Do you fear Orlando in the second round?

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

the Magic are for real,  anyone saying No they arent concerned about them is just way overconfident and a homer

And we'd sweep Miami?  please...thats a joke right? I dont think the celtics are capable of sweeping anybody, we saw it last year and we'll see it again, Have fun sweeping DWade...

  The Celts are at least as close to being too good to worry about Orlando as they are to being too bad to be capable of sweeping anybody.

Why would we even expect to sweep anybody at this point? we saw what happened when we were playing the below .500 hawks, it went 7...how in gods name do you assume we'd sweep Dwyane Wade? lol this is the same team thay it took more games than any team of all time to win it all...the celtics have a tendency to drop their guard and let the other team right back into the series, which was so annoying, I think alot us celtics fans want to re-write history as if we never lost in last years playoffs and were extremly dominant when I'm pretty sure it took us 26 freakin games to get the job done, and the competition will be so much better this season it isnt even funny

[moiso]

The Magic are the team of the moment because they are hot.  I'd pick the C's to beat them in a series but I think it would go 6 games.  The Magic have great shooters and Howard is an absolute beast who could average 25/16/4 in a playoff series.  We'd miss PJ if the playoffs started today because nobody other than Perk has a shot in hell at containing this guy.

You think PJ Brown could do anything against DHoward? sheeesh...dont think so

And I dont like the magic at all, but people just saying there on a hot streak or whatever dont really know what they're talking about, how are the magic a fluke and the cavs not? The Magic are good, they have a better record than us right now, they're pounding teams, best record on the road, best record vs the west, playing better defense and are a mathup nightmare for anybody including us. for all the talk about rondo being an allstar, what about this kid Jameer Nelson, who is playing absolutely spectacular and definetly should be an all-star, for as bad as rondos jumpshot is, thats how deadly nelsons is..I heard he was in the gym taking 1000+ jumpshots a day in the offseason, unfortunatly for us I dont think rondo took 1000 jumpshots the entire offseason

Of course PJ couldn't stop Howard, but other than Perk all the Celts are bunch of midgets compared to this guy.  You need a couple big bodies to at least get in his way.

[BballTim]

the Magic are for real,  anyone saying No they arent concerned about them is just way overconfident and a homer

And we'd sweep Miami?  please...thats a joke right? I dont think the celtics are capable of sweeping anybody, we saw it last year and we'll see it again, Have fun sweeping DWade...

  The Celts are at least as close to being too good to worry about Orlando as they are to being too bad to be capable of sweeping anybody.

Why would we even expect to sweep anybody at this point? we saw what happened when we were playing the below .500 hawks, it went 7...how in gods name do you assume we'd sweep Dwyane Wade? lol this is the same team thay it took more games than any team of all time to win it all...the celtics have a tendency to drop their guard and let the other team right back into the series, which was so annoying, I think alot us celtics fans want to re-write history as if we never lost in last years playoffs and were extremly dominant when I'm pretty sure it took us 26 freakin games to get the job done, and the competition will be so much better this season it isnt even funny

  Last year was the team's first season playing together. They clearly got better as the playoffs went on. Do you think that the Hawks took us to 7 games because they were better than the Pistons or Lakers? Take a look at what happened last year. The Celts had the biggest single season turnaround in NBA history. None of the other top 5-6 teams in that category won the title, and most of them if not all didn't even reach the finals. The last team to add 2 of their top 3 scorers and win the title in the same year was an expansion team in the 50s. People aren't trying to re-write history, they just understand what happened last year.

[Vermont Green]

Even with Perk, we have no answer for Howard, he is simply a beast and he is going to get his 20 and 20.  Nelson is also everything he is being made out to be and would get his point against us.  On the other hand, when they have Turkoglu to cover Pierce, Lewis to cover KG, and to cover Ray, I am pretty confident in all of those match-ups.

Perhaps most important though, living and dieing by the 3 is usually not a recipe for success in the playoffs.  They will likely hit more at home so home court is perhaps even more important against them but I think we can handle them in a 7 game series.

[cordobes]

The "live by the jumper (or the 3), die by the jumper (3)" axiom is not exactly true to this Orlando team.

First, they have truly excellent outside shooters. They won't have shooting droughts because their shooters aren't streaky or inconsistent. They have 10 players shooting above 35.5% from behind the line - this must be some kind of record. For good measurement, the C's have 4, the Cavs have 6 and the Lakers have 5. More importantly, most of their shooters aren't exactly one-dimensional.

