In the end...

[droopdog7]

it was better that we lost before meeting up with the Lakers.  I remember this question being posed before we were eliminated and the sentiment on this board was mixed.  But I live in LA and listening to the parade stuff is insufferable enough.  The only comeback that I have is that they did not get to enjoy it the way we did.  That the 39 point win is etched in stone and that a win over Orl does nothing to take away that sting. 

The funny thing is that most people I am running across agree with it.  They wish they could have faced the Celts and understand that it is not the same.

[Roy Hobbs]

I think if we'd made the Finals, we would have beaten LA.  They weren't nearly as good a team as Orlando made them look. 

[droopdog7]

I think if we'd made the Finals, we would have beaten LA.  They weren't nearly as good a team as Orlando made them look. 

Yes, and this is what prevented many fans from answering the question as stated.  No one wanted to lose earlier because they were all convinced we would have won.  But of course, that was not the question. 

Though we might have won, losing to them in the finals would have been infinitely worse.

[CelticsWhat35]

While losing to the Lakers in the finals would've been much worse, I don't take any solace in the fact that they didn't have to face a healthy Celtics team.  At the end of the day, I went into this season knowing that the Celtics were the best team in the league and had a great chance at repeating as champs, and that I hate the Lakers and never want them to win.  And what ended up happening was the Lakers won it all.

Time has a way of distorting the truth, and I'm sure years from now history will talk about what a great team the 2009 Celtics were, and make no mention of KG being injured, or the breaks the Lakers got along the way to coast to the title.

[PosImpos]

Honestly I'm happy we didn't get to the ECF and get creamed by the Cavs, because I think our team without KG wouldn't have been able to beat them in a 7 games series.

With KG though...hell, I think we could have gone all the way, perhaps even without a better bench.

[Who]

Nah, I would have rather made the Finals and lost than lost in the second round.

[winsomme]

I think if we'd made the Finals, we would have beaten LA.  They weren't nearly as good a team as Orlando made them look. 

totally agree. we would have been much better at containing Kobe early in the series and taken at least one of those games in LA...

If KG didn't come back, we might have had some trouble with Gasol or Odom (whoever Perk didn't guard), but all in all, I think we take that series. Ray would have had another great series against them.

[RAcker]

All good points being made here, but I have a hard time with moral victories of any kind.  Yes, it's important to take away some positives from any season and not just focus on the failure to win it all, but winning it all is the goal. 

I just have a hard time with what ifs.  I want to use them, but I just can't and I try to stay as much in the present as I humanly can.  The future and the past are things we can't do much about right now. 

Put that philosophical babble in your pipe and smoke it, Zen Master.

[Hoops]

I think if we'd made the Finals, we would have beaten LA.  They weren't nearly as good a team as Orlando made them look. 

I haven't said much on CB for the last few weeks, but between Simmons' article on Kobe and Roy's statement above, they perfectly sum up my feelings.

[droopdog7]

OF COURSE I would have wanted a shot at the lakers.  That is obvious.  But that is not the premise of my post.  Though I know it is diffuclt for most to swallow.

[johnnyrondo]

I would have liked to have made it to the Finals. The added experience would be huge for Perk, Rondo, and Baby (as it was for the Magic players in the ECF and Finals). I think by the Finals KG would be helping a lot too. I wasn't happier the years the Lakers were winning and we were sucking. I want the C's to go as far as they can go. I prefer Eastern Conference Champions over anything, but Champions. So what even if the Lakers ended up beating us this yr without KG or with a hobbled KG. Would have just made next yr's gradge match even more enjoyable. Can't wait to get #18 next June. Should happen as long as we keep Perk and Rondo, stay healthy, and Ainge doesn't swing and miss again on the bench.