The more I watch the Heat-OKC finals I have concluded

[Celtics18]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING!  


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

I think Bosh being healthy for the Heat is far more important than Bradley being healthy for the Celtics.  I'm not going to convince myself that the Celtics blew a championship.  We overachieved mightily to even make it that far.  We beat a Horford-less Hawks team, nearly lost to the 8th seed fringe playoff team 76ers... and struggled against LeBron and an injured Wade for 5 games until they added Bosh and closed us out.  If the Heat/Celtics play that series again 10 times ... the Heat probably win 9.  I think the Heat were in danger of losing that series about as much as they were in danger of losing the Pacers series.  When stuff got "real", King James took it up another level.

Man, that's got to take some nerve, using Wade being injured as an additional excuse for the Heat not crushing us when Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were clearly playing injured throughout the playoffs.

Hey, your team won fair and square.  As a Celtics fan, I'll man up and not make any excuses, but I can't sit by while you make excuses for your team not winning more handily. 

[BballTim]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING!  


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

  Put Bradley on Wade instead of Ray and he doesn't need help, that frees players to help on LeBron. Not to mention how much he adds to the one man fast break we normally run.

[Big Rondo]

The team from the East to worry about next year is Chicago, not Miami.  Chicago plays defense on the level of Boston with the offensive talent to score a ton of points. 

Isn't it time for Boston to cut bait and start rebuliding around Rondo?

DRose is out all season and Chicago plans on blowing it up. The East is literally going to come down once again to Celtics/Heat.

[j804]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING!  


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

  Put Bradley on Wade instead of Ray and he doesn't need help, that frees players to help on LeBron. Not to mention how much he adds to the one man fast break we normally run.

Lol "King James" how cute

[LarBrd33]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING! 


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

  Put Bradley on Wade instead of Ray and he doesn't need help, that frees players to help on LeBron. Not to mention how much he adds to the one man fast break we normally run.

Lol "King James" how cute

Lol... if King James closes out the Zombie Sonics tomorrow, I'm going to start referring to him as "His Royal James of Championshipville" 

Tim/C18/etc:  I get it.  Bradley displayed some tough defense.  I'm just a slow learner when it comes to "the next stah of Boston".  Right now I have him somewhere between Marcus Banks and Gary Payton on the "defense" chart.  He simply hasn't played enough games for me to be convinced yet.  It's the same with his offense... between shooting 34% last season and 36% in the playoffs, he managed to put together a good three weeks of solid shooting while a starter at the tail end of the season.  And I fully recognize that we beat the Heat during the regular season multiple times in part due to Bradley's performance.  Still... I have a certain codes I try to live by as a sports fan ... Stuff like never blaming the refs and trying to avoid blaming injuries.  And as far as I'm concerned, the Heat took care of us when it mattered.

My final point... you'll like this one... 

You ready for this?...

This is a good one...

If watching the Heat-OKC Finals somehow convinced you that the Celtics could have "easily" beat the Thunder and were "this close" to winning a title... then watching the Heat-Celtics ECF should have convinced every 76ers fan that they could have "easily" beat the Heat and they were "this close" to making the finals.  Think about it.  10 points is less than 13.

Can we get a clean-up crew in here?... someone needs to mop up all of these virtual brain fragments from all the minds that just got blown.

[NoraG1]

It's worth noting that Miami didn't have Bosh against us for more than half the series. Bosh has quietly been a force on the defensive end for the Heat, which has helped LeBron and co. immensely.

Bosh is also the most rested...

[LarBrd33]

It's worth noting that Miami didn't have Bosh against us for more than half the series. Bosh has quietly been a force on the defensive end for the Heat, which has helped LeBron and co. immensely.

Bosh is also the most rested...

... all-star 7 footers do in-fact make a difference.  There was a point in mid-Feb when Kevin Garnett took a couple days off for personal reasons.  For whatever reason, he came back a changed man... started looking the best he's looked since 2008... starts consistently putting up 20 and 10s... continued to anchor our defense in a big way.  Suddenly we go from a below .500 team heading to the lottery to a team that makes it all the way to the ECF and threatens to pull off an upset... primarily because of KG's MVP-level play.  That's the impact a 7 foot all-star makes.  Try listing every team that has won a championship WITHOUT an all-star 7 footer.  Good luck.

Didn't surprise me that the Heat were an improved team with Chris Bosh.  Especially considering that the Heat in particular really lack depth beyond their Big 3.  At some point during these playoffs didn't we discover that Boston's opponents were shooting something like 35% with KG on the floor and 88% with him on the bench?  Some obscene difference like that, if I remember correctly.  Some folks correctly pointed out that it has just as much to do with who is on our bench as with how great KG was playing.  Same with Bosh here... his presence is a significant one for that team.

