Agree Jeff..six maybe five..we need to take it right to Prince James and make him play some D (something he rarely does)..Does anybody know what the over/under is for the number of times James claims that he was hit in the face ?

Anyone else of the opinion that the C’s will have an easier time with the LeBrons than they did with the Hawks?

Not sure… I will hold reservation on this team until they go to Cleveland and see which team shows up…..

Easy?? No, Cleveland is not easy, if anything the playoffs now get harder and I feel that Paul Pierce and Ray Allen take it upon themselves to be one on one players in the playoffs then they were during the regular season.

Many times I saw Paul and Pierce try and go into traffic instead of passing it off to an open man… My frustration with this team is “Selfishness” with Paul more so.

Rondo hasn’t shown me much… He is still young and learning but…. This series scares me because Lebron has “LEARNED” to involve his team and not take everyone by himself.

The key to the series is Perkins and Powe and how they handle the middle with Clevelands Big Man…..

As positive as I have been with this team, I’m tired of the Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde routine of this team….

Yea… I’m still FRUSTRATED

enough with the “predictions” please

lets take it one game at a time.. for heavens sake

at least you didn’t say Celtics in 4

:P

(btw, that is NOT my prediction, I’m not making any)

So I hate to be “that guy,” but you actually got the spelling of Szczerbiak’s name wrong anyways…the second C shouldn’t be there…sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

not to be a contrarian Jeff, but there is only one “c” in Szczerbiak. However, as you’ll notice, there is also no “d” so I’m not too worried. The key to the series is making James be both the offensive and defensive savior, chasing around Allen or Pierce because the others have proven incompetent. Can’t wait for it all to start!

SteveM said:

Anyone else of the opinion that the C’s will have an easier time with the LeBrons than they did with the Hawks?

Yeah, I think the Cs will beat the Cavs in 4. But not because the Cav’s are an easier matchup, rather because the Celtics seem to have developed a higher sense of purpose if the last game is any indication I think the Hawks put a little fear in the Celtics.

I can’t figure out why, but I just don’t care about Lebron James. He’s outrageously talented. His commercials are pretty funny. But he bores me, and I always root against him and the Cavs, regardless of who they’re playing.

hi

Anyone else of the opinion that the C’s will have an easier time with the LeBrons than they did with the Hawks?

I do. The game plan is a lot simpler – stop LeBron. The last time we played the Cavs, we did this effectively. Hopefully that still will hold true in the Playoffs.

One thing I can say for certainty is that I am damn glad we’re not facing the Wizards. They are young and can run like the Hawks with a number of solid scorers scattered around their team.

Next order of business is to win on the road. That shouldn’t be all that easy against the Cavs, and so they should get another shot at the 2nd next order of business—to win a close one—as well.

Hey guys….Cavs fan here. Not here to troll, I just enjoy talking sports with the opponent’s fans. I honestly see this series going 6 or 7 games ad I am very interested to see how tomorrow goes. This series will be much tougher for Boston than the Atlanta series. Once the playoffs come around the Cavs play great defense. I know all you need to do is ‘stop lebron’ but that is much easier said than done (just ask Detroit how that went last year). Looking forward to the series

I think the Celtics have better fashion sense than Lebron. I really don’t think all those buttons on his shoulders are contemporary chic.

Honestly, the way to stop the Cavs is to hope their shooters are off. If you double Lebron high is going to pass over the double team and hit an open player. The Cavs can actually move the ball to find the open shot off of the double team. It’s making the open shot that is usually the problem.

I also think the Cavs may try and isolate Gibson or Ray Allen at some times. Gibson has greatly improved his driving and we all saw how well Ray is at defending

I think the Wally/Ray match up could be key. Both are pure/streaky shooters. Ray gets the nod here because he’s pouring alot of effort into his D. Wally can’t/won’t play D (a result of which was his long-running feud with KG in Minny… an interesting sub-plot) So I look for Ray to go off in at least a couple of these games.

Z is a jumpshooter and he could be a problem for Perk. But I think KG will provide good help D there.

Really it comes down to LeBron VS the C’s. If the C’s come out with fire and energy for the first three games, Lebron might lose interest in the fight. I get the feeling he’s marking time in Cleveland until he can jump over to Brooklyn…

couple points to make. first of all, everyone talks about US stopping lebron. how about the cavs stopping US? there’s no way – we should score at will. wally guarding ray allen? wallace on garnett? one thing that killed us vs. atlanta was their athleticism inside. rondo can drive on anyone, but he couldnt finish vs. atlanta. thankfully, the cavs aren’t nearly as athletic underneath, and they dont have anyone as good as bibby running the point. also, lebron will have to guard pierce in all likelihood. guess who was guarding pierce in his only 50 point game? you got it! say all you want about lebron’s game, but pierce can match him basket for basket all day, every day.

to me, one HUGE key in this series that can’t be taken for granted is the officiating. lebron – and the cavs – have gotten the jordan treatment – and then some – since lebron’s first career game. it’s actually gone so far that it’s funny sometimes, especially how no one in the media seems to realize it (or have the balls to call out david stern).

so, point is, we’re the better team. we may have some trouble with lebron, but the cavs wont stop us for a second. i look for 5 relatively close games, with boston winning 4. the only thing that could take this series past 5 games is the officiating. that’s definitely a possibility, but i really think the celtics are about to CLICK in this series.

boston in 5…

The only team that scares me is the Lakers. They are a much better version of the Hawks and they are not the same team the Celts beat in the regular season. Do you think Wallace had it in for the Celtics? That trade was ridiculous and I don’t understand why the Memphis fans didn’t scream for the head of Wallace on a stick.

If Perk continues to play the way he did yesterday……. :)

I don’t think we can beat the Lakers. I also don’t think we can beat Detroit. Se could beat SA.

We not “Se.”

MMacOH, you have a lot of nerve coming here!

Just kidding. Welcome. Nice to have you.

As for the officiating….more fouls were called on the Cavs than the Wizards in theri series. It’s not as bad as people think it is. Lebron does ‘sell’ his fouls, which can be very annoying.

Lebron has improved his defense greatly since Pierce’s 50 point game. West guarding Rondo is going to be a key matchup. Wallace is going to be very physical with KG in an attempt to wear him down.

Really excited for this series….can’t wait to see how it turns out

I don’t understand the glib attitude of some fans about our opponents. I remember a long string of posts saying the Hawks would be lucky to walk away with a win. Now people are saying the Cavs will be easy. Jeez.

You’re talking about professional teams with playoff records. The Cavs went to the championship last year, for heaven’s sake. Do you realize that’s one step beyond what any Celtic, outside Cassell and Posey, have done?

I fear every opponent. I think the Celtics should, too.

you really dont see the absurdity in the calls the cavs get all the time? not just in the playoffs, but virtually every game they play. it’s honestly a joke. lebron taking 4 steps on his attempt at an up-an-under to win the game vs. washington in game 3 in ’06? i could honestly write a book on all the joke calls the cavs get.

please…when he eventually ends up with another team, maybe you’ll see what the rest of the nba already knows.

let’s remember clifford and all the great work he did in developing big al and now, perk,powe, and big baby. we’re going to need those 3 and pj to cover ilgauskas, varajao, and smith and of cours wallace. we need to win the trenches. we outrebound them— we win. simple as that.

Please….lets not debate officiating…everyone knows that superstars get preferential treatment. You don’t think a normal player get at least a technical, if not a flagrant for the outright shoulder check KG layed on Zaza Sunday? You don’t think KG gets away with a push or shuffle step? It goes both ways.

The Lebron travel in ‘06 was bad, but he was also fouled on the way to the hoop and it wasn’t called.