The Celtics as a team are definitely focusing only on Game 1 against Chicago, as they should. However, as a fan, I am exercising my right to "look ahead" to a match up against Cleveland in the ECF. The Cavs are much better defensively than LA is, so I really think they're our biggest obstacle to Banner 18. Assuming KG is out for the duration of the playoffs, I still think we can beat the Cavs. Here are some keys as I see it:
1) Make quick work of Chicago and Orlando. I really think we can sweep the Bulls, or at the very least beat them in 5. And once we get rolling, I think we can take Orlando in 5 as well (splitting on the road, and winning 3 home games). When I say we'll win these series in 5 or less, that doesn't mean it'll be easy. We may not win any blowouts, but a win's a win. Two huge things this does for us is make us confident that we can play very well in the playoffs without KG, and give us time to continue to build chemistry and gameplan for the Cavs in practice.
2) Atlanta or Miami wins at least 2 games against the Cavs. The media may not acknowledge it, but whoever wins this first round series has a shot to give the Cavs a run for their money. Atlanta has been a tough matchup for the Cavs for a few years now, and D-whistle can take over a game or two by himself. Not that I would ever wish injury upon an opponent of ours, but the Cavs frontcourt isn't exactly young. The longer and more intense a series becomes, guys like Z, Joe Smith and Ben Wallace become more vulnerable. It's certainly a realistic possibility. Even without KG, we dominated the Cavs up front back in March. If they lose one of these guys, that helps us even more.
3) PG play. Rondo needs to step up and make the leap to the next level. He needs to dominate Mo Williams. As an all-around PG, I think Rondo is clearly the better player. He should be able to penetrate at will against Mo, and I have no idea why he isn't more aggressive against the Cavs (I have an educated guess, and cover it in my next point). Further, Marbury has really been playing better lately. In a month from now, he could be playing much better. If so, he should be able to smoke anyone on the Cavs bench. If both these guys are clicking on all cyllinders, that'd be huge for us. On the defensive end, we cannot allow Mo Williams to shoot any open 3's. That dude is money. If he hits 10 foot runners all day, so be it. But Cleveland did a great job staying in Eddie's face all game last week, and we need to do the same with Mo. Those 3's kill us.
3) Scal. By all accounts we've heard lately, Scal should be back in the next week or so. Before Scal got hurt the last time, he was playing easily his best ball as a Celtic. He was hitting clutch 3's like Posey and Waltah, he was moving the ball very well on offense, and playing solid team defense. If he can get back to playing like he was at that point, I'd start him alongside Perkins at PF. When he's in the game, he stretches the floor enough to force his defender out of the paint. Against the Cavs, who have 2 good shotblockers (Z and Varejao), this would be great to pull one of them out. That, in turn, would make it easier for Rondo, Pierce, Ray, and Perkins to work around the basket. Another thing this does is it gives us Baby and Powe coming off the bench, and puts Mikki Moore in an emergency/spot duty role. Baby and Powe should absolutely abuse the Cavs bench players.
4) Pierce may need to go off for 50 in a game or two. He's shown the ability to do so, and I'm confident he can step up and come thru. It's funny how Pierce outplayed LeBron and Kobe in last year's playoffs, yet doesn't get anywhere near the same level of publicity. Fuel the fire, Paul.
5) Intangibles. They can say whatever they want, but there's no way that the Cavs are taking the Celtics as seriously as before without Garnett. Nothing against the Cavs, but it's simply human nature. The media was already handing the East to Cleveland, even with a healthy Garnett. Now that he's out, all you'll hear for the next month is that Boston has no chance IF they make the ECF. Again, at least on some level, this has to do something to the Cavs focus and killer instinct. I was initially ****ed yesterday when I heard Wyc's comments about the Cavs being the clear favorites. But the more I thought about it, I think the entire Celtics organization is playing right into the "Cavs are unbeatable" hype. Good. Talk them up as much as possible off the court, and then shock the world on the court.
6) Tony Allen must continue to play like the "Good TA." The better he plays, the more rest Pierce will get in the first 2 rounds. And he can also sub in for Ray, and play alongside Pierce, which would give Pierce a break from guarding the other team's best 2/3 player (LeBron). I think TA can do a solid job on LeBron for short stretches. The more we can conserve Paul's energy for the 4th quarter of each game, the better.
7) Ray Allen. For some reason, we haven't been able to get him going against the Cavs. This is a necessity. Doc - we pay you millions each year. I liked Delonte when he was here, but he's the enemy now. There's no reason he should be able to handle Ray. Figure out a way to get Ray going.
End of quarter situations. Not enough has been made about how many of these opportunities we waste. We run iso's to Pierce just about every single time, whether at the end of a quarter or in the last few minutes of the game. We have a great TEAM - USE THEM! Again, this is on Doc. I'm hoping that they've been going over this all the time in practice, and they're saving up some plays for the playoffs. I know I'd take an open 3 for Ray or House in the corner any day of the week over a contested 20-footer by Pierce. Further, when Pierce does run iso's, he often doesn't even make a move until 3 seconds left. At that point, the defender knows he doesn't have time to drive, so he crowds him even more. Would the world come to an end if we scored with 1.5 seconds left? Doc needs to come thru here.
9) Officials. We will get absolutely jobbed against the Cavs/David Stern in every game of the series, no matter where it's played. If you don't acknowledge this, you haven't seen a Cavs-Celtics game since LeBron entered the league. While it will certainly frustrate us fans to no end, I think we can use it to further fuel the fire. It will literally be us against the world. The players will know that once the series starts, we won't get a single call. Just like we rebounded from the worst call in sports history (when Pierce was called for an offensive foul on his 4-pt play in Game 6 at Detroit), I think we can use this as extra motivation to shock the world. We were still down 10 in the 4th at Detroit when that play happened, and that was the beginning of the end for Detroit. Next thing you knew, Banner 17 was being raised.
Thougts?
Topic: Keys to winning #18 without KG (Read 2698 times)