1. The Celtics will not have HCA after the 2nd round. It's very likely they won't have it after the 1st round.
2. The Celtics aren't going to defeat the Lakers without HCA.
3. Despite #2, the Celtics will probably have to defeat the Lakers without HCA in order to win it all this year.
Hey Pos...aren't your 2 and 3 kinda contradicting one another?
It's ok to call it as you see it, but didn't we almost miraculously do what you just said we couldn't do?
That's why I love these Celtics - even after last night. Still can't count them out.
The whole point is that #2 and #3 contradict. We can't win.
And yeah, we almost did it last year. Almost. We couldn't make it all the way. I haven't seen anything this year to make me think we're in any better position to go farther than we did last season.
I can name a few things.
1. We'll be the 2nd/3rd seed, not 4th.
2. 2011 Sixers < 2010 Heat. 2011 Heat < 2010 Cavs. I do think the Bulls are better than last year's Magic, but they're not playoff tested, and the playoffs are a whole different ball game. Also, we've shown that we can stop a one-man team. If Rose is going to beat us, it's going to be because he got help from everyone else on that team.
3. We managed to obtain this record without being healthy all season. Who knows what'll happen if we have 15 strong in the playoffs (that is a big if). The point is, we DON'T know what's going to happen.
4. We beat the contenders more often than last year. They only started slacking at the end of the season (which everyone expected).
None of these things guarantees a championship. But they sure as heck make the situation look a lot better than last year.