They can score inside when needed.

They are an excellent defensive team - just very slightly bellow the Celtics; and can force their opponents to take lots of jumpers as well, leveling things in term of shot selections. And as they generally have the better jump-shooters...

[zerophase]

I'm worried about orlando because of Perkin's health and the inability to contain Howard. Plus besides steals, Rondo isn't so great on defense. He gets beat by people many times slower than he is.

[blueygreen]

The Magic are the team of the moment because they are hot.  I'd pick the C's to beat them in a series but I think it would go 6 games.  The Magic have great shooters and Howard is an absolute beast who could average 25/16/4 in a playoff series.  We'd miss PJ if the playoffs started today because nobody other than Perk has a shot in hell at containing this guy.

You think PJ Brown could do anything against DHoward? sheeesh...dont think so

And I dont like the magic at all, but people just saying there on a hot streak or whatever dont really know what they're talking about, how are the magic a fluke and the cavs not? The Magic are good, they have a better record than us right now, they're pounding teams, best record on the road, best record vs the west, playing better defense and are a mathup nightmare for anybody including us. for all the talk about rondo being an allstar, what about this kid Jameer Nelson, who is playing absolutely spectacular and definetly should be an all-star, for as bad as rondos jumpshot is, thats how deadly nelsons is..I heard he was in the gym taking 1000+ jumpshots a day in the offseason, unfortunatly for us I dont think rondo took 1000 jumpshots the entire offseason

Yeah, I think he was busy getting some jewellry

[LarBrd33]

Doc just called them the best team in the NBA

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/2009/01/doc_believes_in.html

Doc Rivers, head coach of the Boston Celtics, believes the Orlando Magic are currently the best team in the NBA.

"They're winning games, they're winning them on the road," Rivers said before the Celtics met the New Jersey Nets on Saturday. "I think the national public is finally waking up to them. Last year they had the second- or third-best road record in the NBA, as well.

"Right now, there's nobody in the NBA playing better than Orlando."

[davemonsterband]

No shooting team can beat the C's in 7 games.

[BballTim]

The Magic are the team of the moment because they are hot.  I'd pick the C's to beat them in a series but I think it would go 6 games.  The Magic have great shooters and Howard is an absolute beast who could average 25/16/4 in a playoff series.  We'd miss PJ if the playoffs started today because nobody other than Perk has a shot in hell at containing this guy.

You think PJ Brown could do anything against DHoward? sheeesh...dont think so

And I dont like the magic at all, but people just saying there on a hot streak or whatever dont really know what they're talking about, how are the magic a fluke and the cavs not? The Magic are good, they have a better record than us right now, they're pounding teams, best record on the road, best record vs the west, playing better defense and are a mathup nightmare for anybody including us.

  Th Cavs took us to 7 games last year and got to the finals the year before.

   for all the talk about rondo being an allstar, what about this kid Jameer Nelson, who is playing absolutely spectacular and definetly should be an all-star, for as bad as rondos jumpshot is, thats how deadly nelsons is..I heard he was in the gym taking 1000+ jumpshots a day in the offseason, unfortunatly for us I dont think rondo took 1000 jumpshots the entire offseason

  For one thing, Nelson's offseason was probably about 5 weeks longer than Rondo's. For another thing, while Rondo's jump shooting isn't improved much from last year his passing is, which makes just as much of a difference for us.

[cordobes]

People who say that the Magic are a fluke because of their past record equate those who said that the last season C's weren't a really contender because they were "unproven".

I think Orlando are the 3rd best team in the East - especially, as I said on another thread, because of their (subpar) rebounding - but whoever thinks they aren't good enough to win the title is being delusional.

[TatteredOnMySleeve]

Anyone else notice the Magic have a whopping 4 days off before they play us when we'll be on the 2nd night of a back-to-back?....Hmm thats rough

[footey]

I think we will match up OK with Orlando, better than with Cleveland.  I also feel homecourt advantage is less important vs. the Magic than it is vs. the Cavs. So, if we can't get the one seed, I am pretty indifferent to the 2 or 3 seed. This makes getting the 1 seed very important. I imagine Orlando will match up better vs. Cleveland than they do vs. us. Let Orlando do our dirty work vs. Cleveland!!