Love+Rondo+Deng+Asik+ Martin. Does this team win the East?

[Casperian]

That team is not better than any of the teams in the conference finals. Portland, the Clippers, Houston, all better. If Rose is healthy, Chicago is better, too. Maybe even Atlanta if Horford is healthy.

Weak sauce.

[BballTim]

No offense to the OP, but you are kidding right?

To summarise:
- Rondo: We already had lastyear
- Martin: Is a horrible defender and had scoring production on par with Bradley last season
- Deng: Is no better than Green yet a signifcant injury risk
- Love: Is one of the worst defensive bigs in the NBA
- Asik: Is one of the worst offensive bigs in the NBA

This team would unlikely be any better than the team we had last season (which finished with the 5th worst record in the NBA).  The absolute ceiling for this team (assuming all the stars aligned and miracles happened) would be lottery in the west, or a first round (sweep) exit in the east.  The floor would basically be the same thing we just went through last season - a bottom 8 finish.

That's a terrible team.

  The odds on that team missing the playoffs is fairly remote. This post reminds me of some posts after we got KG claiming we'd be lucky to win more than 47-48 games with that lineup.

[Celtics4ever]

No.  It does not.

[crimson_stallion]

Honestly you have no idea what you're talking about.

Really?  Ok, lets me humour you and take a look at your points.

That line up has scoring

Where?

Rondo has never been more than a 14 PPG scorer and is a liability from outside the three point line.

Martin is a legit scorer - fair call.

Deng was far inferior to Green last season offensively (14 PPG, 43% FG, 30% 3PT)

Love is a legit scorer - fair call.

Asik has never scored more than 12 points per 36 minutes in his entire career.

That's a team with two scorers and three non-scorers.  Not exactly the Miami Heat.

defensiveness toughness

Where is the defensive toughness? 

The only two players on that team with any defensive capabilities (i.e. who are not defensive liabilities) are Deng and Asik.

Rondo has been comically bad defensively the past two seasons, Love is one of the worst defensive bigs in the entire NBA, and Kevin Martin is Love's defensive equivalent at the SG spot.

How does that defense even come close to matching the defense of a team like Chicago or Indiana?

and size

Where's the dominant size?  The only guys with useful size are Asik and Deng.

Rondo is 6'1" which is short even for a PG, and his length hasn't helped lately because his defense the past 2 seasons has been attrocious.

Kevin Martin is 6'7" but hardly plays like it - his a horrible defender and a terrible rebounder.
 
Love is practically the same size as Sullinger (one inch taller but with a much shorter wingspan), who has been destroyed by bigger PF's and centers all season long.

Asik and Deng have good size for their position, but Asik has been a barely-above-average shot blocker most of his career (1.7 blocks per 36 minutes).

it's probably the best rebounding team in the NBA and has 3 excellent three point shooters to spread the floor for Rondo penetrate.

I'll give you the rebouding argument (it would be a fantastic rebounding team), but who are your three excellent three point shooters?

Rondo shot 29% from three last season 25% for his career
Martin shot 39% from three last season 39% for his career (fair call)
Deng shot  30% from three last season and 33% for his career
Love shot 38% from three last season and 35% for his career
Asik shot 0% from three last season and has never made a three in his life

* Deng shot a lower percentage from three than Gree did last year
* Love shot only a 2% higher percentage from three than Olynyk did last year

The only guy you can make an argument for being an 'Excellent three point shooter" (if you take in to account both last season and their overall career) is Kevin Martin.  Kevin Love is a good three point shooter (but not excellet) and Deng has shot over 35% from three only four times in his 12 year career.

It's got 3 All Stars in a terrible eastern conference and wipes the floor with a team like Chicago or Atlanta.

Who are the three all stars?

* Did Rondo make the All Star team last year? 
* Did Martin make the All Star team last year?
* Did Deng make the All Star team last year? 
* Did Asik make the All Star team last year?

No. 

The team has one All-Star and that is Love.  Sure it has three "Former" all stars, but if you want to use that argument you can also say Brooklyn had Five (!!!) All Stars - Deron, Joe Johnson, Pierce, KG and Lopez.  Based on your logic they should have guaranteed to make the Finals and win the East.  What, they didn't?  Oh, really?

Deng is far more consistent than Green and has a better overall game- he's an All Star and Green's been lucky to make the All Star ballot.

