Reply With Quote
Yeah...reminds me of another Boston team that everyone was hyping not too long ago...we'll see who wins it all...
I put this here because of the Spurs game breakdown.
http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn...c.php?t=388897
Celtics making believers with each win
I am starting to see green. I wish I could say this was because spring is arriving in St. Louis, but no. Nothing but cold, gray days here. The green I am seeing is in the Celtics. I am not seeing as much as Tim Duncan saw every time he put the ball on the floor Monday night, but I am seeing great amounts of green. I am beginning to believe I will be watching these guys in green throughout the spring.
This, mind you, is coming from someone who has been saying since December that the Pistons are better than the Celtics. I'm not quite ready to jump off the Pistons' bandwagon but I'm hanging on with an arm and a leg. No matter what the Celtics do Thursday night at Dallas, after winning a back-to-back at San Antonio and Houston this week, they will be No. 1 when the Sporting News' power poll comes out on Friday.
You've seen the numbers: The Celtics have the best record in the league by five games and are on pace for 66 wins. They lead in the most meaningful defensive stats: opponents' FG percentage, opponents' 3-point percentage and fewest points allowed. They are the only team with an average margin of victory of more than 10 points.
Impressive, indeed. More impressive, though, is watching the Celtics play defense. Let's look at two stretches, one against the Spurs and the other against the Rockets.
The Spurs -- who were up by 22 in the first half -- led by 9 with about 5 minutes to go before they were outscored 21-10. In their final 12 possessions, the Spurs scored five times -- very respectable -- but they were pressured and harassed at every turn. Nearly every possession went down to the final seconds on the 24-second clock (They would have been better off going uptempo instead of walking the ball up court).
During the decisive stretch, Manu Ginobili scored one bucket after he slipped around one defender and banked in an acrobatic, running 15-footer between two others. Tim Duncan scored after Tony Parker danced into the lane, found himself double-teamed under the basket yet still was able to find Duncan, who put in a tough lefthanded jump hook. The third basket came on a Parker layup with only a couple of seconds left and the Spurs up by four.
On the other possessions, nothing:
The Celtics forced Parker into a travel.
They intercepted a Parker pass.
They knocked the ball loose from a driving Ginobili in the lane. Reaching and slapping at the ball, scouts say, is a Celtics' specialty this season.
They forced Ime Udoka into a tough 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer.
Pierce took a charge from Udoka, who faked a 3-pointer before driving toward the lane.
Parker missed badly on a 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down.
Ginobili missed a long 3-pointer with Posey backing off him. It was about the closest thing the Spurs had to an open shot in the fourth quarter and Ginobili had to go 25 feet out to get it.
Against the Yao-less Rockets, the Celtics broke open a 40-40 halftime tie by outscoring Houston 32-16 in the third quarter -- one of three quarters during which the Warriors kept the Rockets from scoring 20 points. Impressive for a couple of reasons: It ended the second-longest winning streak in history and came on the second night of one of the toughest back-to-backs in the league.
The Celtics exploited the Rockets by turning McGrady into a passer. He was held to 8 points on 4-for-11 shooting as the Celtics double-teamed him every time he put the ball on the floor. The Celtics used a variety of defenders on McGrady, with Kendrick Perkins as the main double-teamer since he was defending Dikembe Mutombo and the Rockets' centers.
The other Rockets -- who thrive on spot-up 3-pointers -- managed to make only 5-of-18 against the Celtics.
"I've never seen defense like that," McGrady told reporters. "That was defense at its finest."
Played by the finest team going.
Yeah...reminds me of another Boston team that everyone was hyping not too long ago...we'll see who wins it all...
i learned something from one of you all but i don;t remember the poster name... they're peaking too early... i think the last 4 seasons the team with the best record didn't make it to win it all... remember this words... second round... LeBron will take down this team...
Looking for patterns of a team forcing it's will on their opponents, in both the Spurs and Rockets games, the Celtics calmly endured 1st quarter challenges and went to win 3 straight quarters in each game.
They look pretty tough mentally, unlike teams such as the Mavs and Suns of yesteryear.
LOL
You can't be serious, are you?
I can see cavs beating Celtics or Pistons. it's unlikely but possible
They made believers out of me when the beat the Spurs the in the first game back in Feb, playing w/o Garnett.
There's nothing aside from injury that's going to stop this Celtics team from reach the Finals.
The Fans want it
The NBA wants it
The TV Stations want it
The Commissioner wants it
In the West, it's going to be Lakers, Suns or a Texas team. No matter who gets out of the West, it will be the highest rated Finals in years. And that's why The Celtics will make it out of the East.
The only teams capable of beating the Celts are the Spurs, Suns and I'll give the tiniest of tiny show of support for the Lakers but I still think they are going to fade.
Celtics are for real. The only team in the east capable of beating them is terms of talent is the Pistons, and they seem to be too inconsistent - although in a 7 game series, I think they could still do it.
In the west the only team capable of beating the C's is the Spurs, and we saw how difficult that match up would be for the Spurs. But we also saw that the Spurs had their chances, so again, in a 7 game series - they could do it.
I predicted a Spurs-Celtics Finals at the beginning of the year and I'm going back to that. (I briefly strayed and was thinking a Spurs-Pistons Finals, but I think that's less likely).
They are good, but very beatable.
I actually think we could beat the Celtics in a 7-game series. We have, however, only played them when 2 of the big three are playing so I have no idea how the Spurs would do against them when all three were playing. All I know is that the two games the Spurs played against the Celtics this season came down to fourth quarter execution and the Spurs missed shots that are very makeable. I'm assuming the execution will get better but who knows. I do like our chances against the Celtics.
I think chances against them would get better with ray Allen taking the shots instead of Sam Cassell..
Well the Mavs will take care of the little green Leprechauns tonight for Texas!
since the Spurs and Rox couldn't do it.
No Believers Here. Even with all those Wins!
Dude, that's the cool thing about Lebron. Even if it sounds crazy
Even if he's a one man team, that dude can be a force against the Celtics; it'd be like an MJ vs Celtics type series.
I can't wait for that Eastern playoff matchup.
pfft whatever the clippers are 100 times better then the sorry celtics we are a gangsta team with tru ballerz no one can beat we own the nba homies
Let's see how they do in the Playoffs before we hand them their rings.
pffft
please, they are gonna eat you stiffs alive.
The Celtics look good on many levels. The addition of Cassell makes them stronger. The playoffs will show the truth.
Say again "very beatable"
I don't know maybe my english is not that good, but what I understad is that you telling me the Celtics are easy team to play against. Am I right?
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
