9 Percent of ESPN predicts the Celtics will win the Finals
by Mike-Dub on Sep 7, 2009 6:49 PM EDT
35 comments
Boston Celtics (5 votes) The Big Three are now the Big Four, and Boston is just 15 months removed from winning its 17th title. But add it all up, and only 9 percent of our panel sees the C's raising another banner in 2010: I pick them to win the NBA title because it really is their last stand. Much like the 1968-69 Celtics, who won the 11th title in Bill Russell's career, this team is primarily a group of proud veterans who want to achieve a special place in franchise history. They won it once and may have won it last year had not Kevin Garnett been hurt. With Rasheed Wallace in the mix, Danny Ainge went all-in to win it in 2010.
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Maybe Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace aren't what they once were, but the Celtics should get a pretty dynamic season out of the combination of the two.
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The emergence of Rajon Rondo was the dose of youth and energy the Celtics will need to get them back to the top of the mountain.
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The Celtics have the best starting five in the NBA and added terrific depth in Marquis Daniels and Rasheed Wallace. With KG healthy, they may not be the best team in the regular season, but they will be in the postseason.
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They deserve to be the favorites and they are. But the best team doesn't always win. Ron Artest is fierce, but in the Finals against Boston, L.A.'s front line will face nasty guys like Kendrick Perkins, Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace, while Paul Pierce and Kobe will cancel each other out.
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The last part is from someone who thinks the C's will beat the Lakers!!!!!! Which I do too!
Not, surpised only 9 percent of ESPN predicted us to win. Every one will know who's the best when we're raising Banner 18 on opening night of the 2010-2011 season!
Be respectful and keep it clean. Thanks.
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I agree with you
The sense of urgency the Celtics had in 07-08 is back! They want it now more than 08 maybe. They don’t want to be one and done.They want a legacy. I don’t think age or injury will be a factor this year. The team will be ready. You shouldn’t be surprised by ESPN. There wrong more than right on the picks they make. They should get some better experts.
by green20 on Sep 8, 2009 12:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
gosh they called it last year
9 out of ten had the lakers beating orlando and 70 percent had us winning finals. that was pretty good
by lakersbluedevil on Sep 10, 2009 12:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
the problem is there not experts there former nba players, that are just about as biased as they can be people love LA the great weather the famous people and the excitment that comes with a city like that. They let the flash of LA blind them to whose the better team
by celtics94 on Sep 16, 2009 7:04 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
91 PERCENT OF THEM ARE WRONG
The Lakers beat jump shooters(Orlando, Magic). The defense of the Magic and the defense of the Celtics are two different situations. While we can’t negate the Lakers win we also must bear in mind, the quality of defense we bring was not there. Gasol was tough against people that are not physical. Our defensive toughness is at a totally different level. Plus we have added a mirror image of KG with the addition of Sheed.
So you say they have added Artest. At best Artest and P.Peirce are a wash, at worst Artest explodes in there face with his silly loon antics.
PAY ATTENTION! Everything player we have added plays in the paint… naturally. This gives us the ability to continuously pound everyone into submission.
by tyquinton on Sep 8, 2009 10:32 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
if artest and pierce are a wash then the celtics have no chance.
its not even clear that artest is in the lakers top 3 players. meanwhile pierce is the celtics closer. this is why the artest acquisition helps lakers against celtics. artest can guard big physical threes that dont rely on quickness. he has fallen in his ability to guard quick 2’s but the celtics dont really have that.
lol. seirously though… the Celtics were better than lakers cause pierce negated kobe in that series on both ends.
by mandoman10 on Sep 8, 2009 10:42 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
you forgot to mention
The stat about the Lakers being the 9th most dominant team in the playoffs since the NBA-ABA merger.
Also, forgot to mention that they said Kobe has the “Michael Jordan assassin-like focus of the 90s”.
Also, forgot to mention that when Phil Jackson wins one title, another two follow in that stint.
