Does Orlando scare you?

[MetroGlobe]

Rondo vs. Jameer-  Come on, do I need to even comment on this one?   My only question is, now that Rondo is facing a less superior PG will his game be toned down?

Actually Nelson has been playing great, esp in the playoffs.  The gap between him and Rajon is not that large.  If Rondo gambles off of him, or gets hung up on picks, Jameer will torch us.  In fact when Nelson plays well, Orlando is nearly unbeatable.

[Fafnir]

I think Ryan Anderson is going to give us fits, more so than Rashard.

Yeah, Anderson is going to be tough matchup for the second unit.

Neither BBD or Rasheed are capable of defending him.

BBD and Rasheed surprised me with how well they dealt with AV, maybe they can keep it up with a completely different match up.

[P2]

I don't know why Magic fans over at RealGM are so cocky. They all say Magic need 5 at most. Cleveland scared me, and quite honestly, I didn't think we would win against them, but Orlando doesn't scare me one single bit.

[LarBrd33]

Their offense doesn't scare me much.  The only player in the league who can slow down Dwight Howard just so happens to be Perk.  And I think we will slow Vince if we could slow Wade and Bron. 

But on defense... Dwight will change the game for Rondo.  He will be blocking the heck out of Rondo on his drives and causing havoc.  I saw it happen in the playoffs last year... Rondo startd getting scared when he drove.

[lon3lytoaster]

Their offense doesn't scare me much.  The only player in the league who can slow down Dwight Howard just so happens to be Perk.  And I think we will slow Vince if we could slow Wade and Bron. 

But on defense... Dwight will change the game for Rondo.  He will be blocking the heck out of Rondo on his drives and causing havoc.  I saw it happen in the playoffs last year... Rondo startd getting scared when he drove.

Dwight did change the game for Rondo last year but this year Rondo is much, much improved in every area of the game. That's including his mentality, imo. Rondo will do what Rondo needs to do, I think.

We just gotta let Perk do his thing with Dwight, run VC ragged and make him fight through picks then let Tony do some work defensively.

As long as Jameer Nelson or Rashard don't kill us, we have a good shot at winning.

[BudweiserCeltic]

The only thing that scares me is Rondo on Nelson. He's got to defend him the whole game.

Other than that Orlando can just suck it. I don't think they're the better team.

[jasail]

I have tremendous respect for the Magic.  That said I like the match ups for the Celtics.  

Perk and Davis have been great on Howard in the past.  Rasheed is a good post defender as well and is good at wrapping up easy shots.  

I love the Garnett-Lewis match up for the Celtics. I think he can play him on the perimeter and is a mismatch on the opposite end.  

Barnes is a good defender but I think we can work mismatches better for Paul.  He also won't have to deny the ball as much in the next round

I like Ray over Vince.  I also think TA will be key against him as well.  He has been fantastic against two of the best wings in the game.  

To me the key match up is if Rondo can continue this type of play against a pg of Nelson's caliber.  he is going to have a lot more work at the defensive end.  

That said, I think if the Celtics can keep up this level of play there is no reason why they can't end up in the finals.  

[BballTim]

Their offense doesn't scare me much.  The only player in the league who can slow down Dwight Howard just so happens to be Perk.  And I think we will slow Vince if we could slow Wade and Bron. 

But on defense... Dwight will change the game for Rondo.  He will be blocking the heck out of Rondo on his drives and causing havoc.  I saw it happen in the playoffs last year... Rondo startd getting scared when he drove.

  Last year Lewis was cheating off of Davis more than he will off of KG to help clog the lane. This year Rondo's got shots that he didn't have (like some of his floaters) that will make it a lot harder for Howard to stop him. Or, did you notice some of his shots where he goes up a little wide of the backboard and banks in the shot? He tried some of those last year to no avail.

[nickagneta]

Rondo startd getting scared when he drove.

Yeah. Sure looked it here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDE2yAJpNA

[BudweiserCeltic]

If Davis isn't cutting it against Lewis, I want to see us go small and see what we can do.

[misha]

I don't know why Magic fans over at RealGM are so cocky. They all say Magic need 5 at most. Cleveland scared me, and quite honestly, I didn't think we would win against them, but Orlando doesn't scare me one single bit.

Cavs fans were cocky too.

[Who]

If Davis isn't cutting it against Lewis, I want to see us go small and see what we can do.

With Pierce at the four + Tony Allen getting an increase in minutes?

I like that idea. A little worried about the rebounding but I like the offense/defense balance and matchups. I think that would be a very good plan.

[Who]

I don't know why Magic fans over at RealGM are so cocky. They all say Magic need 5 at most. Cleveland scared me, and quite honestly, I didn't think we would win against them, but Orlando doesn't scare me one single bit.

Cavs fans were cocky too.

That is what happens to every team's fans when they roll through the early rounds of playoffs with such ease.

A false sense of dominance.

[xmuscularghandix]

Lost in Game 7 with this rotation...

Rondo, Marbury
Ray, House
Pierce...
BBD, Scalabrine
Perkins

Now we have THIS
Rondo,
Ray, TA
Pierce, Finley
KG, BBD
Perkins, Sheed

I feel pretty good about our chances here, plus this makes me feel good as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XFkKqXY3V4

[nickagneta]

I think we see an activated Scalabrine in this series as he really does play excellent defense on Rashard Lewis.