5/16/10: Celtics @ Magic, Eastern Finals, Game 1

[UConn Celtics Fan]

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/mlmdaniels/NBA/celticsmagic.jpg

GAME 1
ABC
Sunday, May 16, 2010
3:30 PM Eastern
Amway Arena

[Bogg]

Oddly enough, this series probably hinges on Perkins. If he can stay out of foul trouble and keep Dwight reasonably close to his averages in single coverage, then the rest of the team can stay home on all of Orlando's jumpshooters and keep them from getting the open threes that they kill teams with. If Perkins starts racking up fouls quickly we'll have to use Rasheed and Baby on Dwight and help on defense, which runs the risk of allowing the Magic to heat up from outside and causing general havoc with their shooting.

[dutchguy]

my 2 cents:
1. Rashard stretches the floor. So either KG gets out the paint too, which will be hard for him, or they have to find some rotations for that. I don't think they can. Anyone got any ideas on that?
2. The magic bench is deep, and that's what scares me most.
3. I'm not concerned with Dwight offensively, but I wonder if Rondo can be effective on offense with Dwight in the paint. Also, with Dwight I don't think KG will have a series like against Jamison

[CaptChris]

Rondo stopping Nelson! Nelson is the key. He can get Perk in foul trouble. He can kill you from out-side. He is shooting 52% FG & 40% "3"'s = 21 Pts. a game. Play Howard SMART! Sucker him into "O" fouls. Get him on the bench.

Their bench is very good. They have what we don't -- real back-up PG's. So they move the ball well all the time. Williams has a 3.43/1 -- T/O/ Assist Ratio. Their PG's don't turn the ball over. We must force T/O's.

PP has no excue this time around. No Lebron to guard or having him guarding you. Watch what PP does on the dribble traps. If he keeps making T/O's with the ball we are in trouble. If PP stops ball movement, we have big trouble.

We are 6.5 PT. Under-Dogs by the Bookies. This is the game you want to Steal. It would change the whole series.

PLAY "D". PLAY SMART> MOVE THE BALL! MAKE FOUL SHOTS!

[OB- wan]

Rondo vs Nelson is the key.

Super Rondo will need to bring it and win this battle if he wants to be in the top PG discussion that everyone keeps putting him in.

I'm hopeful so don't think I'm hating on him but I don't look at him through green tinted glasses and rush to put him on a pedestal.

This is a tough series to call. I predicted the C's would lose to the Magic before the Cleveland series but the Celtics keep looking better as the playoffs go on so maybe they will ratchet it up another notch in this series and advance to participate in the series everyone loves.

[texascelticsfan]

KG vs Rashard is the key matchup to me. He was the one person we had no answer to last year and we ended up turning to Scaly to do anything to stop him.

I think Carter is a big downgrade from Turkoglu and he's supposed to be covering Pierce, Paul needs to abuse that matchup. Ray should just have Barnes running in circles.

Perk just needs to keep his position, Shaq was a perfect preview for what Howard is going to try to do.

Rondo needs to control Nelson, keep him settling for jumpers.

We took them to 7 last year without KG, I think this should be a fun series to watch!

[Celtics17]

I'm not too concerned with Howard one on one in the post against Perk either. However, he might go off if Orlando's guards get in the lane easily. If this occurs, Howard becomes effective on feeds or tip-ins for loud dunks. Gotta fight over screens up high and continue to play good pick and roll D. Their guys will get some open looks from deep, but we've been very good at recovering and contesting three point shooters in the first two series. That must continue, as well.

Apparently Barnes will be covering Allen and Vince will be on Paul. That's fine with me. I'd like to see Pierce matched up with Barnes on the other end, though. That way he can continue to work as a help defender like he did so effectively against the Cavs.

Offensively, of course, Rondo's got to get in the lane, and KG's got to get the ball in the mid post. Good interior passing is a key in this series to keep Howard off balance.

[CaptChris]

YOu control Howard with ball movement. If you try ISO, he will kill you coming from the weak side.

Want to see mental toughness? What can Perk and Rondo do at the foul line? If Perk can't hit = Hack a Perk! IfRondo can't hit it negates his drives.Sure can't shoot 63% from the line like we did in the last game.

[snackdaddy]

Looks like the Magic are shell shocked. They're finally playing a legit team and their panicking.

[CaptChris]

PP & Perk are killing us. PP - 3 -- T/O's. Perk - 4 -- T/O's. We should be up by 20 Pts..

PP is stopping the ball movement, and dribbling us to death.

Wake up Rondo. Move the ball.

[OB- wan]

Interesting choices by Rondo down the stretch. I wonder what he was thinking by driving up the gut without running any clock and getting swatted repeatedly with one and a half minutes to go. :confused:

Kinda nice having Sheed to bring in at the end of a game like this against Orlando and reduce the free throw liability and still have someone that can defend Howard. All the Sheed haters can start cooking their black bird pie. He's paying off, chicken little.

[UConn Celtics Fan]

Interesting choices by Rondo down the stretch. I wonder what he was thinking by driving up the gut without running any clock and getting swatted repeatedly with one and a half minutes to go. :confused:

Yeah, I didn't understand Rondo or Ray driving when they needed to run time off the clock.

[setshot33]

That's what blew the lead to begin with: players playing the damn clock instead of playing the game.

That has gotten this team in more trouble this season than in any other that I can remember.

