The Celtics are hosting the Magic in Boston. In the East its going to be one of these two teams and the Cav’s going at it in the Eastern Conference Finals. It’ll probably be Cav’s v Hawks and Celtics v Magic in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. The first quarter was a pretty competitive affair, with the Celtics up 24-23. Then the second quarter was the Celtics for sure 27-17, giving the Celtics an eleven point lead at the half. The third quarter was awful (unless you love the Magic) the Celtics fell 11-36, the Magic won the quarter by 25 giving them a 14 point lead. Now, the fourth quarter is just back and forth with the Magic pacing the Celtics attempt to get back in the game. Dwight Howard is a beast, I don’t know if there is a 5 I’d rather have in the NBA today. Dwight Howard is still got a lot to learn and there is a lot of his game that still needs maturity. The Celtics are in a situation where they need to play flaw-less full-court defense and hope that they can foul Howard because he can’t shoot free-throws worth a damn. In the end the Magic had more scoring then the Celtic press could contain.
Before I get into breaking down these two teams I have to say Jeff Van Gundy is one of my favorite announcers in all of sports. Van Gundy knows basketball, he knows the NBA, he knows the NBA’s players and he relates what’s on his mind. Whenever he is calling a game its just a treat to listen to the banter that he supplies. Usually, ESPN/ABC puts him with two co-hosts so he doesn’t have to carry the entire show.
The Celtics are interesting. They have “A” level studs in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo. They also have interesting “B” level players in Glen “Big Baby” Davis, Kendrick Perkins, and Rasheed Wallace. With a number of decent role players to fill in the gaps. I think that Marquis Daniels, Eddie House, and I’d love to see more Bill Walker but I don’t think he’ll ever be anything in the NBA. The Celtics starting five is hard to match-up with and can give any team in the NBA a run.
The starters are built around the Pierce/Garnett combo. When they won the title the whole team was built around the Allen/Pierce/Garnett tri-fecta, outside of those three everyone else’s job was to fill in the gaps. Allen is getting older, but really so are Pierce/Garnett. Allen has the most trade-able contract of the three so now the team is starting to look more like its being built around Pierce/Garnett with Rondo if and when his game elevates to star/super-star status.
Rondo has plus speed/pace whereas Piece/Garnett/Allen all are slowing down in their later years. The big three are also becoming more injury prone. Rondo is an up-tempo, push the pace kind of guy and even though the big three are slowing down they still have a little more run in their old creaky joints. Rondo is at his best running, that’s why I’d love to see Walker get a little burn his transition game is fun to watch.
At the 1 the Celtics are a plus offensive side, plus transition side, plus half-court side, average defensively, plus with full-court pressure and plus at covering the pick & roll. Overall I’d say Rondo is currently easily top ten trending towards top five and if he keeps his play up he’ll be top five by the end of the season.
At the 2 Allen is still plus offensively, plus-plus shooter, plus-plus shooting from distance, average going to the basket, average with his first step, negative rebounding, his defense is lacking speed and that puts him at a disadvantage against almost all of the faster younger 2′s in the NBA. I still like Allen, he’s more then likely got a few more years of productivity left in the league.
At the 3 Pierce still has mad offensive game giving him a plus-plus overall offensive game, plus-plus shootings, plus from distance, plus-plus with the ball, plus going to the basket, his defense has never been overwhelming and he’s starting to slow-down with age so overall I’d give him a slightly below average defensive rating. When you get down to it Pierce’s size and skills make him a match-up nightmare for opposing teams when he slides over to the two and he’s still pretty formidable at the 3. I never expect Pierce to make all the plays and then he does. I really like Pierce and I think he’s still a top five player in the NBA.
At the 4 Garnett is above average on offense mainly due to his rebounding and positioning skills, Garnett is an above average shooter, on the defensive side of the court KG might be the best ever, his help defense is amazing, his rebounding is off the charts, he dictates the other teams game flow and he changes games. KG has been hurt an awful lot lately but when healthy he’s top five still. Put KG with Pierce and you’ve got one hell of a one-two punch.
At the 5 the Celtics have an up and comer in Kendrick Perkins. His offensive game is coming into its own this season. Perkins doesn’t have lots of moves but he knows where to be and knows how to positions himself to best improve his teammates offensive games. On defense Perkins is a great foil for KG and he allows for KG to take risks he’s never been able to take in the past.
The Celtics lack quality scoring off the bench. Rasheed Wallace is only chipping in roughly ten per game and they have no quick scoring options off the bench. Because of this I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Celtics try to make a move for bench scoring before the deadline.
The Magic are a different story. They have Dwight Howard and he’s a beast possibly the best in the NBA at the 5. Gortat is also a top 15 possibly top 10 5 in the NBA. That quality depth in the middle makes the Magic hard to handle each and every night. To help stretch out teams they have Rashard Lewis, Ryan Anderson, J. J. Redick and Mickael Pietrus shooting lights-out from distance. Jameer Nelson and Jason Williams are great penetrators to open up more shooters on the perimeter.
When it comes down to it the Magic’s depth did the Celtics in today.
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