Was.  Deng WAS an All-Star.

Deng is not far more consistent than Green.  Look at his games this season and look how much his scoring numbers bounce around like a bobble head in a rally car.  Deng is every bit as inconsistent as Green is, with the only difference being that Green still has the capabilities to have the occasional dominant (30-40 point) offensive game, which Deng does not.  Deng has also missed 20% of his games over the past two seasons, while Green has not missed a single game due to injury.  Defensively, these days, they are about on par. 

You're sadly mistaken, in fact you're comical in your analysis.

Really? 

Because if you think that team is beating either Indiana or Miami in a 3 game series (regular season or playoffs) then I'm sorry, but it's your analysis that is the comical one.

[BballTim]

Honestly you have no idea what you're talking about.

Really?  Ok, lets me humour you and take a look at your points.

That line up has scoring

Where?

Rondo has never been more than a 14 PPG scorer and is a liability from outside the three point line.

Martin is a legit scorer - fair call.

Deng was far inferior to Green last season offensively (14 PPG, 43% FG, 30% 3PT)

Love is a legit scorer - fair call.

Asik has never scored more than 12 points per 36 minutes in his entire career.

That's a team with two scorers and three non-scorers.  Not exactly the Miami Heat.

defensiveness toughness

Where is the defensive toughness? 

The only two players on that team with any defensive capabilities (i.e. who are not defensive liabilities) are Deng and Asik.

Rondo has been comically bad defensively the past two seasons, Love is one of the worst defensive bigs in the entire NBA, and Kevin Martin is Love's defensive equivalent at the SG spot.

How does that defense even come close to matching the defense of a team like Chicago or Indiana?

and size

Where's the dominant size?  The only guys with useful size are Asik and Deng.

Rondo is 6'1" which is short even for a PG, and his length hasn't helped lately because his defense the past 2 seasons has been attrocious.

Kevin Martin is 6'7" but hardly plays like it - his a horrible defender and a terrible rebounder.
 
Love is practically the same size as Sullinger (one inch taller but with a much shorter wingspan), who has been destroyed by bigger PF's and centers all season long.

Asik and Deng have good size for their position, but Asik has been a barely-above-average shot blocker most of his career (1.7 blocks per 36 minutes).

it's probably the best rebounding team in the NBA and has 3 excellent three point shooters to spread the floor for Rondo penetrate.

I'll give you the rebouding argument (it would be a fantastic rebounding team), but who are your three excellent three point shooters?

Rondo shot 29% from three last season 25% for his career
Martin shot 39% from three last season 39% for his career (fair call)
Deng shot  30% from three last season and 33% for his career
Love shot 38% from three last season and 35% for his career
Asik shot 0% from three last season and has never made a three in his life

* Deng shot a lower percentage from three than Gree did last year
* Love shot only a 2% higher percentage from three than Olynyk did last year

The only guy you can make an argument for being an 'Excellent three point shooter" (if you take in to account both last season and their overall career) is Kevin Martin.  Kevin Love is a good three point shooter (but not excellet) and Deng has shot over 35% from three only four times in his 12 year career.

It's got 3 All Stars in a terrible eastern conference and wipes the floor with a team like Chicago or Atlanta.

Who are the three all stars?

* Did Rondo make the All Star team last year? 
* Did Martin make the All Star team last year?
* Did Deng make the All Star team last year? 
* Did Asik make the All Star team last year?

No. 

The team has one All-Star and that is Love.  Sure it has three "Former" all stars, but if you want to use that argument you can also say Brooklyn had Five (!!!) All Stars - Deron, Joe Johnson, Pierce, KG and Lopez.  Based on your logic they should have guaranteed to make the Finals and win the East.  What, they didn't?  Oh, really?

Deng is far more consistent than Green and has a better overall game- he's an All Star and Green's been lucky to make the All Star ballot.

Was.  Deng WAS an All-Star.

Deng is not far more consistent than Green.  Look at his games this season and look how much his scoring numbers bounce around like a bobble head in a rally car.  Deng is every bit as inconsistent as Green is, with the only difference being that Green still has the capabilities to have the occasional dominant (30-40 point) offensive game, which Deng does not.  Deng has also missed 20% of his games over the past two seasons, while Green has not missed a single game due to injury.  Defensively, these days, they are about on par. 