Also, forgot to mention that they said Kobe and Artest “are two of the best perimeter defenders of the past ten years”
So all I’ve been hearing from Bostonians is that the celtic defense is “oh so tough” and that Rondo is a world class stud. I agree they have great, not good, great defense. But Pierce is NOT the same as Kobe. Rasheed is NOT the same as Lamar Odom. The only clear advantage the Celtics have over the Lakers is at the point guard position, the starting point guard position. After that, Kobe is just crazy good. The Lakers have bodies to put on Perkins, Pau got better through is year and a half with the Lakers and now knows what it takes to take guys on like KG. Lamar found his consistency. Please stop saying “seriously, the Celtics were better than the Lakers last season.” Just stop.
by pharoah on Sep 8, 2009 11:08 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Rasheed
is better than Lamar Odom. Better shooter, better defender. Odom is younger, that’s all.
As for the pg position, I think Farmar more than makes up for the discrepancy between Fisher and Rondo. Farmar may be the best backup pg in the league.
by Brickowski on Sep 8, 2009 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
not really
sheed is better 3 pt shooter for sure.
but you cant deny that LO is pretty damn effective on D, hes not a stopper but he can bug the crap out of ppl,
LO is a better ball handler and passer than sheed, cant even compare
by true_lakerfan on Sep 17, 2009 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i dont think pau got better this year i think he was just going up against a guy that half aas much as him in the finals in rashard lewis. truly throughout the entire series he never went up aginst a power forward with any real talent.
lamar may have played better becasue you were playing a magic team with a power forward again that is way to small to guard odom, and celtics dont have those match up problems
ray and paul are both better than artest paul is top 10 guys in the league and artest is a streaky top 25 your only real advantage is kobe over paul and we know how that panned out in 08 and at the center spot with bynum who rasheed can out play any time he wants to anyway
by celtics94 on Sep 8, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
ESPN Predictions
They’re just as bad at predicting baseball: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/preview09/news/story?page=09expertpicks
I agree that the Lakers, after aquiring Artest, are better than the Celtics on paper. But alot of things can happen over 82 games: injuries, implosions and the like.
IMHO there are 4 teams capable of winning it all: Lakers, Celtics, Cavs and Spurs. I wouldn’t be surprised to see any one of those 4 teams standing at the end.
by Brickowski on Sep 8, 2009 2:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
nice baseball
whoaaa!! ESPN is horrible at picking baseball. I didn’t even realize how terrible they are. It is so obvious they have certain teams that aren’t picked no matter what, and certain teams that are way overrated. 14-7 Mets are picked over the Phillies for the division. 8 MVP’s for David Wright, 13 Cy Young for Johan Santana and only 1 MVP or CY Young picked for Phillies with 1 vote for Ryan Howard. 0-21 for the Phillies winning the WS and 0-21 for the Rangers making the playoffs. I think these ESPN people are around sports so much they don’t even know what they are doing. Sure the season is almost over now and it is easy to say the Mets didn’t do anything, however Phillies were the Champs those predictions are crazy.
by star18 on Sep 10, 2009 4:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
2008 mlb predictions
wow even look at their 2008 mlb predictions 20 experts and 9 pick Wright for MVP and 13 for Santana. That is 43 votes out of 82 for 2008 & 2009 for Wright and Santana winning MVP and Cy Young. Even if both were healthy the chance of that happening was no where near 50%. Why are they so Wright and Santana happy? It just looks ridiculous.
by star18 on Sep 10, 2009 4:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
MVP
now that I have seen this it has to be the stupidest predictions I’ve ever seen in my life. They were giving Wright a 43% chance of winning MVP for 08 or 09, and Santana a 64% chance of winning Cy Young for 08 or 09. Hands down the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. That is straight psycho talk right there. No player in the history of sports has ever had even close to a 50% chance of winning either of those awards. No player goes into any specific season with even as much as a 33% chance of winning an MVP in any league in any sport. That includes Jordan, Montana, and even Gretzky. There is always another at least 2 great players in the league at any given time, another 10 big time stars who could get hot and win it, or another 15 that could come out of nowhere. Even giving a player a 33% chance to win an MVP is a little bit high. 43% & 64% is straight psycho talk.
by star18 on Sep 10, 2009 4:52 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
the celtics are most likely going to pick up another good wing player with our expiring contracts, so this wont be the team were going into the playoffs with and we will be even deeper
by celtics94 on Sep 8, 2009 5:27 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Our Bench
Sheed , Big Baby, Daniels, Walker, Giddens and a little bit of Williams. These guys all play in the paint and will cause match up problems. And this is our bench. Arguably we have the best starting five in basketball. Lets just say there starting five just as good as ours, then what about our bench. The Lakers can’t handle all that defense or our offense.
