the nba, only the fastest would give him issues (rondo) but can rondo defend wade? miller can score and stretch the floor.  Lebron has proven that he needs the lane clear to be a "king" or whatever he and espn  think he is

[ducksawce]

In addressing the offense, has anyone thought about this yet?  What is the answer to Lebron slowing-down Paul PIerce's production?  How can this Celtics team win against the Heat with Lebron guarding Lebron?

Simple...do the same thing LA did to us in the finals when Kobe couldn't produce against an inordinate level of defense.  Rely on your frontcourt to shoulder much of the offensive load.

I think the strategy that the Celtics will use against the Heat (offensively-speaking at least) is this.  Rondo will be used to initiate the offense (obviously) and break-down the defense.  Right there is a HUGE advantage for us (Chalmers got blown by nearly every possession against Rondo...and if you're already questioning whether the Heat might place Wade on Rondo?...good luck putting Chalmers on Ray!). 

Well who are Rondo's main targets on offense?  Primarily bigs...and perimeter-shooting wings.  I think this upcoming year, we are going to see the same Paul Pierce we are accustomed to seeing against most teams, but against the Heat, he will take on a different role...the role of the spot-up shooter.  Oddly enough, Ray has become more of an instigator on offense, and he has shown that he can do so very well against Wade.

The point is, Pierce will have learned from his Round 2 performance against Lebron, and he will likely spot up much more from outside.  This wan't so possible before, because we simply didn't have bigs that could prove to be offensive threats (besides KG). 

Does anyone realize just how devastating having a CONSTANT offensive threat at the 4 and 5 positions, 48 minutes per game can be against the Heat?  I think people are severely underestimating how effective this will be.  Against any other contender such as LA and Orlando, having massively-capable offensive bigs would be valuable enough, but against Miami it could change the tide entirely.  Miami has no defensive presence down low.  The Celtics will get in the penalty early and often.  The spacing on the floor will be BETTER.  Remember, Rondo doesn't need space, he needs soft hands to dish to.  It's Ray and Paul that need space...with offensively-capable bigs, it is THOSE two that will benefit the most...

...and to conclude, it very well may be that Paul Pierce benefits the most.  If he doesn't have to be relied upon to consistently go mano-a-mano with Lebron at the high post, then he'll be free to do what he actually does best these days...bomb from afar.

[BballTim]

I think they're not very smart if they don't use LeBron as their PG.  They should have him start at PG, Wade at SG, and Miller as the SF.  This gives them way more matchup issues and gives them a great shooter in their starting 5 to compinsate for LBJ and Wade's deficiencies there.

I think that will happen, but we'll see.


Another thing to consider with their lineup is though their bench may not be great, they will probably be staggering Wade and LBJ in the lineup so that one of them can always be on the court.  These guys have carried teams of a similar quality, so I think that they can dominate the ball and keep the 2nd units still pretty productive.


I think the inside game will be the matchup we have to work.  LBJ and Wade may tear us up but hopefully the bigs can meet them at the rim and at least not make it too easy.

im not sure if Lebron being at pg will help them, Rondo yes can blow by Chalmers easily, but don't forget Rondo knows Lebron's game...for the last 2 seasons Lebron made Rondo looked bad...this year's playoffs, Rondo basically outplayed the whole Cavs...

I expect Rondo to also blow by James, and I expect a lot of steals from Rondo

also, with Mike Miller at starting sf, yes he can shoot really well, but he won't guard Paul as good as James did in the playoffs

i could be wrong we'll see

James is a very good defender, an All-NBA defender, so I don't think he will be blown past that badly.  Rondo can blow past a lot of people but James can also meet him at the rim and the big part is that he can sag off of him in the half court just like everyone else does since he is not a shooting threat.  Then he can roam around and help and double team and also rebound, this is how Kobe had such a bad Game 7 but so many rebounds, he crashed the boards while sagging off Rondo.  That would be a big problem.

  If LeBron could cover Rondo, why didn't they try it in the playoffs? James has plenty of speed and quickness for a sf, but Rondo would go right around him.

Because he was too busy shutting down Paul Pierce, our best scorer.  And again the idea with him covering Rondo is not in the open court it is sagging off in the half court set like we have seen over and over again against us.

  Yeah, that's why LeBron volunteered to guard Rondo in the middle of the series. The Cavs decided that the smart thing to do was to let the guy that dropped 29/18/12 on them to continue to go wild and dominate the series. That was *clearly* their plan.

  

[Donoghus]

I really don't see why Lebron can't make a rather seemless transition to the PG position.  Especially on the offensive.

This guy is already one of the better playmakers in the league and with two Top 10 guys around him, its just gonna make the transition easier. 

Lebron is probably the best player in the NBA right now.  His skillset is close to unmatched so if anyone can pull it off, I'm sure Lebron can.   In Cleveland, the offense was running through him and he was pretty effective as evidenced by his MVP awards.  You put guys like Wade & Bosh around him?  I mean, it can definitely work. 

Defensively, it could be a little tricky.  Especially when he's matching up against the quicker, smaller guards but he'll also have two teammates that will go a LONG way to take some of the burden off him in the offensive end if he's busting it on defense.

[slamtheking]

in short, C's have the advantages at PG and in the frontcourt.  Miami has the advantage at the wing rotation.

in a head to head matchup, I think the C's can prevail based on a few things occurring:
- their sheer volume of post players gives them enough depth to absorb fouls on penetrations.
- if they pound the ball inside to their bigs and they can get Bosh and Haslem into foul trouble.  no one else in Miami's frontcourt is of much concern.
- Rondo becomes respectable at the line where he can make Miami either pay for fouling him on drives or make them reluctant to foul and either give him buckets or easy assists around the hoop.
- the C's can get enough offense without relying on Ray and PP to carry the load.  Also, Quis and Von need to step up defensively as well as be legitimate offensive threats where their man (when assigned to Bron or Wade) has to stay with them and not essentially play free safety on D.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

Battier would be such a good pickup...he stopped kobe big time..every time..if you can stop kobe, you can stop wade or lebron...!

[Celtics4ever]

I think LeBron's skillsets are not as high as you think.  He is skilled but he coasts by on his superior athletic ability more than skill.   The guy is a mediocre shooter, he does have a have basketball IQ and is a solid passer though.