The morning after: Anyone else a little peeved?

[wdleehi]

I love it.


Even when the Celtics hand the Cavs their rears, the talk is still all about the Cleveland Lebrons.


One more thing to keep the high motivation.

[LooseCannon]

You should be watching Skip Bayless on EPSN2's morning show First and Ten.  He seems to be having a lot of fun because his colleague Chris Broussard is from Cleveland.  

Yesterday, Bayless picked Boston to win game five, predicting a Pierce breakout game.  Today, he said the Celtics have the greatest depth in terms of mental toughness.  He said Pierce deserves credit for his defense.  He called LeBron a "front-running bully" who retreated into a shell from being punched in the mouth repeatedly by the Celtics.  He just doesn't have respect for the man he mockingly calls "Prince" James.

[get_banners]

In Legler's defense, I think he said the Celtics would win Game 5 as well.

[Reggie's Ghost]

As others have said, I don't give a rat's behind what "credit" we get as long as we keep winning. In fact I hope we keep being counted out, I hope we keep that chip on our shoulder, and finish this thing strong.  When they start picking us in every series and dub Rondo the "King" I will become extremely concerned 

This series remind anyone of the Cavs v. Orlando series last year?  Cavs look like a rudderless ship at the moment...

[JSD]

I'm not peeved or annoyed at all. The Celtics will be the story if they can close out the series. Until then, keep all the media and pressure on them.

[jsingh1699]

I love the fact that this morning on sportscenter, they brought up the elbow again.

i think the celts play better when they are the under dog and dont have the spotlight on them. its amazing how quickly the media forgot about rondo this morning. we need all the analysts to keep writing us off for game 6 just so that we can close the door on this series and move on.

tho after the game 2 blowout and how much crap lebron was getting from the media, he came back ridiculously in game 3. boston has to be ready because he will attack as soon as the game starts.

[CelticHooligan3]

I know there was an article on here the other day before the series started with all the experts picks. I could have swore legler had cavs in a sweep or 5. Anyone know? Or can anyone pull up the graphic?

[fairweatherfan]

I know there was an article on here the other day before the series started with all the experts picks. I could have swore legler had cavs in a sweep or 5. Anyone know? Or can anyone pull up the graphic?

It's been posted in some other threads...you can see it at http://espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2010/matchup/_/teams/celtics-cavaliers, but I can't figure out how to post the full image.  All 10 "experts" picked the Cavs, and Legler and Ford picked them in 7.  I give Legler some slack though because he's the only one of 10 ESPN "experts" who picked us in the Finals in 08.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Zero problem with Legler picking the Cavs in 7. He's been one of the biggest Celtics supporters in ESPN, so not going to give him crap for this pick.

Chris Boussard or however you spell it said on First Take that if the Celtics win this round, they'll win the Championship (or was it go to the finals?)

I've always hated Skip Bayless but he's been awesome with the LeBron bashing.

[RAcker]

I just knew this would be a topic this morning, but they can keep forgetting about us all the way to The Finals.

[twinbree]

I had no problem with picking the Cavs to win either since they came in with the better and more consistent season, homecourt and the best player (still love you Rajon!). Picking the Cavs in 4 or 5 was ridiculous. The Celtics were healthy and playing better in the playoffs. Besides everyone knows no matter how badly this team is playing they would never go quietly into the night in less than 6.

[rondo987]

I feel the same way. I was going to say something til I saw this thread... After the game, the front page of ESPN was a picture of Lebron. Are you kidding me? At first glance you would think the Cavs won and Lebron put on a show, but even when he does bad, or doesn't even show up, he is still the center of attention. Seriously, the celts need to get some credit. I mean yes, if Lebron put up a stinker they wouldn't have lost that bad, but they still would have lost, probably by double digits.

Listening to D and C briefly this morning, all they (and Jackie Macmullan) could talk about was "what was wrong with Lebron last night," or why he didn't show up, or why he was slumping, why he couldn't make a shot, blah blah blah. How about the Celtics played good defense, forced him to be a jump shooter, and put up 120 points on one of the best defensive teams in the league? Right that doesn't matter, its Lebrons fault the celticsc won... And I'm sick of the media attention they are giving his elbow, its like Pierce, Ray, KG, Perk, Rondo aren't banged up either. It's the playoffs, EVERYONE has some sort of injury at this point, get over it.

[RAcker]

[Who]

How about the Celtics played good defense, forced him to be a jump shooter, and put up 120 points on one of the best defensive teams in the league?

Shaquille O'Neal = very poor defender
Antawn Jamison = atrocious defender
LeBron James = excellent defender
Anthony Parker = mediocre defender
Mo Williams = poor defender

That lineup is a below average defensive team. In that 16-20th range.

When Cleveland gives that lineup big minutes, they cannot be an elite defensive team. The best case scenario is a good defensive team (8th-to-12th) and they've failed to put the right lineups in to achieve even that (Edit: last night I mean, for the rest of the series they have done a solid job with this).

Cleveland should not be considered a high quality defensive team when that starting lineup is playing long minutes.

[Who]

How about the Celtics played good defense, forced him to be a jump shooter, and put up 120 points on one of the best defensive teams in the league?

Shaquille O'Neal = very poor defender
Antawn Jamison = atrocious defender
LeBron James = excellent defender
Anthony Parker = mediocre defender
Mo Williams = poor defender

That lineup is a below average defensive team. In that 16-20th range.

When Cleveland gives that lineup big minutes, they cannot be an elite defensive team. The best case scenario is a good defensive team (8th-to-12th) and they've failed to put the right lineups in to achieve even that.

Cleveland should not be considered a high quality defensive team when that starting lineup is playing long minutes.

Jamario Moon (Rondo) + Delonte West (Ray) + LeBron James (Pierce) + Hickson (Perk) + Varejao (Garnett)

That lineup is a very good-to-excellent defensive lineup.

Cleveland can switch out West for Parker and still be a very good-to-excellent defensive team.

Cleveland can switch out Mo Williams for either West/Parker or Moon (with Mo defending the point, never Ray Allen) and still be a very good defensive team.

Cleveland can switch out Antawn Jamison for JJ Hickson and still be a very good defensive team.

Cleveland can bring in Antawn Jamison + Mo Williams while keeping on LeBron + Varejao and one of West/Parker/Moon and still be a good-to-very good defensive team.

Cleveland can also bring in Shaq or Ilgauskas for Hickson and still be a very good defensive team.

They are all quality defensive lineups.