[aporel#18]

 At some point during these playoffs didn't we discover that Boston's opponents were shooting something like 35% with KG on the floor and 88% with him on the bench?  Some obscene difference like that, if I remember correctly.  Some folks correctly pointed out that it has just as much to do with who is on our bench as with how great KG was playing.  Same with Bosh here... his presence is a significant one for that team.

Comparing KG to Bosh? smh...

Seriously, Bosh impacted more Miami's offense than their defense. Their defense was fairly good all series, but when the Celtics lost their last legs and stopped moving the rock on offense, Miami's D looked almost Celtics D good.

And about Philly... they played great against us, officiating was somehow fair, and they had their chance, mostly because of the Celtics not pushing the pedal (injuries and age helped their cause also). In a similar environment, could they take Miami to game 7? Yes. Would've they? no, because Karate Hamster and LeBron would've bulldozed them into the ground without fouling out. In fact, the refs would be worse on the Sixers if needed, as Celtics got some respect in games 3&4.

Bradley on the aging Hamster would've made a big difference, because, you know, Pierce(knee), Allen(ankle) and Pietrus(knee) were injured and unable to guard him one-on-one. A bigger difference than Bosh? Bosh could play, Bradley couldn't.

And yes, if you could play a healthy Avery Bradley against the Heat, even with everybody else injured, the Celtics beat the Heat & the refs. Best team of five beats the eight-combined two teams.

[celtics2]

we could have beaten these guys.All the hogwash about them running any team from the east out the building was just that...HOGWASH.  We had the heat beat, outplayed them in 4 straight games but could not close out late or hold leads. But we played the Heat waaaaaaay better than the Thunder are so far. The Thunder are done it appears in 5 games. This Boston team is much better than they get credit for folks. tweak, tweak and more tweak and we can make a run for two more years. Get healthy. get a good bench. get another good big. Keep PP and KG fresh for playoffs. Let the young guns develop and show what they can do on the court this year.Depends what DA wants to do.

LET'S GO CELTICS!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree, if it weren't for getting screwed in the 2nd Heat game we likely would have won the series.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING!  


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

  Put Bradley on Wade instead of Ray and he doesn't need help, that frees players to help on LeBron. Not to mention how much he adds to the one man fast break we normally run.

Lol "King James" how cute

Lol... if King James closes out the Zombie Sonics tomorrow, I'm going to start referring to him as "His Royal James of Championshipville"  

Tim/C18/etc:  I get it.  Bradley displayed some tough defense.  I'm just a slow learner when it comes to "the next stah of Boston".  Right now I have him somewhere between Marcus Banks and Gary Payton on the "defense" chart.  He simply hasn't played enough games for me to be convinced yet.  It's the same with his offense... between shooting 34% last season and 36% in the playoffs, he managed to put together a good three weeks of solid shooting while a starter at the tail end of the season.  And I fully recognize that we beat the Heat during the regular season multiple times in part due to Bradley's performance.  Still... I have a certain codes I try to live by as a sports fan ... Stuff like never blaming the refs and trying to avoid blaming injuries.  And as far as I'm concerned, the Heat took care of us when it mattered.

My final point... you'll like this one...  

You ready for this?...

This is a good one...

If watching the Heat-OKC Finals somehow convinced you that the Celtics could have "easily" beat the Thunder and were "this close" to winning a title... then watching the Heat-Celtics ECF should have convinced every 76ers fan that they could have "easily" beat the Heat and they were "this close" to making the finals.  Think about it.  10 points is less than 13.

Can we get a clean-up crew in here?... someone needs to mop up all of these virtual brain fragments from all the minds that just got blown.

who said we would have EASILY beat the thunder???

I know I simply said watching these finals we could beat them seeing what the heat are doing to them. I said COULD not WOULD.It takes some perspective and rationality to differentiate between what the sixers did to us and what we did to the heat. Just because each series went 7 does that make things exactly the same here? NO. Did it cross your mind we SHOULDA beat the heat in 5? Even with all our injured versus their injured? Hmmnnnnnn. We shoulda beat the sixers in 5 and everyone here knows it. We played much better against the heat than the sixers. A blind mole could see it.Did it really look like the Heat shoulda beat us in 5? NO!.I love how you make all those excuses for our wins, a horford less hawks,Lebron coasting, blah, blah, blah. How about us and all our guys not even playing due to injury and then all the ones playing with injuries? And look how far we made it.

Were you not the one who subscribed to the loser mentality that "well i am glad we lost to the heat because OKC would have drubbed us anyway"?

I think that was you who stated that. After watching these finals I really do not think your statement is true at all....especially with the empirical evidence before us we are all witnessing. Thanks for playing though.