When the trade deadline comes we are going to pick up some more goodies.
by tyquinton on Sep 8, 2009 9:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
it's pretty much useless
to argue with a celtic fan. and I think it’s useless for a celtic fan to argue with a laker fan. Neither will budge on their opinions. So I’ll say this, Kobe vs Allen, Artest vs Pierce, Gasol vs KG, Odom vs Wallace, Perkins vs Bynum. Gonna be a great two games, possibly at least 8.
by pharoah on Sep 9, 2009 11:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
it is pretty much useless
there’s no need to argue, let’s just see how the season plays out. but I pretty much believe that it will probably be the lakers and the celtics, with the celts coming out on top.
by tenor1n2 on Sep 12, 2009 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Strong defense and team play will always make a team the underdog. People like the flashy superstars and offensive teams. Oh well. I like good smart basketball, so I’m going with the Celtics.
by stevenfuzz on Sep 9, 2009 7:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Strong team play
The Lakers were top 5 in the league last season for most assists in a game. That’s moving the ball. They were also top 5 for most steals per game. That’s great defensive rotation. Plus, KG is a flashy player. Pounding his chest when it’s unnecessary, talking trash to players half his size. That’s not a smart player, that’s a player going through PMS. The Celtics just can’t score that much, so the HAVE to rely on defense because they simply can’t put the ball in the hole. And don’t tell me Pierce isn’t flashy, calling himself the best player in the world. Child please.
by pharoah on Sep 10, 2009 10:47 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Flashy playing style, not personalities. KG is anything but a flashy player skill-set wise. The Lakers this year (I’m not debating whether they are good are not) will be the flashiest most offensive driven team in the league.
This incarnation of the Celtics (and those of the past), are completely based around defense. Since day one when Garnett came here, the players were asked to completely focus on defense.
All I was saying is that teams with the classic defense first style are always misunderstood by people; in fact, as you have proved, people like you. I like that the Celtics are underdogs.
by stevenfuzz on Sep 10, 2009 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
you act like the lakers have no d.
kobe and artest (even if he lost a step he’s still a top 10 defensive small forward in the league). on the outside. backed by two 7 footers and a third lenghty defender in lamar odom. the lakers will have one of the best defenses in the league this year no doubt about it. and match that with their amazing offense. and you have the makings of a dynasty. sorry celtics fans, i doubt the celtics will have anything left in the tank after having to go up against the cavs and magic, since the celtics will not have the best record in the East. (cleveland will have it easily, and the magic will probably fall in at number 2).
by lakersnic0824 on Sep 17, 2009 6:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
top 10 defensive small forwards isnt really saying much for him casue theres only about 5 in the entire league that are premiere defenders
by celtics94 on Sep 17, 2009 10:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
That's not what people mean by flashy, pharoah
And I did say people.
By flashy, they mean doing flashy things with the basketball, not with your fists or words. Nice try, though. You know the Celtics haven’t gotten anymore love for how KG acts or for what Pierce said.
That said, the Lakers proved themselves last year, at least against the Celtics in the regular season, and then in the playoffs, and I can’t take that away from the Lakers in any shape or fashion.
That said, the Celtics have gotten stronger in their bench, and could easily be a top 3 defensive team….AGAIN. Oh btw, the Celtics averaged 100.9 points last year in the regular season and then 102.1 in the postseason, while Phoenix scored 109.4 per game in the regular season, tops in the league. We all know what happened to the Suns. The Celtics scored enough last year to win, they just couldn’t limit the other team come the playoffs without KG and then without Powe. With their improved bench, maybe things will be different, in stats and in health.
And you know what, just for something extra, I do think the media finds strong defense and team play boring. Teams like the Steelers of the NFL or Spurs are considered very boring, but as of right now one’s the defending champion in their league, was the top defensive team last year, and had the DPOY on their team, while the other has won 4 out of the last 10 titles in their league and just last year in the regular season was the top defensive team based on points allowed per game (93.3).
by Tai on Sep 10, 2009 12:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I wonder if Pharoh lives in LA. I live in LA (Bostonian… I have to go to a wedding in Boston this weekend actually).