You're sadly mistaken, in fact you're comical in your analysis.

Really? 

Because if you think that team is beating either Indiana or Miami in a 3 game series (regular season or playoffs) then I'm sorry, but it's your analysis that is the comical one.

  Interesting post. A few things worth pointing out, though. 1, Love's a good 3 point shooter. In his last 3 healthy seasons he's  hit .385% of his 3s combined. It's also worth pointing out that he takes quite a few of them, which is one of the reasons he's a very efficient scorer. So's Martin, btw, in fact Asik scores pretty efficiently as well. Also,while Rondo and Deng didn't make last year's all-star game, they're both in their 20s and made multiple consecutive all-star teams immediately prior to last year. Like it or not, I'm sure you realize why this is different than guys in their mid-late 30s like KG and PP.

  You also need to consider the improvements to our offensive and defensive efficiency we'd see with 2 of the very best rebounders in the league in the lineup, as well as one of the best rebounders in the league for his position (Rondo). We'd have plenty of scoring with that lineup and be pretty solid defensively. It's a much better team than you think.

[BballTim]

That line up has scoring

Where?

Rondo has never been more than a 14 PPG scorer and is a liability from outside the three point line.

Martin is a legit scorer - fair call.

Deng was far inferior to Green last season offensively (14 PPG, 43% FG, 30% 3PT)

Love is a legit scorer - fair call.

Asik has never scored more than 12 points per 36 minutes in his entire career.

That's a team with two scorers and three non-scorers.  Not exactly the Miami Heat.

  Say you get something like 25 ppg from Love, 18 from Martin, 14 from Deng, 11 from Rondo and 8 from Asik. None of those numbers are unattainably high, in fact they're all probably below what the players scored in their last years as starters. That's about 76 ppg, which is what Miami gets from their starters.

[crimson_stallion]

  Interesting post. A few things worth pointing out, though. 1, Love's a good 3 point shooter. In his last 3 healthy seasons he's  hit .385% of his 3s combined.

I agree, he is a good three point shooter.  I wouldn't say he's an excellent one though,  I'd say an excellent three point shooter is one who consistently shoots around 40% for his career while taking a significant number of attempts.

Listing only loves 3 healthy seasons means little.  If he's constantly injured and that's putting off his shooting, then that is also something to consider. 

Bradley last season just came off a double shoulder surgery AND was oft-injured during the season, and was attemping quite a few threes (around 3 per game) yet he still finished the season shooting 40% from three.  He shot 40% a couple of season's back too.  I wouldn't say he's an excellent three point shooter though, because he hasn't shot that type of numbers consistently over his entire career - I'd say he's a good three point shooter, and will let time work out whether he becomes a great one.

in fact Asik scores pretty efficiently as well.

True, but scoring efficently doesn;t mean you are a good scorer.  Chris Wilcox was I think top 5 in the NBA in FG% when he was in Boston, but he hardly made us a contender with his offense.  Likewise Tyson Chandler has consistently shot around 60% from the field, but you'd still call him a pretty mediocre offensive player.  I'd say Chandler is a bigger offensive threat than Asik because at least he could get above the rim to catch lobs off Rondo and thrown them down, wheras Asik does not play above the rim, at all.  Offensively he is pretty much Kris Humphreys minus the midrange jumper - pretty much just a garbage guy who will get some points on put backs, etc. Hump minus the jumper would be a pretty crappy offensive guy.

Fact remains that as long as Asik is on the court, the defense does not have to pay any defensive attenton to the center position because he is zero threat to score.  They can easilly stock their worst defensive big on Asik, and put their top defensive player on Love.  This is where I feel it hurts having a guy who is such a non-factor on offense.  I don't believe we need a great offensive player at the Center spot, but we at least need a guy who is some type of threat to score, and who can at least hit an open jumper.

Also,while Rondo and Deng didn't make last year's all-star game, they're both in their 20s and made multiple consecutive all-star teams immediately prior to last year. Like it or not, I'm sure you realize why this is different than guys in their mid-late 30s like KG and PP.

Yes, but Deng was a borderline All-Star who just happened to sneak in purely because the Bulls had such a good record (you could easilly argue that Pierce/Iggy were equally deserving, if not moreso) so it;s not like he has been a bonafide All-Star.  He's been a Borderline All-Star who has just barely scraped in, and is now clearly on the decline - he was not even close to All-Star level last season.   At this particular point in their careers Deng is no better than Green, and to argue any differerent would be difficult. 

