Bold statement: Rondo will be the best player in the Celtics vs. Heat

[Celticsfan336]

Obviously, there is a lot of speculation on this series before it is even set in stone.

But, heres my two cents about the Heats star power. Both teams play great team defense, but unlike the Heat, the Celtics have defensive answers for the Heats most imporant players.

Rondo will be the best player in the series. Not saying he 'is' the best player, but he will be the best player. I will explain.

First off, we all know how Rondo plays in the playoffs, no matter who is covering him. But the Heat have absutely no one who tie Rondo's shoes. He will create a mismatch for someone on the court everytime. He was so good last year Lebron covered him in that series.

Also, Ray Allen has the edge in the head to head matchup with wade. No saying he is better, but he has an ANSWER for wade. Wade will be gassed and dizzy covering Ray. Lebron is the best player in the series. but he will not BE the best player in this series. Pierce always plays lebron tough, and that is another answer the celtics have for the heat superstars. Sure, Lebron may take over a game or 2, wade may aswell, but overall I feel the Celtics have an answer for them. Bosh, well not that he would even come close, will get owned by Garnett. Garnett will have Bosh on a leash by the end of the series feeding him dog treats.

I really think Rondo will win us this series with his mismatches he creates.

Plus, Celtics play better team defense than the Heat. (dont care about stats)

Another reason, Celtics have been rested and have been gameplanning for the Heat for the whole week leading up to the game. THe Heat potentially will get 1 day of rest and no days to gameplan, and will not be nearly as fresh as the Celtics.

Rondo will have 2 triple doubles, a 30 point game, and a 20 assist game in a Celtics sweep.

[Yogi]

  Well no one actually plays defense on Rondo.  All I know is that KG will average 20 and 10.  JO should also average double digits. 

[PosImpos]

Celtics sweep?  Oh boy.

They just had their first sweep in over two decades, and now you think they're going to sweep one of the most talented teams in the league?

[scaryjerry]

perfectly plausible considering he was in the series against LeBrons cavs last season and was the best player in 3 out of the 4 matchups against the heat this season

rest of your post is cute... pass me the green juice ur drinking!

[OsirusCeltics]

Celtics sweep?  Oh boy.

They just had their first sweep in over two decades, and now you think they're going to sweep one of the most talented teams in the league?

To me, two players in Wade and James doesn't equal "most talented"

I think balance and strength at every position makes more talent. Like the Lakers and Celtics

[mc34]

Let's not get carried away here, put away the brooms. I think Rondo's up to the challenge though and will make it his mission to abuse the Heat defense. I also think Rondo will have one or even two triple doubles in this series. Celtics in 6.

[Senninsage]

Garnett will be very important, but then, so will Ray Allen.

If Ray Allen is on his game, we'll be in very good shape, and probably routinely be holding a nice cushion on the lead.

[BudweiserCeltic]

I think it's key for Rondo to burn the Heat PGs. Then have LeBron put on him and be effective in cross-matching which I think he can handle. This will in turn give Pierce mismatches and hopefully get him going.

[PosImpos]

If Rondo is the 3rd best player in the series, and KG, Ray, or Paul is the 4th, I think we'll be in very good shape. 

Any game in which a player on the Heat other than one of their Big 3 is one of the best 7 players in the game is a game the Celtics aren't likely to win.

[Kwhit10]

We definitely go as Rondo goes.  From those stretched in the NYK series where Rondo pushed the ball attacked the rim and whatnot we were playing very well.  If he's aggressive then I really like our chances against anyone.

[BASS_THUMPER]

Celtics sweep?  Oh boy.

They just had their first sweep in over two decades, and now you think they're going to sweep one of the most talented teams in the league?

they have talent  on the team but they are not the most talented team

[2short]

Rondo's rebounding to me is very important, he actually does that and starts his own fastbreak really well.  Ray Allen's outside shooting very key, I'd love it if he does run wade into the ground BUT wade is the guy to me that can win it for miami.  For some reason lebron just doesn't do it for me.  I feel PP can nearly match him point for point and our team concept seems to work great against him.  He might have bosh and wade but as a TEAM cleveland was better.  Hey its a series, lets hope our bench does what davis has predicted because if we push and run and pound the ball into our bigs there is no way the 3 star(ters) can keep it up for a whole game/series.

[BballTim]

I think it's key for Rondo to burn the Heat PGs. Then have LeBron put on him and be effective in cross-matching which I think he can handle. This will in turn give Pierce mismatches and hopefully get him going.

  If LeBron could guard Rondo he probably would have done so in the playoffs last year.

[celticslove]

dwade is the only player that i feel can beat us, delonte can take care of LeEdited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline..

[Dr H]

It's a good thing and it's perfectly normal to be confident, but thinking the Celtics can sweep this series? IMO that's just silly.

Plus, maybe I'm just being overly superstitious, but I'd rather the Celts NOT sweep this round. Look at the results of the past 2 teams in the East to sweep the first 2 rounds: last year Orlando swept Charlotte and Atlanta, then got smoked by the Celtics in the ECFs. The year before, the Cavs swept Detroit and Atlanta, then got KILLED by Orlando in the ECFs lol... 

As far as this series: For the Celtics to have any shot at winning the series, they NEED to win ATLEAST one (1) game where either Wade or Lebron is on fire, similar to them beating the Knicks in game 2 when Carmelo was going off. It's going to take a whole TEAM effort, starters and bench, to win the series. They need to keep Joel Anthony off the boards, unlike the last meeting in the regular season. They need to prevent Chalmers and Bibby from knocking down threes. Garnett is reportedly a weak(er) 1 on 1 defender so he'll have to work hard to keep the ball out of Bosh's hands, and make the Heat play a 2 man game of Wade/Lebron vs the Celtics 5..if that makes sense. It's going to take a lot of energy and effort - boxing out, rebounding, to closing out shooters, and fighting over picks.