Magic trade moves make for even better matchups for us!

[csfansince60s]

Gortat, Pietrus, Rashard Lewis and Vince Carter have all been players who historically have given the Cs fits. Not that JRich ,Zero, and Turkeyglue haven't daggered us on numerous occasions and love to especially beat us for individual personal reasons (JRich's love for Pierce and Zero's hatred for anything Celtic because we snubbed him) , but we get stronger in the new match-ups that are created, and they get weaker, at least against us.

While we matched up pretty well against them before (except in '09-10 when KG and Powe's injuries were too much for us to overcome and they beat us here in game 7)and have pretty much handled them because of our edge in match-ups, I think that it gets even better.

 Gortat use to kill us, especially in that twin tower pairing with Dwight Howard. While that may have changed slightly this year with our added length and bulk, his combination of mobility, FT ability and strength still would have posed problems for us.They got no replacement for Gortat in these deals, and Bass will get eaten up by our bigs.

Pietrus was always a thorn in our side. Not only could he D up PP and RA pretty well, but his athleticism and timeliness with those corner 3s hurt us. None of their new pickups will or can give them the perimeter D that Pietrus did. All of them can hit the three-ball though.

Rashard Lewis was another tough matchup for us. His length  quickness and versatility cannot be matched by Turkeyglue, but Turk is tougher and grittier and will get more O rebounds and D better. I still think Lewis was a tougher matchup for us overall.

Lastly, the enigmatic Vince Carter, while not the best defender and not the grittiest guy in the world, was a tough match-up for RA because of his athleticism. Historically, he has always hurt us. I'll never forget PP's either first or second year, and we were playing the Raptor's at home and he and PP were in a shootout. VC had the last word with a corner 3 at the buzzer to negate an amazing bucket by PP to take the lead at the other end. I've hated him ever since for his in your face reaction to PP and the crowd at the end of that game.

While JRich, Zero and Turkeyglue may all bring a "new" anergy to a listless team in need of some change, I think we are much better off with them there match-up wise than with the four that left. Perhaps the Magic's chemistry will change for the better and obviously the Magic brass hope that is the case and only time will tell, but for right now, I think that the changes bode well for the Cs.

[PosImpos]

"Tough" and "gritty" are two words I would never use to describe Hedo Turkoglu.

[LooseCannon]

"Tough" and "gritty" are two words I would never use to describe Hedo Turkoglu.

To be fair, the description was that, relatively speaking, Turkoglu is tougher and grittier than Rashard Lewis in the same way that toilet paper may be tougher than tissue paper.

For Orlando, the more important question might be how these changes affect their matchups against the two other teams in their division, Miami and Atlanta.

[Snakehead]

I love it for us because now they are even MORE dependent on Dwight Howard.  If he does not dominate the boards and paint on defense they literally have no one else who will.  They got better on offense I think but far worse on defense with no backup C and defensive liabilities like Hedo, and in regards to guys like LeBron and Pierce the loss of Pietrus gives them no one to check that kind of player.

We just go at Howard with all our big bodies like we have before and if we get him in foul trouble now they are completely screwed.  And our big situation is even better now and Shaq should hopefully get him in some foul trouble at the start.

And speaking of Hedo... yeah guy isn't the player he was a few years ago:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQKR6jMN8s

[housecall]

Hedo is a very inconsistent player.Back in the 2009 season he wasn't having this great consistent season.He caught fire during the playoffs that season.Its fools gold and desparation on Otis Smith's part if he thinks its the key to getting back to the finals.We were KG-less for the playoffs and it would have been a different outcome if he was playing in that series.

[Q_FBE]

Maybe if everyone for the C's was healthy and available to play I would favor us over Orlando. But that is not the case. Orlando blitzed SAS with midrange jumpshots early in the shot clock all night. I would anticipate they would try to do the same to us. So hustling to loose balls and rebounds are a premium for us. That and the turnover ratio. Plus Perk is not availble to defend Howard One on One. Shaq may have his hands full with Howard.

[Celtics4ever]

Vince Carter never gave us fits. Has he eve gave anyone fits, my impressions is that he never has scored points in games that matter. 