You also need to consider the improvements to our offensive and defensive efficiency we'd see with 2 of the very best rebounders in the league in the lineup, as well as one of the best rebounders in the league for his position (Rondo). We'd have plenty of scoring with that lineup and be pretty solid defensively. It's a much better team than you think.

Sullinger, Humphries and Olynyk were all very good rebounders last season.  The Celtics as a team were actually a pretty good rebounding team.  Per 36 Sully and Olynyk were two of the best Offensive Rebounders in the entire league.

Our rebounding would improve yes, but I don't think it would improve the team as much as you think.  I still think it would be a borderline playoff team (I'm thinking a win record around .400) that would likely get waxed by either Miami or Indiana in the first round.

[crimson_stallion]

That line up has scoring

Where?

Rondo has never been more than a 14 PPG scorer and is a liability from outside the three point line.

Martin is a legit scorer - fair call.

Deng was far inferior to Green last season offensively (14 PPG, 43% FG, 30% 3PT)

Love is a legit scorer - fair call.

Asik has never scored more than 12 points per 36 minutes in his entire career.

That's a team with two scorers and three non-scorers.  Not exactly the Miami Heat.

  Say you get something like 25 ppg from Love, 18 from Martin, 14 from Deng, 11 from Rondo and 8 from Asik. None of those numbers are unattainably high, in fact they're all probably below what the players scored in their last years as starters. That's about 76 ppg, which is what Miami gets from their starters.

In 2011-2012 Boston's starting 5 was:

Rondo: 11.9 PPG
Allen: 14.2 PPG
Pierce: 19.4 PPG
Bass: 12.5 PPG
KG: 15.8 PPG

Total: 73.8 PPG

This was rated as one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA that season, and we got knocked out by a Miami team that was not as good as their current team.

The question is, what type of identity would this team have? 

They don't have an offensive identity because:
* They aren't quick enough to beat teams in transition - a lineup of Martin/Deng/Love/Asik is not running much
*  They couldn't beat teams from three (Knicks style) beacause their only three point threats are Love and Martin
* They aren't beating teams in the post because neither Love nor Asik is much of a low post threat 

They also won't have much of a defensive identity, because aside from Asik and Deng nobody else on that team is playing any defense.  The backcourt combination of Rondo and Martin would allow free penetration the basket at will, and Asik will get fouled out trying to stop them all (because he sure as hell isn't getting help from Love). 

Miami can win games because they have two guys on the court who demand constant double teams (Wade and Lebron), and they surround those guys with shooters (Chalmers, Bosh, Ray, Battier, etc). This means that teams need to pick their poison - either let Wade/Lebron destroy you on their own, or focus your defense on those guys and get beaten by their shooters.

All of those shooters except Ray (Chalmers, Bosh, Battier) are also solid or excellent defensive players, as are Lebron and Wade (not elite anymore, but still solid).  That allows them to slow opposing teams because there are rarely more than one or two bad defenders on the court at a time.

This theoretical Celtics lineup has nobody really (except maybe Love) who can demand double teams.  Bosh is a far better defender (and inside scorer) than Love is.  Batter is a far better combination of defense/scoring than Asik is due to his ability to stretch the floor with his three point shot.   Rondo (unlike Chalmers) is not a three point threat. 

I can see what you're trying to say, but this team just won't have a hope in hell of beating a team like Indiana or Miami.  Or Chicago (if Rose is healthy).  To be honest I think this team would struggle against a healthy Brooklyn squad too.     

[BballTim]

  Interesting post. A few things worth pointing out, though. 1, Love's a good 3 point shooter. In his last 3 healthy seasons he's  hit .385% of his 3s combined.

I agree, he is a good three point shooter.  I wouldn't say he's an excellent one though,  I'd say an excellent three point shooter is one who consistently shoots around 40% for his career while taking a significant number of attempts.

Listing only loves 3 healthy seasons means little.  If he's constantly injured and that's putting off his shooting, then that is also something to consider. 

Bradley last season just came off a double shoulder surgery AND was oft-injured during the season, and was attemping quite a few threes (around 3 per game) yet he still finished the season shooting 40% from three.  He shot 40% a couple of season's back too.  I wouldn't say he's an excellent three point shooter though, because he hasn't shot that type of numbers consistently over his entire career - I'd say he's a good three point shooter, and will let time work out whether he becomes a great one.

