"Miami does not want to play Boston" -- Bucher

[thestackshow]

Sadly I don't think it matters.  The Heat are just too good.

Bit of a deafeatest attitude, no?  

Hes not the most positive poster, hes been trying to get rid of Rondo for a bag of chips all year, even suggested trading him for Jose Calderon, just to get him off the team.

 Please don't call out other posters for expressing their opinion.  It only leads to conflict and drama, and is against our rules.

[jdz101]

Regarding a potential Boston-Miami matchup in the ECF, I have one main worry. I know the usual suspects will race to their keyboards to tell me how wrong I am, but it's become clear to me that the NBA will do anything it can to get LeBron to the finals. The refs will be unbelievably biased in favor of the Heat in the series for every game, even games at the Garden.

While this has been going on for years, teams such as the '08 Celtics, '09 Magic, '10 Celtics and '11 Mavs were good enough to beat LeBron's teams in spite of the refs. Taking the refs out of it, I do think the Celtics are good enough to beat the Heat in a 7-game series. But are we good enough this year to overcome the awful officiating on top of that which is inevitable? I really don't know.

Im right with you on this one. I saw the proof in the first game of the Knicks series this year and the Boston series last year. The Heat had no chance of losing those games from the outset, no matter how they played.

[nickagneta]

Miami should be worrying about the Knicks and the Pacers. I don't see the Knicks going quietly and that Pacers team is darn good with a player that Miami has zero answer for in Roy Hibbert. I could see Hibbert throwing up a 22/15 series versus the Heat that could kill them as they have West, Granger, Paul and Hill to offset Bosh, Wade, and LeBron.

I don't know I've watched a few games of that series and neither team looked really good, Hibbert actually looked awful.

Hibbert isnt a dominant center.

Hes averaging 11 and 11 this year in the playoffs vs 6'6 big baby.

KG is averaging 17 and 10 at the age of 65.

Hibbert just isnt a dominant numbers guy, its unrealistic to expect him to score in the 20's

While I do not contest your point, I would be careful about how you talk about Baby. Baby may be short, but he is an excellent post defender. Keep a guy like Hibbert far from the hoop and make him chase you on offense to tire him out. Baby won't get as tired pushing Hibbert out as, say, KG would (though KG's jumper will destroy Hibbert).

Also, against Miami Hibbert will be facing Haslem, Turiaf and Anthony. None are the low post defenders that Baby is and Hibbert should be able to rebound extremely well versus them. If 22/15 seems a bit much, I don't think 18/13 is far off from where he will end up.

[CelticHooligan3]

Sadly I don't think it matters.  The Heat are just too good.

Bit of a deafeatest attitude, no?  

Hes not the most positive poster, hes been trying to get rid of Rondo for a bag of chips all year, even suggested trading him for Jose Calderon, just to get him off the team.

Well as a person who took part in that thread and suggested we move him for Harden and two firsts then sign Goran Dragic in free agency i really can't criticize him for that. I was also under the impression that thread was more hypothetical than literal but i digress.

To say this team has no chance against Miami is selling us quite short. We've first gotta finish of these pesky Hawks and move onto the youthful, exuberant, but inexperienced Sixers. And after that all bets are off in my eyes. We have just as good a chance as they do. This whole year has been an eye opener for me personally on what an "old", "over the hill" team can accomplish.

They've done nothing but surprise me all year. And blow most of this seasons expectations out of the water. So i don't see that changing anytime soon.

[mc34]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhpyX0qNO0A

I hope everyone has seen this. I got chills.

[Celtics18]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhpyX0qNO0A

I hope everyone has seen this. I got chills.

TP.  I've seen it now, and I got a few chills myself.

[LooseCannon]

Also, against Miami Hibbert will be facing Haslem, Turiaf and Anthony. None are the low post defenders that Baby is and Hibbert should be able to rebound extremely well versus them. If 22/15 seems a bit much, I don't think 18/13 is far off from where he will end up.

Has anyone pointed out that in four regular season games, Hibbert averaged 10.5/8.3 against Miami?

[JSD]

Goosebumps from that video. TP

[Mike-Dub]

I sure as heck hope a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Finals comes to fruition.

I think it'd be a heckuva series to watch from a basketball and drama standpoint.

Long ways to go, though.  A long way....

Yea all we have to do is beat up a banged up #8 seed. Lol.

