I knew they would be good, but 96 Bulls good? It would almost impossible for them to finish with less than 65 wins.
No doubt a fantastic turnaround, but let's see what they do against the Western Conference heavyweights.
They are quite good, there's no doubt about it. However, I don't think getting out of the east is even a sure thing for them. The Pistons have been together much longer and I could definitely see them taking out the Celtics in the ECF. Of course, they'll have to play a whole lot better than they did the past 2 ECF's...
Watched them play the Rockets last night, and they've got a very intriguing team. KG is such a great player that he can compensate for so much. Ray Allen is not a great defensive player, and neither is Paul Pierce, but with KG and Perkins down low, they protect the basket extremely well. They didn't defend the three that well last night, as the Rockets were able to get an open look any possession they wanted one, but that was probably part of their strategy against a Rockets team that doesn't shoot well from deep. One of the interesting things about them though, is that they had to play 4 on 5 on offense most of the game since Kendrick Perkins and Scott Pollard are non-factors on the offensive end. Their bench is terrible and that would be a huge advantage for the Pistons. The Pistons start five guys who can all score. The Pistons bench is stronger. And they are well equipped to guard KG with Rasheed and McDyess. IMO, San Antonio, Dallas, Phoenix and Detroit would beat the Celtics in a seven game series. Each of those teams have played together longer, have been through tough playoffs matchups and have better coaches. But the Celtics are beating the teams they are supposed to beat and compiling a pretty gaudy record in doing so.
I can't help but be impressed, but I don't know if they can keep up this pace or even if they should want to. The Pistons started out 26-4 two years ago, and didn't make a return trip to the finals. We all saw what happened to the Mavs playing like that last year. The C's play every game like it is Game 7 of the NBA finals. Did you catch KG's act last night? He looked like he was going to explode he was so fired up. Will they have anything left physically or emotionally to take it up a notch in the playoffs? Still, I don't see anybody in the East beating them. The Pistons are the obvious choice and they're much deeper than the past couple of years, but Flip is a terrible playoff coach and they're always on the edge of imploding with Rasheed. They do give the C's a lot of bad matchups though. I wish they had to grind through the Western conference every night. It would be a lot more fun to see them multiple times against Dallas, Phoenix, and SA.
Thing is, KG has always treated every game like that. You'd think the well would be dry by now, but it aint. Someone else tells the story about how you never see him allow an uncontested gimme layup or jumper after a whistle is blown.
I think the Spurs and Detroit would beat them in a 7 game series. Not so sure about Dallas and Phoenix just because I don't think the matchups are as good there. Phoenix would score a bunch as usual but would probably let Garnett average 35 ppg and Ray Allen will hit about 6 threes a night.
KG has played with good players in his career. Complete urban legend that he has never had players to play with. Id be willing to bet he's played with more all stars than Dirk has and he hasn't accomplished a quarter of what Dirk has in the playoffs. Celtics are a good team, but I don't think they will get by Detroit. I would take Detroit, San Antonio, Dallas and Phoenis in a 7 game series. Im glad to have the Celtics be the front runner. The 2003 Spurs and the 2000 Lakers are the only teams of this decade to have the best regular season record and win it all.
I'm from Boston! I love the Celtics...especially the Boston 3 Party! New England teams are dominating this year and I'm proud to have the Celtics on board this season and Paul Pierce is great.
What's amazing to me is how the Celtics turned a disappointing lottery result into what could turn out to be one of the greatest talent windfalls in professional sports history. Of course, this only holds true if they go on to become NBA champions this year. Probably they would need to win one more championship for the maneuvers of the past off-season to go down in history. Hope that happens (but not at the expense of the Spurs).
I could care less who had what when. This team is pretty damn good and I'm loving it. I'm going to be excited about this team, period. That record is going to get knocked down, and they'll start to get a 2 and 3 game L streak, their schedule is severely back loaded. Happier than a pig in slop no matter what happens in the post season.
I go back and forth on KG. There's no doubt he's a great player and a hall of famer. There's no doubt he's played with subpar teammates (part of that due to his contract eating up all of Minny's cap space). But there's also no doubt that he should've had at least a little more post season success. In addition, he's never been particularly clutch or even wanted the ball in the last two minutes. He also falls in love with him jumpshot too much. He doesn't like to post up and as a result doesn't get to the line as much as he should.
It'll be interesting to see the Celts play the Spurs. They've always had trouble with them. I have a relative who used to be in the front office for the C's, and the Spurs always seemed to be a point of frustration for him.