  Right, so Love's just short of excellent on his 3 pointers. I'd agree with that. And Bradley wasn't just coming off of shoulder surgery last year, he was the year before when he hit 32% of his threes.

in fact Asik scores pretty efficiently as well.

True, but scoring efficently doesn;t mean you are a good scorer.  Chris Wilcox was I think top 5 in the NBA in FG% when he was in Boston, but he hardly made us a contender with his offense.  Likewise Tyson Chandler has consistently shot around 60% from the field, but you'd still call him a pretty mediocre offensive player.  I'd say Chandler is a bigger offensive threat than Asik because at least he could get above the rim to catch lobs off Rondo and thrown them down, wheras Asik does not play above the rim, at all.  Offensively he is pretty much Kris Humphreys minus the midrange jumper - pretty much just a garbage guy who will get some points on put backs, etc. Hump minus the jumper would be a pretty crappy offensive guy.

 Chandler averages 2.5 dunks for every 48 minutes played, Asik averages 2.1. On top of that a slightly higher percentage of Asik's dunks are assisted than Chandlers. Omer will look just fine throwing down lobs from Rondo.

Fact remains that as long as Asik is on the court, the defense does not have to pay any defensive attenton to the center position because he is zero threat to score.  They can easilly stock their worst defensive big on Asik, and put their top defensive player on Love.  This is where I feel it hurts having a guy who is such a non-factor on offense.  I don't believe we need a great offensive player at the Center spot, but we at least need a guy who is some type of threat to score, and who can at least hit an open jumper.

  What exactly do you think this means? That teams will leave Asik open when he's under the basket? That they'll allow him to get as many offensive rebounds as he wants because nobody's close enough to him to put a body on him? I agree he isn't going to stand 20 feet from the basket and draw a defender out of the lane but he also won't be "ignored" by defenses.

Also,while Rondo and Deng didn't make last year's all-star game, they're both in their 20s and made multiple consecutive all-star teams immediately prior to last year. Like it or not, I'm sure you realize why this is different than guys in their mid-late 30s like KG and PP.

Yes, but Deng was a borderline All-Star who just happened to sneak in purely because the Bulls had such a good record (you could easilly argue that Pierce/Iggy were equally deserving, if not moreso) so it;s not like he has been a bonafide All-Star.  He's been a Borderline All-Star who has just barely scraped in, and is now clearly on the decline - he was not even close to All-Star level last season.   At this particular point in their careers Deng is no better than Green, and to argue any differerent would be difficult. 

  I don't think this is at all accurate. Deng was aguably having the best statistical year of his career before he was traded and his overall stats weren't appreciably worse than they had been in his all-star seasons. Maybe he'd sneak back in because of the Celts good record, you never know. But "clearly on the decline" doesn't really describe him.

You also need to consider the improvements to our offensive and defensive efficiency we'd see with 2 of the very best rebounders in the league in the lineup, as well as one of the best rebounders in the league for his position (Rondo). We'd have plenty of scoring with that lineup and be pretty solid defensively. It's a much better team than you think.

Sullinger, Humphries and Olynyk were all very good rebounders last season.  The Celtics as a team were actually a pretty good rebounding team.  Per 36 Sully and Olynyk were two of the best Offensive Rebounders in the entire league.

Our rebounding would improve yes, but I don't think it would improve the team as much as you think.  I still think it would be a borderline playoff team (I'm thinking a win record around .400) that would likely get waxed by either Miami or Indiana in the first round.

   On a per36 basis KO and Sully combined for 20 boards a game, Love and Asik combined for 26. You'd probably get a few more possessions on offense and your opponents would get a few less shots a game, so that might be a 4-5 point swing on it's own. That in itself might be enough to lift last year's team into contention for a playoff spot.

  As for the overall team, you'd have one of the best power forwards in the league, one of the top point guards, a better than average sf, one of the best rebounding and defending centers in the league and one of the better scoring 2 guards in the league. You'd have to see the team play to know for sure, but I don't see the Pacers being able to beat that team. If Rondo returns to form over the course of the season you'd probably see all 4 of Rondo/Martin/Deng/Love outproduce their opponents with Asik coming close to  holding his own. That's easily a solid playoff team.

