I'm sure I'm not alone here, but I absolutely love the fight, spirit and competitiveness of this team. Give credit to DA, Brad and the players for that.
On the bright side, I think we have a moderate to potentially significant advantage (depending on who's on the court) when it comes to overall athleticism in this series. LeBron is obviously the best athlete in the league, but we're much deeper when it comes to that particular trait. With that in mind, I wouldn't be surprised to see us pressure and/or trap more than we usually do both on the perimeter and in the backcourt. I also think we'll try to push the tempo every chance we get to wear Cleveland down. Guys like Rozier and Brown need to come up big for us in this regard.
Doc enabled us to somewhat contain James for the most part by forcing him to shoot long two's. Can we do the same in this series?
My biggest concern is on the boards. That's a weakness of ours, and Thompson and Love (and LeBron) have the ability to destroy us there. We need to rebound better than ever before in order to have a chance, and it'll have to be a team effort.
In the postgame show, Kenny Smith made a good point - and a lot of us have been saying the same thing. The Celtics have more talent and depth defensively on the perimeter than just about any team in the league. LeBron and Irving will still get theirs, but it shouldn't be nearly as easy as it normally is for those two.
Luck will definitely play a role in this series. Cleveland is talented enough offensively that you have to give them something on most possessions. If guys like Smith, Frye and Williams are on fire from outside, that makes it that much tougher to win. And does LeBron struggle from the free throw line or catch fire? Is LeBron hitting his three's?
The officiating is obviously a major issue as well whenever you play against LeBron's team. I wouldn't be shocked to see every game resemble the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the 2010 Finals. Can we get a somewhat fairly officiated game three or four times? I don't think we're good enough yet to beat the Cavs and the refs.
As of now, I'd say Cleveland wins in five or six, but I don't think we'll go away quietly.