[jcpry]

Hells bells you guys are tough. Just taken away home court advantage from a team we are touted as underdogs against and there are no high fives and compliments given at all!
This run is getting to be way beyond peoples expectations at the end of the regular season and there is clearly a lot of fight left in the old dogs yet ;)

Go the C's

[Celtics17]

Yes, fantastic win. The defense early was absolutely ferocious. Remember, this happened a couple of times early in the Cleveland series. A win really is a win in the playoffs.

I love Perk. Terrible, terrible box score; Great game!!

[meta4]

Wow!!!!!!!

[CaptChris]

Lucky! Lucky! Lucky! Ugly game. Let's see. We go 5 minutes without a basket in the 4th period, get out scored by 12 Pts., and almost blow the game, and everybody is Happy.

Be sure not to look at the box score. You might miss Perk's 5 T/O's and 2 clankers from the line. Or PP's 5 T/O's, and amazing ball-handling. KG's 4 -- 14, and Rondo's less than stellar play.

TEAM played good "D". Ray had a heck of a game. 25 PT. -- 7 Rebs. -- 3 Assists, and only 1 T/O. Wallace -- Tony -- BB played well.

If we play like this again, we will get killed. Because we know they will play better. We Stole One!

[meta4]

get ready orlando, there's more of this to come. either you step it up or it will be a short series. you have seen the best, now play like you belong.

[LordRC]

That's what blew the lead to begin with: players playing the damn clock instead of playing the game.

That has gotten this team in more trouble this season than in any other that I can remember.

I'm completely with you, SS33. It annoys me to no end. Keep doing what works, play your game. If there's an easy basket, go score, regardless of how much time is left on the shot clock. It creates a bigger buffer for the opponent to overcome as well as trying to close the gap with time running out.

Capt, you remain tough almost beyond comprehension. Boston wasn't lucky to come out with a win. But yeah, giving up a 20-point lead to win by just four is bad. They gotta be more consistent defensively. Play to the end. The matchup at PG looks like it will be tougher than I expected. I can also see Orlando playing Pietrus on Allen more. Barnes couldn't stay with Ray.

What's most important is that the Celts stole home court and have a strong understanding of what they have to do to win this series. I don't expect another huge lead for either team in this series.

--LordRC

[OB- wan]

I'm completely with you, SS33. It annoys me to no end. Keep doing what works, play your game. If there's an easy basket, go score, regardless of how much time is left on the shot clock. It creates a bigger buffer for the opponent to overcome as well as trying to close the gap with time running out.


--LordRC

Well, this is my point as well. Easy shots...yes....drive into 2 defenders get SWATTED by Howard.....NO.

Ray's drive was appropriate I thought until he dribbled it off of his foot, then it was extremely frustrating to put it mildly.

Rondo drove into thick traffic VERY EARLY in the possession and got blocked or had to throw up a horrid shot no less than 2 times during the final 2 minutes with a big lead. He has too many weapons around him to waste plays like that. Running a play is not a bad decision in that situation.

I can agree with doing things that work and maintain the lead but not with Rondo trying to do too much because his ego has been given a shot of helium and now he thinks it’s his job to be a closer. Just play within yourself, kid and the glory and wins will come, don't force it, that's when you look bad.

[nepg]

Lucky! Lucky! Lucky! Ugly game. Let's see. We go 5 minutes without a basket in the 4th period, get out scored by 12 Pts., and almost blow the game, and everybody is Happy.

Be sure not to look at the box score. You might miss Perk's 5 T/O's and 2 clankers from the line. Or PP's 5 T/O's, and amazing ball-handling. KG's 4 -- 14, and Rondo's less than stellar play.

TEAM played good "D". Ray had a heck of a game. 25 PT. -- 7 Rebs. -- 3 Assists, and only 1 T/O. Wallace -- Tony -- BB played well.

If we play like this again, we will get killed. Because we know they will play better. We Stole One!

They weren't lucky to win that game. They played like crap in the 4th quarter, but there was no luck involved to that point. They played great and did everything they needed to do. They dominated for 3 quarters on Orlando's court. They hit their free throws at the end of the game, and won.

It might even help that they played so poorly in the 4th quarter. The Magic could fall into the trap of thinking they barely lost this game when the reality is that they got destroyed in every facet of the game. The C's defense was slightly weaker in the 4th quarter with the fouls their bigs and Tony Allen had racked up, and the defense having to back off a little bit allowed the Magic to have a big 4th quarter.

[RAH]

Before the game, I was explaining to my cousin (who isn't much up on basketball, so I am an expert compared to her - everything is relative!) why I thought the Celtics had a chance to win this series, and I said that Dwight Howard and Rashad Lewis play well in some games and then play terribly in other games. Everytime I've seen Orlando, it's the same thing. So, if we hit them on an off night, we have a really good chance.

Dwight Howard is a great shot blocker and rebounder, but he has no inside moves that I can see - I mean he makes Perk look like Kevin McHale! So it seems to me he can be harrassed into poor play, but a lot depends on how tightly they are calling the game.

As far as Rashad Lewis, he seems to be the most inconsistent player I've seen in a long time. He was so invisible in the first game that this same cousin didn't even realize he had played (they mentioned him so infrequently during the game).

So I think we can win this series, and I don't know if it is necessarily luck if you can defend well enough to get streaky players to have yet another bad game.

[Laker fan]

I won't say it was luck that you guys won tonight. Of course the Magic almost came from behind. They were at home and favored. A team with the second best record just doesn't lie down. They tried to steal this game from you guys, but your team was resilient. This was a big game tonight. Boston had nothing to lose. Now Orlando has to go Boston and try to win two games. They're the ones that need luck.