The 08 Celtics had a devil of a time winning their playoff series, especially the early ones, mainly due to some extended offensive funks. I think they'd let their guard down and we'd take one from them, but that'd be it.

It is kinda funny trying to picture how "homecourt" would work 

The '08 team would mop the floor with this '17 team.

On paper they would, but if the 08 Hawks could get 3 off that team, this bunch should be able to get  at least 1.

That series versus is Atlanta was mind boggling. Atlanta during the season was not that good but they had a really good team.

The Celtics seemed like they needed to get the playoff jitters out.

None of the games at home were even close. I have never seen a more lopsided 4 games at home in a 7 game series in my life.

This team would have trouble beating that Atlanta team.

2008 celtics would average 110 points a game easy . The league has changed, and with the defense the way it is that team for at least 1 or 2 years would have been much much better offensively.

i think the last time we got 1st seed was 2012?

We were the 4 seed in 2012 - remember Chicago was the 1 but Rose blew out his knee for the first time and the Sixers took them out as an 8. Miami was the 2 seed which is why they were at home for Game 7.

In 09 we were the 2 seed to Cleveland, in '10 we were the 4 seed, in '11 the 3 seed behind Chicago + Miami after leading the conference much of the year. This is all from memory but I'm pretty sure it's right.

08 Celtics all the way.

Beating that 2008 Atlanta squad was brutal. And then you have LeBron James without his superstar teammates, and that took the 08 Celtics to 7 games. Finally, we have that Detroit Pistons team, they were tough. Glad the C's were able to win two road games.

NBA Finals...just glad the Celtics mounted a 24-point comeback in Game 4 at Staples to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. Could've closed it out in Game 5 and celebrated #17 at Staples, but it was nice to see raining confetti at the Garden in Game 6 

The 2017 iteration would get a game and come close to getting two based, if nothing else, on Stevens coaching Doc under the table in every game but also because of the abundance of team-oriented things they do that have made them so successful, fun to watch and cheer for, and let's admit it once and for all, a really good basketball team this year. The 08 squad would just be too good for them, though. No dishonor there.

It's nice to see Tony Allen get some credit. He was a major but woefully under-appreciated part of the Cs' greatness in that era. Tony was unselfish, almost to a fault. Largely as a result, he made his teammates better. Rondo was a good example. Letting him get away was a grievous error. Something changed when he left, not in a good way. The Cs were never as purposeful nor tough-minded a team after Tony's departure. He's one of my favorite Celtics from 2000 forward.

Marcus Smart, another rugged Oklahoma State guy, reminds me of Tony in many ways. I see a similar trend-in-the-making of overlooking the ton of good things Marcus contributes in the immeasurable category of intangibles in favor of his perceived shortcomings in the glossier statistical aggregates. Like Tony, he's one of those guys who flat knows how to play the game and brings a magnificent mean-streak along just for fun. I hope they don't repeat the mistake with him that they made with Tony. Here's hoping Marcus is a Celtic for a long time.

The '08 team would mop the floor with this '17 team.

Agreed.


The 08 team had a Simple Rating Score of 9.3, whereas this year's team has a SRS of 2.07.

This year's team makes 12 threes a game (33.4 attempts) whereas the 08 team made 7 threes a game (19 attempts).  Based on three pointers alone, this year's squad might steal a game.


Looking at the ORTG and DRTG of the two teams really tells you all you need to know.

This year's Celts have a ORTG of 111, which is one point better than the 08 squad at 110.

On the other end, the 08 squad had a DRTG of 98.9, whereas this year's team has a DRTG of 108.6.