Friday March 6 8PM

[KCattheStripe]

big baby davis crying like a little **** takes the cake over any dumb play by andy

Okay, so he did it one time.
Have you seen him play lately?
If not, just be quiet about BBD.

ACF reppin' the Large Infant.  Co-sign.   

-sw

Word.

[BillfromBoston]

Something to keep in mind about Boston's recent defensive play - while a good deal of it is related to the totally new rotations being used, some of it clearly comes from the level of competition and the time of year it is.

Inujuries have taken a toll on depth, so a portion of this team's lack of defensive intensity is caused by the heavier minutes, but part of it is simply standard March basketball in the NBA.

Celtics fans were spoiled last year, as Cleveland fans are being spoiled this year - most team's do not play 100% effort-wise for 82 games. When teams get in the dog-days of the season they tend to pick their spots - this has been evident with Boston the past few weeks as they've saved their defensive push until the  4th quarter and basically tread water until then.

We may not like it as fans, but an 82 game season is long and with minutes piling up and age being a concern, Boston is going to choose its battles until the stretch run with a healthy team.

Last year none of these guys had proven anything - much like Cleveland this year - so there was an urgency about going for the 'chip that drove them each and every game. Though HCA is important,  its not close to the same level of urgency created by a legacy-drive toward the title...as such, Boston will have games like the other night vs. the Nets, where it is devoid of energy and life until very late in the game - sometimes that costs the team a game - a fact of NBA life.

[winsomme]

Something to keep in mind about Boston's recent defensive play - while a good deal of it is related to the totally new rotations being used, some of it clearly comes from the level of competition and the time of year it is.

Inujuries have taken a toll on depth, so a portion of this team's lack of defensive intensity is caused by the heavier minutes, but part of it is simply standard March basketball in the NBA.

Celtics fans were spoiled last year, as Cleveland fans are being spoiled this year - most team's do not play 100% effort-wise for 82 games. When teams get in the dog-days of the season they tend to pick their spots - this has been evident with Boston the past few weeks as they've saved their defensive push until the  4th quarter and basically tread water until then.

We may not like it as fans, but an 82 game season is long and with minutes piling up and age being a concern, Boston is going to choose its battles until the stretch run with a healthy team.

Last year none of these guys had proven anything - much like Cleveland this year - so there was an urgency about going for the 'chip that drove them each and every game. Though HCA is important,  its not close to the same level of urgency created by a legacy-drive toward the title...as such, Boston will have games like the other night vs. the Nets, where it is devoid of energy and life until very late in the game - sometimes that costs the team a game - a fact of NBA life.

HCA is almost exclusively related to CLE for me. for instance, i see no difference between being a 2nd or 3rd seed. I would have little worry about beating ORL with them having HC.

but for the team, while it's not impossible to get by CLE with them having HC, I do think the team needs to be insanely focused on getting it. especially tonight.

If we can steal tonight's game, I'm then all about HC at least through the ECF. when you combine the moral victory of stealing HC from CLE with the fact that CLE actually plays TONS better at home, I think taking the best record into the playoffs is just the kinda of advantage you need to be a scales tipper.

I would be over the moon if we could grab HC from the Cavs..

[angryguy77]

If we cant steal HC in the playoffs, then we hve no business being chmps this year. We have the experience and talent to do it, if we dont get by them then we dont belong in the finals.

[jdpapa3]

If we cant steal HC in the playoffs, then we hve no business being chmps this year. We have the experience and talent to do it, if we dont get by them then we dont belong in the finals.

Good point and nice avy. All you need is one road win and it swings the series. People are talking as if game 7 of the ECF's is a definite, but who knows? I would've bet a lot on the Detroit series going 7, and look what happened.

Vegas has us favored tonight...

[go11celtics]

i dont want to say i told you so, but i will. lbj_216 i told you who would win, i just didnt know it would be double-digits. imagine how good you guys will do when KG returns....

[KCattheStripe]

whats up celtics fans, i dont know about you guys but im really pumped for friday, i hate that kg isnt playing cause i would like both clubs to be at full strength
just want to discuss and get opitions on friday, big ben still out so wild thing will get the start and joe smith is coming off the bench, not to be a prick but i really think were gonna win big and to do it in boston would be great, i try to watch all your guys games on the computer and it seems the celtics are really struggling with lesser teams and having a tough time pulling out a win, if they play like they played against the clips and nets against us it will be a blow out, i dont know how many of you guys watch our games but delonte west is a beast, his struggling a little with his shot since coming back from his injury but before that broken wrist he was 40 plus from the field and three, the way he can defend bigger guards is crazy, also last night against the bucks he had 8 steals, why did the celts get rid of him, any way love to get your guys thoughts and lets hope we get a eastern conf finals preview friday

As for Friday, I'm less scared then others on this blog because A) The Cavs bigs aren't as offensively gifted as the Zach Randolph, Rasheed or McDyess. B) This is still a team, even without KG, that  has three legitimate all star candidates C) This team, as evidenced by tonights clutch displays by the two all stars, are mentally gearing up for the playoff run.

Then again, if you stick around,  you'll find I'm one of the least pessimistic members of the blog ( Somewhere just behind Edgar and Redz).

Would just like to say: NAILED IT!

[Tai]

Something to keep in mind about Boston's recent defensive play - while a good deal of it is related to the totally new rotations being used, some of it clearly comes from the level of competition and the time of year it is.

Inujuries have taken a toll on depth, so a portion of this team's lack of defensive intensity is caused by the heavier minutes, but part of it is simply standard March basketball in the NBA.

Celtics fans were spoiled last year, as Cleveland fans are being spoiled this year - most team's do not play 100% effort-wise for 82 games. When teams get in the dog-days of the season they tend to pick their spots - this has been evident with Boston the past few weeks as they've saved their defensive push until the  4th quarter and basically tread water until then.

We may not like it as fans, but an 82 game season is long and with minutes piling up and age being a concern, Boston is going to choose its battles until the stretch run with a healthy team.

Last year none of these guys had proven anything - much like Cleveland this year - so there was an urgency about going for the 'chip that drove them each and every game. Though HCA is important,  its not close to the same level of urgency created by a legacy-drive toward the title...as such, Boston will have games like the other night vs. the Nets, where it is devoid of energy and life until very late in the game - sometimes that costs the team a game - a fact of NBA life.

Well, if it means Paul Pierce won't play 45 minutes every night like he did tonight, I can live with a little bit of cruise control, whole game or not. Even Lebron didn't play 40 minutes!