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

Seems that way in retrospect, but I always felt like LeBron was coasting a bit until he needed to win.  I think you play that Heat/Celtic series 10 times, they probably win it 9.  And I think it's absolutely fair to point out the Heat with Bosh is a superior team to the Heat without Bosh (as evidence by the fact we couldn't beat them once Bosh started getting minutes).  Real shocker there... a 7 foot big man allstar makes a difference on a team lacking depth?  Really?  Wow.  SHOCKING!  


Thrilled for LeBron and the Heat right now.  I can't root for an OKC victory until Seattle gets a team.  Those THunder fans need to suffer a bit.  It's LeBron's time.  He's due.  Hope he closes it out the next game and reaches his destiny finally.  It's been a long time coming.

The Celtics are also a superior team with Avery Bradley

I don't really buy that.   Everyone else on this forum is far more hyped up on Bradley than I am.  Yeah I get that everyone is convinced he's an otherworldy defender, because he was putting aggressive pressure on players in the regular season.  I still say he's very undersized... and Wade was pretty subpar in the series regardless (mostly due to his injury, I'm guessing).  Not like Bradley was going to guard King James.

I think Bosh being healthy for the Heat is far more important than Bradley being healthy for the Celtics.  I'm not going to convince myself that the Celtics blew a championship.  We overachieved mightily to even make it that far.  We beat a Horford-less Hawks team, nearly lost to the 8th seed fringe playoff team 76ers... and struggled against LeBron and an injured Wade for 5 games until they added Bosh and closed us out.  If the Heat/Celtics play that series again 10 times ... the Heat probably win 9.  I think the Heat were in danger of losing that series about as much as they were in danger of losing the Pacers series.  When stuff got "real", King James took it up another level.

Man, that's got to take some nerve, using Wade being injured as an additional excuse for the Heat not crushing us when Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were clearly playing injured throughout the playoffs.

Hey, your team won fair and square.  As a Celtics fan, I'll man up and not make any excuses, but I can't sit by while you make excuses for your team not winning more handily. 

yep. it is vile and pathetic at best. this guy is as subjective as they come. might be a closet Heat fan. sure sounds like it. 

[ThaPreacher]

If.....and it is a mighty big if....
OKC manages to win game 5,
Not blow the game in the last 5 minutes
Not go isolation on every offensive series.
Somehow hold on and avoid elimination.

I have them winning in 7.

Once it is back to OKC,
it is a different ballgame.



Of course,
I'm not sure they won't just get blown out in game 5.
C

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

If.....and it is a mighty big if....
OKC manages to win game 5,
Not blow the game in the last 5 minutes
Not go isolation on every offensive series.
Somehow hold on and avoid elimination.

I have them winning in 7.

Once it is back to OKC,
it is a different ballgame.



Of course,
I'm not sure they won't just get blown out in game 5.
C

If that happens we will have a certain poster here come in and say they were just "COASTING" the whole time, blah, blah, blah......


Yeah, the heat were really coasting being down at home in game 2 by 15 and then in game 7 at home by 11. Yeah, they definitely wanted to go 7 games since they just KNEW they had it wrapped up anyway.

[TrueGreen]

We were close to beating the Heat in all but the first game.

Avery Bradley out

Ray and Pietrus had surgery a few days after the series ended.

Pierce playing hurt

Just think what would have been if the above players were all healthy?

If there was more day of rest between games 6 and 7 KG would have been better rested for game 7.

Injuries and lack of bench help and often sub par play by Bass cost us the series. Just having those guys playing hurt healthy should have been enough to beat the Heat. We came within about 10 minutes of doing it.

I thought OKC would have done better, but they seem to be imploding.

[Celtics18]

 

My final point... you'll like this one... 

You ready for this?...

This is a good one...

If watching the Heat-OKC Finals somehow convinced you that the Celtics could have "easily" beat the Thunder and were "this close" to winning a title... then watching the Heat-Celtics ECF should have convinced every 76ers fan that they could have "easily" beat the Heat and they were "this close" to making the finals.  Think about it.  10 points is less than 13.

Can we get a clean-up crew in here?... someone needs to mop up all of these virtual brain fragments from all the minds that just got blown.

Woah, dude, you just blew my mind!  But, seriously,  the argument by many--you included, I believe--was that we were better off losing in the ECF because we would have just gotten embarrassed by the Thunder.

The real question ought to be whether the people who thought that still think that.  Those who say they still believe we would have gotten blown out by the Thunder are most likely being dishonest with themselves and the rest of us.  Who knows?  We might have lost to them, but there's no way we would have gotten the doors blown off.

And, by the way, the Sixers would have spanked the Heat.