Can This Celtic Team Beat Miami?

[Mike-Dub]

At least have some faith guys, c'mon!!

[Tough Juice]

I have faith, but I predict that the Celtics will be the surprise in this playoffs with an early first round exit, I say 4-2 Miami, we play terrible. And after all I'll be very happy if they prove me wrong... WE BELIEVE

[Mike-Dub]

I have faith, but I predict that the Celtics will be the surprise in this playoffs with an early first round exit, I say 4-2 Miami, we play terrible. And after all I'll be very happy if they prove me wrong... WE BELIEVE

You say you have faith and then follow it up with that...  You're joking right?

[pearljammer10]

For some reason Miami worries me too... They really arent that good, but I feel like Dwayne Wade would be able to take over this series with the Celtics having no answer for him...I hope im wrong, but still worried none the less.

[snively]

I think they'll be able to win in 6.  With the rotation pairing down to 8 or 9 (TA, Finley, Sheed and Baby), I think our offense will be better and we won't suffer through as many of those horrible offensive lulls that spot crappy teams leads or keep games close.

Miami is a poorly constructed team.  They only have 2 good 3 point shooters in their rotation and only one of them starts, and they have flawed/aged wannabe stars like Beasley and O'Neal in place of good role players.  They will have real problems guarding KG with Beasley (KG averaged 19-7-5 on 77% shooting in his 2 games against them) and Rondo with Arroyo/Chalmers (Rondo's averaging 20-4-11 on 58% shooting in his 3 games against them) and the slow O'Neal trying to help and recover.  

Still the Heat crash the boards pretty hard, Haslem can give us problems with his effort/mid-range J/rebounding and Wade is a nightmare for Ray Allen/Pierce.  I'm sure Q-Rich will burn us from deep a couple nights too.  

Unfortunately the C's chances at 2nd round triumph appear to be virtually nil, unless Shaq returns to the Cavs and slows them down to our lethargic pace.  

[Mike-Dub]

For some reason Miami worries me too... They really arent that good, but I feel like Dwayne Wade would be able to take over this series with the Celtics having no answer for him...I hope im wrong, but still worried none the less.

The C's may not have the answer but they do have the Truth and with the they he is playing right now he can be right there with D-Wade.

[Kuberski33]

This team is what it is -- a .500 team that can shoot, but is soft and doesn't play a whole lot of effective defense.  Yes, they can beat Miami, but Miami can also beat them.

As Simmons tweeted tonight, Dwayne Wade might be able to beat them by himself. 

Series is a toss up in my mind.  Wouldn't surprise me if they bottom out and lose in 5.

[OriginalODb]

They certainly CAN beat the Heat, I believe this team can beat any team in the NBA over a 7 games series, but will they? I have a lot of doubts. This team is missing what the french call that certain "I don't know what" They Could find it in the playoffs and I am hopeful they will but I'm not putting any money on it

[Rondo_is_better]

50/50.

[Mike-Dub]

This team is what it is -- a .500 team that can shoot, but is soft and doesn't play a whole lot of effective defense.  Yes, they can beat Miami, but Miami can also beat them.

As Simmons tweeted tonight, Dwayne Wade might be able to beat them by himself. 

Series is a toss up in my mind.  Wouldn't surprise me if they bottom out and lose in 5.

I **** hate Bill Simmons.  .  He's so **** annoying.

[guava_wrench]

I don't have 'faith', but sure, we can beat them.

I also think they can beat us.

I really need to see how we play on the first playoff game before I can form any opinions.

[FallGuy]

I think we'll beat them rather easily, actually.

I think the second round's a whole 'nother story.

[jdpapa3]

If Pierce plays like he did tonight and actually continues to get the ball, we'll be good. Deng is one of the best defensive SF's in the league too. QRich can't hold a candle to Deng's defense.

[RJ87]

We should beat them. I really hope we do.

But, we have no answer for Dwade... And Beasley is an x-factor.

[PosImpos]

Wade will average at least 32 ppg.  The C's are going to need Pierce and Ray to score plenty in order to win the series.  I have a feeling they won't be able to depend on their defense. 

The Celtics are just lucky Miami doesn't have a great inside scorer, though I expect at least one big game from Jermaine O'Neal.