First Round: New York!!

[P2]

Looking at the standings and the remaining schedule of several teams, I figured we will play against New York in the First Round, which is not what we want.

New York is .5 games in front of Philly for the 6th spot. New York has 3 games left, Philly 2. But NY plays against IND, CHI and us. PHI plays ORL and DET. So assuming NY wins in Indiana and loses the next two, PHI has to win only one to put them in a tie. But at this point, I don't know who has the tiebraker.

We hold the tiebraker over MIA, so if we win the next two games, we could just let NY win the last game just to avoid them in the First Round, or in other words, get the much weaker PHI. We would then still be 2nd, because we would be 4-0 against MIA.

But at the end of the day, it looks most likely we are going to play New York. It's not that they would win the matchup, but they would certainly give us some troubles, more than Philly.

Discuss.

[Bahku]

Guess I look at it like the Celtics do ... one game at a time, and if we draw New York, then we cross that bridge when we come to it, and prepare accordingly. There's a lot of variables involved, and I wouldn't call it until it happens ... if it happens.

[Who]

Neither team (NY or Phily) pose much trouble to the Celtics.

I could care less who the C's draw in the first round.

[dark_lord]

i dont want to play ny.  i think we will win series, but i would much rather play philly!  theres something about the knicks that makes me a little nervous.

[pearljammer10]

I dont think either team will pose us with problems, however I would rather face Philly for the sake of the Knicks matching up better with Miami. Let the Knicks and Miami duke out a long series and beat up on each other before we head in to face on of the two. Plus the Knicks have beaten the Heat in their last two meetings.

[timpiker]

Between Pilly and NY I would prefer NY.... Philly runs too much for my tastes....  I like NY because Carmelo likes to hog the ball and play 1 on 1 and that suits the C's defense much better.......

[birdwatcher]

Neither team (NY or Phily) pose much trouble to the Celtics.

I could care less who the C's draw in the first round.

I'm with you.

[WeMadeIt17]

I don't want the knicks in the first round. I would like them to play the heat feel it would be a very good series and could pose trouble for the heat. As for me not wanting to play them, I just think they have a lot of fire power and can give us trouble. Dont think there would be any chance of them winning a 7 game series but still. I feel they could actually beat the heat. As for Philly would much rather play them. Not strong at PG so Rondo can get in lanes, not a shot blocker on the team really, and young, not enough playoff expierence.

[P2]

I like NY because Carmelo likes to hog the ball and play 1 on 1 and that suits the C's defense much better.......

Last time I checked, they also had guys named Stoudemire and Billups.

[Bahku]

I like NY because Carmelo likes to hog the ball and play 1 on 1 and that suits the C's defense much better.......

Last time I checked, they also had guys named Stoudemire and Billups.

Exactly ... it's amazing to me that people talk about the Knicks so much and only mention Melo, when Stoudemire's stats are almost identical to Anthony's this year, (1/10 less in PPG, 8/10 more in RPG, and 3/10 less in APG - Chauncey also kicks in 16.8 PPG, 2.6 RPG, and 5.3 APG).

Stoudemire, IMO, has given us more trouble in the past than Anthony has ... Melo doesn't worry me anywhere near as much as Amar'e does ... Billups has had a few good games against us, too, no matter who he was playing for.

[Prof. Clutch]

i dont want to play ny.  i think we will win series, but i would much rather play philly!  theres something about the knicks that makes me a little nervous.

+1

[Kane3387]

i dont want to play ny.  i think we will win series, but i would much rather play philly!  theres something about the knicks that makes me a little nervous.

+1

Yeah it's called two franchise players and a finals mvp

[manl_lui]

not so fast, we still have to finish 4 more games (or is it 3), and tomorrow is against Miami and it will be hard, you know the Heat will try to win tomorrow's game after losing 3 to us, they will come out and play hard tomorrow

and right now, i rather face NY, Amare is injured and if we faced them i the first round, Amare will not be 100%, we should take advantage of it. I can't say its a must win tomorrow, but looking at NY situation, i rather face them, a team with no defense, no bench, an injured Amare would be a better option than the 76ers

we will not need Shaq in the first round in that case, so if we take care of NY quick, more rest for our team + Shaq, means more practice and getting ready for round 2

therefore, if we win tomorrow's game its a big plus for us. Not to mention JO is getting better every game