Celtics defense is still one of the 2-3 best in the league, regardless of the injuries and lineup changes because of that.
That, to me, is what makes me confident that this team will win the Atlantic and a high seed for the playoffs.
Sixers have a top 3 defense, too, but they're also younger and deeper (so less likely to have injury problems), and their offense is better.
Younger and less experienced and I don't think them deeper.
Injury doesn't discriminate due to age.
Their offense is better for right now. Once Boston gets healthy and has Rondo back, they will be the better team.
Not deeper?
Williams > Bradley / Moore
Turner > Pietrus
Young > Bass
Vucevic > Wilcox / Stiemsma
Older players are generally more likely to suffer injuries . . . I think that's common knowledge.
The Celtics may be the better team once they get their full group back and clicking, but by that point in the season I think the Sixers will have enough of a lead that the Celtics will not overtake them.
In the playoffs, though, I think the Celtics would have a solid chance of beating the Sixers, since depth means less and experience means more.
And yet it can be argued that every single one of the Boston starters are better than the Philly starters.
The Sixers are considered deep because they play 8 guys over 25 MPG due to a lack of overall transcendent All-Star level talent. But that doesn't mean they are better at their roles than the Celtics bench or have deeper overall talent.
I noticed you didn't mention Dooling or Daniels or Pavlovic or the fact that the Celtics have had massive injury concerns in their starting and bench lineups whereas Philly hasn't.
Maybe you are right and maybe Philly gets too big of a lead. I think you're wrong. Let's leave it at that.
Edit: Also come playoffs, I would rather have Pietrus than Evans, Wilcox than Vucevic, Bass than Young
Topic: Celtics (9-10) at Cavs (8-11) 1/31 (Read 65855 times)