Parallels to this series and the Cleveland Series

[Q_FBE]

I saw a lot of similarities to Game One of yesterday and Game Two of the Cleveland series - Get a big lead and let the other team back in by bad 4th qtr play.

In other words - the Magic got some momentum going for Game two just like Cleveland did for Game 3. This time though the Celtics broke serve in Game 1 instead of Game 2 so I suspect a let down in Game 2 and a big Magic win to tie the series.

But this time - the Magic might not be able to win in Boston and then they would be put in a three - one hole and the Celtics with confidence on the road should and most likely would knock out the Magic in Five.

I did not watch yesterday, I was out camping and listened to the game on the way home on ESPN radio - man that was a horrible broadcast crew (Tom Durkin and Dr Jack Ramsey) who were pontificating over Magic Rust and lack of Dwight Howard production rather than giving the Celtics credit. I guess their A radio broadcast team of Kevin Collabero (Seattle native) and analyst are working the Laker series.

Despite the Magic comeback - The Celtics sounded like they did a lot right and had the upperhand all the way through. They need to take a look at the offensive execution in the last six minutes and find a way to slow down Micheal Pietrus and Marcin Gortat both of whom could kill the Celtics as we go forth.

Maybe I will listen to all Game Ones on ESPN radio from now on.

[Witch-King]

Unlike the Cleveland series we didn't have to worry about Queen James and his star-calls/travelling/prima-donna-elbow-drama yesterday afternoon while the Magic made a late run at home.

While Vince Carter was certainly impressive it seemed to me that the Celtics were more focused and had all of the right answers, even from the very start of the game. Our first offensive possession was a shuffle pass from Rondo to Pierce for a transition 3 pointer, the first points scored in the game following a defensive stop on the other end.

Those opening moments set the tone for the rest of the first quarter, heck that play looked like something that Bill Belichick would draw up for his offense. I also found it interesting how ABC's commentators would reference an interview from the Cavaliers' series where Rondo claimed to have played quarterback and pitcher as well as point guard while he was in high school as Rondo made a highlight play on the offensive end.

We did everything we wanted to in the Magic game. We took the home crowd out of the game early, we kept the lead in double digits and held off all of the mini-runs they attempted. Even when they got close near the end of the game we still executed down the stretch and came away with a close win in a game that we dominated from start to finish. The only complaint anyone could have had with the way the Celtics played yesterday was that the final score didn't fully reflect how badly we were beating them throughout the majority of the game, a fact that Jeff Van Gundy pointed out during the post-game press conference.

All I have to say is that I'm glad we don't have to worry about the Cavs anymore...Go Celtics!

[droopdog7]

I'll give you one simple parallel.  The Celts are the better team, yet very few realize it.

[Witch-King]

lol, I apologize if my original post seems off-topic, though for me it might be a little early to start making comparisons to the Cavs series besides the obvious - we aren't favored to win (by the majority of ESPN 'expert' analysts), we are playing on the road, the Magic had a better reg. season record than us, etc.

It is nice to see that we can exceed expectations as the consumate under-dog in either series, however I'm hoping the Celtics can take the first home game we play in Boston in order to hold on to home-court advantage vs the Magic in this series for as long as possible, something else we couldn't do in the Cleveland series...