Potent Celtics will test Cavaliers

The Cav's are good. They have beaten the dirty Wizzis.

They have a very good team. I think they have to take the two tall guys and rotate them as usual, but force the ball inside often and then the tall men take advantage of their size and shooting abilities. they can all make hook shots and layups, Right?

Then Lebron can stay outside and set up the plays, go inside to the big guys, then out to the 3 point specialist. And when they give Lebron an opening he can shoot.

Just the way they finished off the Wizzis.

Boston won more games, but most expert would agree they are no worse than the dirty Wizzis...

Prediction: Celtics in 6 games.

The Cavs do not have the team to stay with the Celtics even after the BIG TRADE. Celtics are almost impossible to beat at home as long as their 3 stars stay healthy. LeBron will have his usual 30-10-10 game, but will the rest of the team show up is the question? The front line has got to score and score often to compete.

Here's hoping. GO CAVS !!!

Sadly, this series will probably come down to the officials. The league is so set on a Lakers-Celtics final - see Kobe Bryant shooting 23 free throws yesterday - it will be tough to overcome that. LeBron will be lucky to get 23 free throws the entire series and better pray the league doesn't let Kevin Garnett take a chainsaw on the court with him. If the refs call the series even, the Cavs have a great chance. They have more playoff experience, have the best player, and are the defending Eastern Conference champs.

I'm worried about Wally and Gibson on how will they contribute tomorrow. I hope they make a lot of threes.Also the rest got to do their shares,otherwise caput.

Cavs have trouble with fast guards like Rondo. Cavs must keep him from controlling the pace of the game and turn those other guys into post-ups.

Kobe was just in a zone yesterday, had nothing to do with the officials. I think the Cavs have a good chance, a better chance than I thought they had 2 weeks ago. If they can win a game in Boston, they can win the series.

The Cavs need to build off of the Wizards series and come hard right out of the blocks. This series will be vastly different, as the Celtic are smart enough to NOT start trash talking. The Celtics are saying all of the right things and making sure there is no bullentin board material. This is a sign that they mean business. The Cavs must be prepared mentally and be willing to take the ball inside FIRST to set up the outside game. Big Z will have his hands full with the Celtics big men and Ben Wallace's A game will certainly be needed. I hope there is a different offensive set other than give the ball to Lebron and spread the floor. The long cross court passes can't be the only offensive weapon as the Celtics will certainly start filling up the passing lanes. All in all, with a "rise up" attitude and game plan it will be a good series!

This round reminds me of a great Cavs team of Price, daugherty, Nance , Ehlo and Hot rod Williams who got knocked out any time they played against the great michael jordan. Sound familiar, now Boston is like that Cavs team great but not enough. Go Cavs.

the celtics dont have a big to guard z, nobody to guard lebron (like bowen or prince), we have big ben, AV, and joe smith to hound garnett, lebron can keep perice in check then the only thing that has to happen is our guards needs to keep rondo and ray allen from going nuts and the cavs can win this series.

cavs in 6

Cavs in 6. If Lebron is averaging 10 assists for the series, the Cavs win because that means the Cavs shooters are knocking down their open shots (Wally, Boobie, Delonte).

Big key for me: Delonte has to hold is own against Rondo at PG.

Rondo is a great on ball defender and does a great job getting to the basket on offense. He really outplayed Bibby in the Atlanta series (51 assists to 22) and only one turnover per game.

Mike Brown > Doc Rivers is an advantage too.

Cavs know how to win on the road in the playoffs.
They won 5 games on the road last playoffs and two so far this playoffs.

Rebound, defend, keep the game close and we have the best player on the court to finish out games.

Cavs are going to win game 1.

I'm interested to see what will happen. The Celtics are a very good team. They didn't play well on the road in the last series obviously. But the truth is, as a group they have as much experience as the Cavs do. This group of Cavaliers was formed a few months ago. I think if the Cavs can win one of the first two games in Boston, they have a shot. If not, I think the Celtics win it in 6.

What's up Cavs...just got off posting comments in ATL. Well, from a birds eye view - Celts and Cavs are talented. For me to say "HEY CELTS WILL BEAT CAVS", well they are tied 2 a pice during the season and the playoffs is a totally different season. Hard to tell before game 1.

The Cavaliers do not have a shot. Last game they played them - after the big trade - Boston's defense suffocated them. Go Cavs. But Celts in five.

George Karl wrote:

The Cavaliers do not have a shot. Last game they played them - after the big trade - Boston's defense suffocated them. Go Cavs. But Celts in five.

Big Ticket is afraid to take the big shot in a big game, plus you have Doc Rivers which is a liability.

How do you explain the Celts blowing 4th quarter leads to the Hawks in games 4 and 6? The big three certainly did not play well clutch time in Atlanta.

Who cares what happened in the one game after the trade (when Cavs were trying to mix in 4 new guys in their rotation at the time). The series was 2-2 this year and one of the Celts victories came without Lebron in the lineup. To be fair, one of the Cavs victories came without Garnett in the lineup.

This series is a toss-up.

Just noticed you are rooting for the Cavs even though you think Celts will win. You an OH transplant too? My brother lives in Waltham.

Go Cavs.

Cavs have late round playoff experience. Celtics have big three who have been LOSERS in the playoffs every year. Have any of them ever won a second round series? Cavs came together vs. Washington. Celtics showed they're just about out-of-gas against Hawks. Big three are OLD!
And the Cavs have LBJ.

Cavs in 6 (but I really hope it's five because I have something to do the night of game six)

Game one will be the key. Even if we lose, we have to give them all they can handle with a close game down the stretch, just like we did to the Pistons last year. This will wear them down some and put some fear into them. Lebron will have to play like he did in game 6 last series every game this one for us to have a chance.

This series is going to be an extremely tough one to win. The Celtics didn't win 66 games for nothing - that's 50 games over .500. Atlanta woke them up last round. They may have just been a little out of sync since they weren't in any meaningful games down the stretch of the regular season. We have to take at least one road game, which will be tough.

This undoubtably will be a very tough series for our Cavs. I do think we have what it takes to win but someone besides number 23 must show up every night. If Wally and Boobie shoot like that then I like our chances. I hate IF's though.

I say Celtics in 6. Teams just don't go to a championship one year lose and return the following EXPEICALLY IF THAT TEAM HAS 1 OR MRE CHAMPOIONSHIP UNDER THERE BELT!!!!!!! Infact the only time I've ever seen a team do that in the NBA was in 1997 & 1998 with the Utah Jazz when they got smashed by the Bulls both times!!!!!

So Cleveland is going down in 6 games seen it happen.

hdawg wrote:

Kobe was just in a zone yesterday, had nothing to do with the officials. I think the Cavs have a good chance, a better chance than I thought they had 2 weeks ago. If they can win a game in Boston, they can win the series.

Sweet take, dude. "If they can win a game in Boston, they can win the series." Uh, it'll be pretty tough for them to win four games without winning one in Boston...

"DeShawn Stevenson... was fined $25,000 by the NBA for making a throat-slashing gesture in the first quarter of..."

"Kevin Garnett took a behind-the-back pass from Paul Pierce, slammed in the dunk to make the lead three dozen points and then slashed his hand across his throat to signal what the Atlanta Hawks already knew."

Will the league do the saame to Garnett? Or, is he too big of a star?