Gortat they will miss but I think Hedo hurt us alot and he helps their offense across the board.   He is a good passer and can spread the floor and score.  He hurt SA when they played ORL recently.  I think he makes them more dangerous in some ways especially with his passing.   

They lack depth though and I think we will be ok though.  But I would not discount Hedo in that system.

[j804]

Not sure about that, they are more athletic now and get on the break quick with Arenas and Hedo creating for them. They have shooters all over that can take it off the dribble as well. SA has been playing some stifling Defense lately and they broke them down all game. They are a better team IMO after the trade even with losing Gortat.

Tomorrows game will be tough even moreso without Rondo.

[hpantazo]

Vince Carter never gave us fits. Has he eve gave anyone fits, my impressions is that he never has scored points in games that matter. 

Gortat they will miss but I think Hedo hurt us alot and he helps their offense across the board.   He is a good passer and can spread the floor and score.  He hurt SA when they played ORL recently.  I think he makes them more dangerous in some ways especially with his passing.   

They lack depth though and I think we will be ok though.  But I would not discount Hedo in that system.

I agree that Vince, at least since he's been on orlando, hasn't given us trouble. I was actually glad to see him out there on the opposing team during the playoffs. Gortat, Lewis, and Pietrus are huge losses for them though. All three gave us problems. Although Hedo is better than Lewis, Lewis was a tough matchup for KG because if his quickness and his ability to hit the three. I would not describe Hedo as fast in any way. Arenas compared to Carter or Pietrus is undersized and a poor team player, and his game hasn't been then same since his knee problems. Richardson is a tough one for us though. Gortat is a huge loss for them. With our full lineup, we can throw Perk, Shaq, JO, Semih, and Davis at Dwight Howard and he will wear down and get into foul trouble, and then the magic are done. If they wanted to compete with us or Miami they would have never, ever given up Gortat, they should have instead traded for an additional big man. We are stacked with bigs, and the Heat have no good bigs except for Bosh, so they should have gotten more big men to exploit the Heat and to match up with us. Going small will be there downfall.

[droopdog7]

Pretty much disagree with most of the premise of this thread.  Carter did not give us trouble  and is a proven loser. Orlando did good to get rid of him. Lewis is pretty much owned by kg. I would have taken that matchup every time. Gortat is decent and I think is definite loss for them.

On the other hand, jrich is probably the biggest Celtic killer out there. Hedo brings veratility and he makes pp work much mores than Carter ever did. Arenas is the wildcard. He is explosive scorer for sure.

In the end, there is no telling how it will work out for Orlando. But what I do know is that they had no chance against us as they were constructed. So in that sense they had nothing to lose. I worry more about them now than I did then, that's for sure.

[LooseCannon]

I'm not ready to discount Orlando due to the lack of a quality back-up center because there is still time to pick one up.  The Celtics are probably not going to pick up who is waived or bought out and probably won't make a trade.  Miami might not be able to pick up the best available big at the trading deadline, but Orlando does have some pieces that aren't completely worthless.

Orlando's best strategy against Boston may be to try and rain down threes and hope they get hot/lucky in four out of seven games while getting blown out in the other three as they just miss.  Add in the possibility of Dwight Howard's elbows injuring key Celtics players and Orlando may have a greater chance of beating Boston than Miami does, but also a better chance of getting swept in a playoff series.

[pearljammer10]

The biggest advantage for us is Peitrus being gone. He always seemed to have a huge shooting game against us and hit big time clutch shots.

[csfansince60s]

"Tough" and "gritty" are two words I would never use to describe Hedo Turkoglu.

Did you watch the game today? His flagrant on KG and his hack of PP with no foul called on which P got the T are not plays that Rashard "The matador" Lewis would have made.

[Drucci]

"Tough" and "gritty" are two words I would never use to describe Hedo Turkoglu.

Did you watch the game today? His flagrant on KG and his hack of PP with no foul called on which P got the T are not plays that Rashard "The matador" Lewis would have made.

Yeah but on the other hand, except for Hedo who had an OK game, Richardson was a non factor and Arenas was just awful.

[Celtics4ever]

Hedo hurt us today.  We played poorly too though.  But this trade didn't hurt them today it helped them.