The reason why we can't beat the Cavs

[KG Living Legend]

 Crowder was 6'4.75" tall at the combine.

 Translation in the NBA he's 6'6"

[PhoSita]

I was listening to a Celtics broadcast on 98.5 earlier this year and when they were introducing the starting lineups, Crowder identified himself as 6'5''.

[Tr1boy]

I was listening to a Celtics broadcast on 98.5 earlier this year and when they were introducing the starting lineups, Crowder identified himself as 6'5''.

yes our starting SF is 6'5.   Crowder is having a nice season but should really be coming off the bench

[Tr1boy]

But I thought Triboy's solution was to put an undersized frontcourt player, Mickey, into the game.

Hard to figure you out Tri.

Mickey has the highest max vertical on the team.   

[PhoSita]

I was listening to a Celtics broadcast on 98.5 earlier this year and when they were introducing the starting lineups, Crowder identified himself as 6'5''.

yes our starting SF is 6'5.   Crowder is having a nice season but should really be coming off the bench

I used to have a similar concern but crowder has been excellent this year, his height doesn't seem to be an issue and I'd say most teams in the league would be thrilled to have him starting on the wing.

[MasterEmile]

Because of officiating.

Just look at May/June 2012. Game 2 the refs bailed LeBron out. Game 7 they bailed him out again too. And then tonight happened! 

This.
It's always easy to blame the refs, but they were horrible last night especially in the 3rd where we were fouled on every play and no calls, but every time lebron went to the basket it was a foul (although crowder got him clean on 1 and smart didn't even touch him on another) , completely killed any momentum we had in the 3rd.

[chambers]

It's not size. The Warriors beat them without size. They specifically put Green at center and Barnes at PF to beat them playing small ball.

The reason we can't beat the Cavs is because they have the most physically dominant player in the NBA who happens to be in a 1v1 showdown with Steph Curry for the best player in the NBA.

They also have two excellent All Star Caliber 2nd and 3rd fiddle players and our single All Star caliber player is a 5'9" inch high usage point guard.

Size has nothing to do with it.

[cltc5]

The refs play a big part too and it sucks.  Sports should be decided on team vs team not the Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.ing piece of Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline. refs

[CroCorvus]

Overall they have more quality then we do and that's it.

[Celtics4ever]

Their better, they have the best player between the two teams, they had the refs in their pockets too last game.

At some point all the the hustle in the world, can be stopped by superior talent if that talent is trying to win, too.

[TA9]

It's not size. The Warriors beat them without size. They specifically put Green at center and Barnes at PF to beat them playing small ball.

The reason we can't beat the Cavs is because they have the most physically dominant player in the NBA who happens to be in a 1v1 showdown with Steph Curry for the best player in the NBA.

They also have two excellent All Star Caliber 2nd and 3rd fiddle players and our single All Star caliber player is a 5'9" inch high usage point guard.

Size has nothing to do with it.

Even though I agree with most of the above-mentioned regarding the Cavs having better players; I wouldn't say that size has nothing to do with the fact that we can't beat the Cavs. It's horrible that players like Mozgov, Dellavedova and Thompson are able to drop a combined 32 points on us due to our lack of size inside the paint. I suspect that the games against the Cavaliers would be much closer if we had a fundamentally strong defensive center, who could limit the scoring of players like the 3 before-mentioned.

[BudweiserCeltic]

If Zeller/Olynyk would learn to box out, we might get somewhere, but it's a lost cause with them.

Going small with Jerebko at the 4 against Love/Thompson is a disaster waiting to happen. At it did.

Mickey was the right player to insert there once Sullinger went to the bench.

[Smitty77]

I was listening to a Celtics broadcast on 98.5 earlier this year and when they were introducing the starting lineups, Crowder identified himself as 6'5''.

yes our starting SF is 6'5.   Crowder is having a nice season but should really be coming off the bench

It make perfect sense to NOT start a SF that is 5th in the entire NBA on ESPN's real plus/minus in overall RPM and Win Shares!!!

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/rpm/_/sort/RPM/position/5

Really??

Did I also mention that he is a darn good defender as well?

Smitty77

[Rosco917]

More size wouldn't hurt.

You can't always go small in the NBA. You can't play small unless you have a competent threat to go big. The Celtics have less than average sized bigs. (not counting Zeller who is much less than average period.)

[TheFlex]

We don't have the talent. Period. We'll see if the Cavs' effort and execution is poor enough to negate that advantage. I don't see us beating them in a series, though.