ESPN "Experts" Unanimously Choose the Celtic's Opponent...Again

[fairweatherfan]

Looks like the poor fellas are getting a bit confused:



 

[misha]

Abbott should be sent to the mail room after the playoffs.

[Potapenko Boxout]

Abbott should be sent to the mail room after the playoffs.

TP. who is this guy? his live chat was horrible to follow

[footey]

Hollinger is the guy with all the excuses. As soon as we win yesterday, he writes a story claiming that Orlando lost because they were rusty.  He is very slow to give Celtics credit for their defense.  In a way, I can't blame these guys. We were a mediocre team for much of the season. But the "resolve" (Doc's new mantra) our guys have shown makes us a completely different team. 

[Roy Hobbs]

The ABC studio guys gave us a ton of respect, at least.  Wilbon, Magic, and Barry all picked the Celts; I'm not sure who Stuart Scott picked, although he never seems to give the Celtics a ton of respect.

[Donoghus]

The ABC studio guys gave us a ton of respect, at least.  Wilbon, Magic, and Barry all picked the Celts; I'm not sure who Stuart Scott picked, although he never seems to give the Celtics a ton of respect.

I'm utterly convinced that Stuart Scott is trying to become Lebron's "Ahmad Rashad". 

[Evantime34]

The ABC studio guys gave us a ton of respect, at least.  Wilbon, Magic, and Barry all picked the Celts; I'm not sure who Stuart Scott picked, although he never seems to give the Celtics a ton of respect.

Magic picked the Magic. He said "My heart is with the Celtics but my head says pick Orlando" and then he picked Orlando.

I loved that after the Dwight Howard feature Scott said maybe Howard should try to get more than one bucket next half.

[j804]

Espn this morning was giving us some credit for once......they said we gave Howard a case of LeBronitis. LOL

[Ersatz]

Hollinger is the guy with all the excuses. As soon as we win yesterday, he writes a story claiming that Orlando lost because they were rusty.  He is very slow to give Celtics credit for their defense.  In a way, I can't blame these guys. We were a mediocre team for much of the season. But the "resolve" (Doc's new mantra) our guys have shown makes us a completely different team. 

Of course he hates the Celtics: they are totally undermining every one of his statistical models--PER, Power Rankings, Playoff Odds, and Playoff Predictor have all been thrown out the window with the Celtics play this postseason. I'd love to see it continue.

[Ersatz]

He liked us plenty in 2007-2008, when we smoked the league.

Hollinger sticks to his stats for the most part,

He didn't stick to his stats in the finals that year, which he predicted LA would win even though his supposed primary metric--margin of victory--showed that the Celtics should have easily won.

At the end of this season he was talking about how the real contenders were the Cavs and the Magic, and maybe the Lakers. But as he was saying this, the Spurs and the Suns were ahead of the Cavs and the Lakers in his Power Rankings.

Hollinger claims he goes by the numbers, but he doesn't always. Which is fine, but not if you then claim you are.

[guava_wrench]

Hollinger is the guy with all the excuses. As soon as we win yesterday, he writes a story claiming that Orlando lost because they were rusty.  He is very slow to give Celtics credit for their defense.  In a way, I can't blame these guys. We were a mediocre team for much of the season. But the "resolve" (Doc's new mantra) our guys have shown makes us a completely different team. 

I am waiting to see game 2 because I expected Orlando to have problems at the outset due to their mothballs.

This does not mean that we can't beat them. It just means that I expected Orlando to have problems getting back in rhythm in game 1, and the result can be interpreted as being just that, whether or not it is just that.

[Rondo_is_better]

Hollinger is the guy with all the excuses. As soon as we win yesterday, he writes a story claiming that Orlando lost because they were rusty.  He is very slow to give Celtics credit for their defense.  In a way, I can't blame these guys. We were a mediocre team for much of the season. But the "resolve" (Doc's new mantra) our guys have shown makes us a completely different team. 

I am waiting to see game 2 because I expected Orlando to have problems at the outset due to their mothballs.

This does not mean that we can't beat them. It just means that I expected Orlando to have problems getting back in rhythm in game 1, and the result can be interpreted as being just that, whether or not it is just that.

If they were rusty for game 1 of this series, why weren't they rusty for game one of the last series? Surely this one means more -- you'd think they'd focus even harder on staying sharp... that is... if it was really the problem.

[BudweiserCeltic]

Well, the Lakers surely looked rested last night.

[Birdbrain]

Well, the Lakers surely looked rested last night.

Well that's because both were ' rusty '.  If one team would have played a few days ago you would have noticed the ' rust ' of the team much more.

Or maybe that's a dumb excuse used to cover up another awful prediction by this mathgeek.

[Rondo_is_better]

I just have to keep hating on Hollinger here for a second, and back up my position that he hates the Celtics and wants the magic to win this series:

He just tweeted, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? Wow that was a silly waste of time. Everyone on court should be hard-wired for immediate TO there. " referring to JJ Redick's play at the end of the game.

Sounds pretty distressed for an impartial observer.

Nice prediction, you clown. Orlando in 5? Oh, that's interesting.