[BballTim]

That line up has scoring

Where?

Rondo has never been more than a 14 PPG scorer and is a liability from outside the three point line.

Martin is a legit scorer - fair call.

Deng was far inferior to Green last season offensively (14 PPG, 43% FG, 30% 3PT)

Love is a legit scorer - fair call.

Asik has never scored more than 12 points per 36 minutes in his entire career.

That's a team with two scorers and three non-scorers.  Not exactly the Miami Heat.

  Say you get something like 25 ppg from Love, 18 from Martin, 14 from Deng, 11 from Rondo and 8 from Asik. None of those numbers are unattainably high, in fact they're all probably below what the players scored in their last years as starters. That's about 76 ppg, which is what Miami gets from their starters.

In 2011-2012 Boston's starting 5 was:

Rondo: 11.9 PPG
Allen: 14.2 PPG
Pierce: 19.4 PPG
Bass: 12.5 PPG
KG: 15.8 PPG

Total: 73.8 PPG

This was rated as one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA that season, and we got knocked out by a Miami team that was not as good as their current team.

  That team didn't come together offensively until late in the season. It was a short season to begin with, Pierce and KG played like crap early in the season and Rondo struggled with injuries. They scored about 5 points a game more after the all-star break than before. I don't think you can draw any useful conclusions from that.

The question is, what type of identity would this team have? 

They don't have an offensive identity because:
* They aren't quick enough to beat teams in transition - a lineup of Martin/Deng/Love/Asik is not running much
*  They couldn't beat teams from three (Knicks style) beacause their only three point threats are Love and Martin
* They aren't beating teams in the post because neither Love nor Asik is much of a low post threat

  Obviously they'd have an offensive style, You just don't know what it is or maybe you think it has to be wildly skewed in one direction like the Knicks. Rondo would still be running the offense, so you'd probably have something resembling what you'd have had this year if you replaced our pf and sg with significantly better and more efficient scorers, with a few more possessions from offensive rebounds.

They also won't have much of a defensive identity, because aside from Asik and Deng nobody else on that team is playing any defense.  The backcourt combination of Rondo and Martin would allow free penetration the basket at will, and Asik will get fouled out trying to stop them all (because he sure as hell isn't getting help from Love). 

  When Rondo's healthy he's one of the better defensive guards in the league, and Love's a better defender than you seem to think. This year we were average or a little better on defense for much of the year. You'd have better defense at the 1 (with a healthier Rondo, probably the same level of defense from your forward spots, worse defense at the two and a significant upgrade at center, the most important defensive position on the court. It would easily be better than average.

Miami can win games because they have two guys on the court who demand constant double teams (Wade and Lebron), and they surround those guys with shooters (Chalmers, Bosh, Ray, Battier, etc). This means that teams need to pick their poison - either let Wade/Lebron destroy you on their own, or focus your defense on those guys and get beaten by their shooters.

All of those shooters except Ray (Chalmers, Bosh, Battier) are also solid or excellent defensive players, as are Lebron and Wade (not elite anymore, but still solid).  That allows them to slow opposing teams because there are rarely more than one or two bad defenders on the court at a time.

This theoretical Celtics lineup has nobody really (except maybe Love) who can demand double teams.  Bosh is a far better defender (and inside scorer) than Love is.  Batter is a far better combination of defense/scoring than Asik is due to his ability to stretch the floor with his three point shot.   Rondo (unlike Chalmers) is not a three point threat. 

  We've been watching Rondo get the other players on the team good looks at the basket for years, there's no reason to think that would change. He draws extra defenders with pick and roll or pick and pop plays and with dribble penetration on a regular basis.

I can see what you're trying to say, but this team just won't have a hope in hell of beating a team like Indiana or Miami.  Or Chicago (if Rose is healthy).  To be honest I think this team would struggle against a healthy Brooklyn squad too.   

  Deng's gone, Boozer seems to be on his way out. Rose isn't likely to return to form in a hurry but in any case  they'll need to reload before they're a threat again. I don't think we'd have much of a problem with the Pacers, especially considering that one of the main cogs in the offense is well known for stepping up his game in the playoffs (the Pacers, not so much) and some of our key advantages (Rondo and our rebounding) should hold up very well under the pressure of the playoffs.