That beat the Celtics a couple of times in the regular season.  

Not taking anything for granted.  Heck, this Atlanta series isn't even over yet.  I don't think Philly would be the cakewalk that almost everyone here seems to be thinking. From a matchup standpoint, that's a very tricky team to deal with. Athletic and defensive.

Not only do they cause problems for us with our youth, but I was watching Uno Sports Tonight and Adrian Wojnarowski said that their maybe back-to-backs in the next round due to the lockout and that would only make matters worse.

[Mike-Dub]

I'm not surprised, they seemed to celebrate harder when they beat us last year than when they beat the Bulls.

I think LeBron/Wade have a lot of respect for the C's given their respective playoff history. I don't think its fear as much as respect, I believe that they expect to beat whomever they play in the end.

You would think they had won the Finals last year after they beat us. That could have been part of LeBrons downfall in the Finals he seemed content after beating Boston and mentally checked out after.

LeBron was unconsious against the Bulls too.  It wasn't until the Finals that he started to faulter.

[CelticHooligan3]

I sure as heck hope a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Finals comes to fruition.

I think it'd be a heckuva series to watch from a basketball and drama standpoint.

Long ways to go, though.  A long way....

Yea all we have to do is beat up a banged up #8 seed. Lol.

That beat the Celtics a couple of times in the regular season.  

Not taking anything for granted.  Heck, this Atlanta series isn't even over yet.  I don't think Philly would be the cakewalk that almost everyone here seems to be thinking. From a matchup standpoint, that's a very tricky team to deal with. Athletic and defensive.

Not only do they cause problems for us with our youth, but I was watching Uno Sports Tonight and Adrian Wojnarowski said that their maybe back-to-backs in the next round due to the lockout and that would only make matters worse.

Had no idea.. That's a story to keep an eye on.

[Fafnir]

Fafnir,

What in the world makes you state the NY is a top five defensive team??

NY ranked 27th in blocks.
NY ranked 10th in points allowed per game.
NY 10th in FG% allowed.
NY ranked 18th in rebounds.

They did rank 2nd in steals:-))

That HARDLY, by any stretch of the imagination, equated to a top five defensive team.

Smitty77

Pace matters, they play faster than most other top defensive squads that is why their PPG is high.

They are the second best in the league at forcing turnovers while also being solid in eFG% and DRB%.

Blocks don't actually correlate very much to good defense, they actually are typically a sign that you have a shot blocker and give up a lot of shots at the rim. The Bobcats only blocked one fewer shot than the Celtics.

[RajonRondOWNED]

Wouldn't be playoff time without a horde of negative nancies filling CB.

[j804]

I sure as heck hope a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Finals comes to fruition.

I think it'd be a heckuva series to watch from a basketball and drama standpoint.

Long ways to go, though.  A long way....

Had no idea.. That's a story to keep an eye on.


Yea all we have to do is beat up a banged up #8 seed. Lol.

That beat the Celtics a couple of times in the regular season.  

Not taking anything for granted.  Heck, this Atlanta series isn't even over yet.  I don't think Philly would be the cakewalk that almost everyone here seems to be thinking. From a matchup standpoint, that's a very tricky team to deal with. Athletic and defensive.

Not only do they cause problems for us with our youth, but I was watching Uno Sports Tonight and Adrian Wojnarowski said that their maybe back-to-backs in the next round due to the lockout and that would only make matters worse.

Ughh forgot all about that that's huge cause for a concern especially against a team like Philly

[Celtics18]

I sure as heck hope a Boston-Miami Eastern Conference Finals comes to fruition.

I think it'd be a heckuva series to watch from a basketball and drama standpoint.

Long ways to go, though.  A long way....

Yea all we have to do is beat up a banged up #8 seed. Lol.

That beat the Celtics a couple of times in the regular season.  

Not taking anything for granted.  Heck, this Atlanta series isn't even over yet.  I don't think Philly would be the cakewalk that almost everyone here seems to be thinking. From a matchup standpoint, that's a very tricky team to deal with. Athletic and defensive.

Not only do they cause problems for us with our youth, but I was watching Uno Sports Tonight and Adrian Wojnarowski said that their maybe back-to-backs in the next round due to the lockout and that would only make matters worse.

But, there would only be back-to-backs for the Celtics.  The Sixers would get the previous night off.