Boston would look "overrated" if our two best players (Pierce and KG) were injured too.
Bulls were awesome. The MVP from last year is hurt. Noah missed tonight. What do you expect?
Also Rondo is our best player, and we still won a game vs the 4 seed without him.
KG is our best player. No question. Pierce is our 2nd best. Rondo is 3rd. All three are allstars.
And the Bulls DID win a game against Philly. Unfortunately their team relies on Rose primarily for offense. Whereas Boston has a pretty balanced attack of scorers lead by Paul Pierce (with Rondo doing a good job of getting our scorers the ball).
Noah's defensive presence on that team is similar to KG for us. You remove Noah alone and that team takes a major step back (kinda like us in 09 when we clawed away without KG as overachieving non-contenders)... then imagine taking Paul Pierce off the Celtics as well... that's what it's like removing Rose except worse since Rose is an even bigger offensive threat. If you're curious what Boston looks like without Paul pierce, check our first three games this year (all losses). We generally lose without Pierce. We generally win without Rondo... and that's because of Paul Pierce.
I can see comparing Noah to KG... I can't see comparing Rose to Rondo. Rose is a phenomenal offensive player (like Pierce). Rondo isn't. He's an elite setup guy.