If the Celtics are 85% healthy come playoff time- can anyone stop us?

[GreenEnvy]

100% would be ideal, but by 85% do you mean everyone is almost healthy but not quite (but then again, who is after a long regular season) or we are missing 2-3 players?

Simply put, we can't win without any of the Big Three Plus One. We could probably still win a championship with one big and one bench wing, but it would be difficult.

The only teams that are a threat are the Lakers, Heat, and to a lesser extent the Mavs, Spurs, Magic and maybe Bulls.

The Lakers definitely peaked, but how far have they fallen off?

The Heat can destroy weak teams, but so could the Cavs. What happens in the playoffs when defenses clamp down and a floor general and bigs are needed?

The Spurs are playing out of their minds right now, I simply can't see them sustaining this level of play for much longer, let alone against the elite.

The Mavs are intriguing. They can play D, they are big, they can shoot, they have leaders in Dirk and Kidd (you trust them?), but can they actually topple the Lakers? I think they have the best shot at knocking off the Lakers in the West.

As for the Magic and Bulls, they could be dangerous and knock a good team off, but they aren't winning a championship with their current squads.

When ALL teams are fully healthy, the Celtics appear to be the strongest.

Whether we will be fully healthy when necessary seems to be the biggest question.

[Witch-King]

For the sake of our team's competitiveness I'm really hoping that we have more than either 85% of our players healthy in June -or- more than all of our guys being only 85% healthy and ready to play.

I apologize if my post is a little mundane, however I'm typing this with my playstation 3 controller

As the last three years have proved, health (non-injury) is key to this team's success in the post-season.

[guava_wrench]

Even if we are 100% we can lose. No team is unbeatable in a seven game series this year. Heck, it took an uncalled Jordan offensive foul to win one year against Utah.

[Brendan]

The thing is all that depth doesn't do too much in the playoffs. My main concern is that the guys who are going to get the bulk of the minutes are in sync. I'm expecting that to be:

Shaq and Perk at C
KG and Baby at PF
Pierce and Ray at SF
Ray and West at SG
Rondo and West at PG

With Nate and Daniels and JO being used only for situational purposes. My concern now is will those 8 or 9 guys (or whoever is in that group, say if JO replaced Shaq or Perk, or Daniels replaced West in the top group) be operating as a single machine - or will they be sloppy?

[chambers]

I really emphasize our depth because we need to bolster the home advantage for the playoffs.

What's going to be critical to our success is gonna be getting delonte west healthy and with plenty of minutes running the floor both as PG and SG.

If we do reach the finals in similar health to last season i think we have a very good shot.

I noticed that some sports betting sites have bumped our odds up even more to 7-1 to win the crown.
This is a pretty good bet in my eyes.
right now we look like we're in trouble with injuries- but perkins and west are our only two serious long term injuries.
Rondo and garnett should be fine provided they are rested well and doc uses this deep roster to keep them fit- we he is an expert at doing.

[chambers]

Hey Green,
i meant that we could have our team at 85% come the beginning of the playoffs, with 85% being we have most of our team with the big four being healthy and perhaps a few bench guys (JO, west or maquise not entirely healthy).
so the core 9 players in a position where they can compete without too much concern.
In my opinion, we went into the finals at about 85% last year.
KG was probably at 75% peak last year but that wasn't as critical because he could still fill his position on the defensive rotation as the rock inside.
I think this year he's an offensive bonus. If his current injury puts him back to his 2010 finals form then that's good enough for me- because we have the big guys on the bench to come in and take the pressure of him down low.