Bulls Still In Play

by Jeff Clark on Apr 15, 2009 1:17 PM EDT in Boston Celtics News & Links

Everyone, including me, is assuming that the Sixers will be our opponent come Saturday. However, there is still a chance that it could be the Bulls. It is a slim chance because the Bulls would have to lose to the Raptors and the Sixers would have to beat the Cavs.

It isn't crazy to think the Raps could pull off a win tonight, but few expect the Sixers to pull out a win over the Cavs, especially not with the chance to tie the Celtics home record mark of 40-1.

Not so fast. Word is that the Cavs are resting LeBron and the starters tonight.

Coach Mike Brown announced at shootaround this morning that LeBron James, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mo Williams, Joe Smith and Ben Wallace will sit out tonight regular season finale at Quicken Loans Arena against the Philadelphia 76ers, in order to rest before the start of this weekend's playoffs.

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it could be that cleveland WANTS us to face the BUlls as they are the hotter team. I know the league hates it when teams sit their star players so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cavs get a little call from the league front office.And who knows maybe both the sixers and the bulls would rather face us than orlando? I think teams are looking at who they match up against best. Philly lost all 4 to us, two with KG and one without KG and Ray so I can’t imagine they want to play us. Therefore they will try to win tonight. Chicago on the other hand took a game off of us and might feel they have a better shot against us than Orlando. What happens if it’s atie between Chicago and PHilly?

by Red2 on Apr 15, 2009 1:36 PM EDT reply actions

Or maybe Brown wants to rest the starters and couldn’t care less about Boston? Is it possible that Cleveland doesn’t spend every waking minute thinking about Boston? I haven’t talked to one Cavs fan that would rather play Orlando instead of Boston.

by ClevEv on Apr 15, 2009 2:06 PM EDT up reply actions

agree about Brown's motivation

I’m sure he’s only concerned about his own team

that said, I’m a bit surprised by your last comment – I think the Celtics should concern Cavs fans more than the Magic – but to each his own

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" Henry V

by Jeff Clark on Apr 15, 2009 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Orlando is a much worse match up for Cleveland than Boston is. With Howard inside and the way they can hit 3’s…Cleveland doesn’t have an answer. Keep in mind that Orlando is the same team that beat them by 40 points……

by ClevEv on Apr 15, 2009 2:27 PM EDT up reply actions

do not look into a regular season game too much, pal.

i’d choose cleveland over orlando if they were facing each other in the playoffs.you cant expect them to maintain that kind of 3p shooting percent for 4 games, including one in the Q arena.

peace.

by aeternus on Apr 15, 2009 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Why not? It’s what they do, it’s their game. Without Wallace (who I think is done for the year) the Cavs are really at a disadvantage and it I had to choose, I would rather play Boston. I’m not trying to insult you pal, I’m just saying from a basketball standpoint, I (and every other Clevelander) would rather play Boston than Orlando. The fact that Garnett is only going to be around 75% makes Boston more appealing.

by ClevEv on Apr 15, 2009 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

yes thats very likely the case

Brown better be worrying about facing detroit atm… errrr…

by aeternus on Apr 15, 2009 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

If it is a tie, then Phil gets the edge and we play the bulls. Otherwise, it would be over already since Phil can do no more than a tie against Chi.

by droopdog7 on Apr 15, 2009 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions

Not only would a win tonight for the cavs tie the all time home record. they would also have the same overall record as the 86 celtics.

by TheAncientRivalry on Apr 15, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

It’s cool, we still have more banners. That’s the only thing I care about at least.

by D Dub on Apr 15, 2009 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, Im not one who cares if they tie that record to be honest, they earned it. just throwing that out there…the 86 celtics, who some think was the greatest team of all time finished 67-15 and 40-1 at home
They also went undefeated at home in the playoffs and won the championship so cleveland still has a ways to go

by TheAncientRivalry on Apr 15, 2009 2:25 PM EDT up reply actions

The Cavs still cannot do any better than that great 86 Celtics.

This is going to be an important year for the Cavs. If they can’t win the title, I believe LBJ will be gone by 2010 and the Cavs will be back to normal: 15-67, 20-62, something like that.

by greennwin on Apr 15, 2009 2:36 PM EDT up reply actions

If they swept through the playoffs (not likely) or swept the finals…that would be better then the 86 celtics

by TheAncientRivalry on Apr 15, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Hopefully the Cavs win anyways tonight

While I’m not scared of any first round matchup, I really feel strongly that the Bulls will beat the Magic if they can hold onto the six spot.

If it goes that way, we would get a much easier path the ECF facing the Sixers/Bulls, as oppose to Cleveland’s path which would likely be Detroit/Miami or Atl.

Warming up for Cleveland with a couple of 5 game series would be ideal because its gonna take a monumental effort to beat them this year.

by D Dub on Apr 15, 2009 2:01 PM EDT reply actions

agreed

srsly The C’s couldnt care less about which team to beat in the first round. but right now seeing the possible chicago vs orlando and cleveland vs detroit match up is a lot fun.

by aeternus on Apr 15, 2009 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions

hope the Bulls beat the Raps

since Toronto has nothing to play for but ping pong balls, hopefully this can happen

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers" Henry V

by Jeff Clark on Apr 15, 2009 2:06 PM EDT reply actions

I’m sure the Bulls would rather face Orlando (who’s struggling lately) than Boston, so hopefully they’ll be motivated to go out and get a win tonight. Plus, even if they’re not that motivated, they could still win, since it’s just the Raptors.

by Stu on Apr 15, 2009 2:18 PM EDT reply actions