Excuse my stereotyping, but people out here just think differently. All flash no grit. It’s the Hollywood way. Grittiness means shaking a camera.
On the courts out here, at least in my street-ball experience, guys will call a foul every time you play any kind of defense. It’s really weird, really really weird. I have definitely been threatened to be shot (seriously) for playing bump and grind D in LA. In the JP/Roxbury area, where I used to play, you take and give major hits street-ball style. If you thought you were fouled, you were probably going to get made fun of. one time, a guy cracked a few of my rigs with an elbow and I didn’t call a foul. It’s just totally different in LA. A very different mindset.
by stevenfuzz on Sep 10, 2009 1:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I don't live in L.A.
Lived in Egypt for 7 years then came to Orange County (I know that doesn’t help the whole “flashy mentatlity”). But I’ve been coaching high school basketball for 8 years now and I’m only 25. I just got a varsity head coaching position because the school liked my defense-first philosophy. I know defense, trust me. And the Celtics play great rotations and rebound very well. But I think because the Lakers are so good offensively they’re not perceived to be a team of defense. Which is not true at all. Kobe has made the first-team all defensive teams 8 times and the Lakers were top 3 in rebounding last season. Odom is a better defensive player than offensive player. Gasol has big I.Q. when it comes to basketball and he understand rotations better than most bigs in the game.
I want a new Celtics-Lakers rivalry because that’s the era I started watching the Lakers. Although I wasn’t old enough to really appreciate Magic and Bird go at each other, I wouldn’t mind seeing a Pierce vs Kobe or Pau vs KG rivalry begin. In my book, Boston is the team to beat in the East and the Lakers are the clear favorites in the West. Should be a good season.
by pharoah on Sep 10, 2009 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
you are stereo typing
those are just the douche’s who don’t know sports.
by pharoah on Sep 10, 2009 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Unfortunately, it’s not a hard stereotype to make in LA. I’m sure you know what I mean.
You have to understand that the Boston stereotype is the total antithesis of the LA stereotype. In Boston, it’s way more blue collar meets academia. Historically, it is a no bs type culture. I totally blame it on the winter and year round crap whether, oh and the puritans.
LA is sunny and beautiful. Always. Everyday, The wild west running straight into paradise. Re-invent yourself in LA and become famous. Like a flashy cocktail lounge.
The revivalry, for this reason alone, is always going to exist.
by stevenfuzz on Sep 10, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
If your from Boston and you wonder why I live in LA and you haven’t been here, it really is WAY more beautiful than you think. LA is an absolute paradise. Kobe has it good.
by stevenfuzz on Sep 10, 2009 3:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i play ball here in oc all the time
i have found that the foul calling depends on where you go. i pride myself on my D first and foremost. i do hate crybabies when it comes to touchy fouls.
so i stick to places where i can play a nice physical game.
and yes socal is a more ralxed atmosphere and im sure it has to do with the sun. go to hawaii and its even more lay back. its the sun man,
dont hate, appreciate
by true_lakerfan on Sep 17, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Who the hell is Ron Artest?
(that’s sarcasm for ya ;D)
- Dirk 'DaarisDirk' van Boxtel
by Kiorrik on Sep 13, 2009 5:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
the adition of ron artest i think makes the lakers match up worse against the celtics. its the guys that are quicker than pierce that give him the most trouble, like ariza, artest is slow and really the only weapon he has against guys his the mind games he plays on his man. and the aggressive defense he plays but pierce will live at the free throw line and murder him to the basket, and with step aways.
the lakers can stop pierce is kobe and pierce 1 on 1 and if thats the case i dont think kobe will be as big of a threat on offense im personally for the artest ariza swap
by celtics94 on Sep 13, 2009 9:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Lakers got Lucky
Everyone knows that they got lucky last season but this season it’s Celtics time to shine so watch out Lakers because KG is back and rondo is fired up and also a newcomer SHEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by the_truth2034 on Sep 16, 2009 11:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
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