Experts Pick Orlando

by Jeff Clark on May 15, 2010 10:43 PM EDT in Boston Celtics News & Links

One more time, lets look at what the ESPN experts are saying:

5. Who wins the series?

Abbott: Orlando. Boston manages to make every playoff series it ever plays in into a dogfight with that most honorable effort on defense, but the Magic are the better team, and they have home-court advantage.

Arnovitz: Orlando. The Magic have the best offense remaining in the postseason coupled with the stingiest defense. They're indomitable until proven otherwise.

Hollinger: Orlando. The Magic are 27-3 with a +14.0 scoring margin in their past 30 games, have home-court advantage, won three of the four regular-season meetings, and beat Boston last year with Rafer Alston in place of Jameer Nelson. They have the best players, more depth and more rest. There's simply no plausible reason to bet against them.

Sheridan: Orlando in seven on the strength of its 3-point shooting, and Howard raising his game to a new level over the course of the series. I'd even venture to say his free throw shooting takes a sharp turn for the better.

Stein: Orlando in six. The Magic's offensive prowess will trump Boston's suffocating D.

No question it is going to be challenging, but I'm not sure why the assumption is that the Magic are destined for success. Hollinger in particular with his "There's simply no plausible reason to bet against them." comment kinda annoys me.

Oh well. It is their job to make predictions and it is the Celtics job to prove them wrong.

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Comments

Well guess it is time to beat the odds against us...boston in 7

by Ol' Green Boyz on May 15, 2010 10:52 PM EDT reply actions

The worst thing the Celtics can do is leave those 3 point shooters open from the outside. With Perk, Sheed, and BB, that’s 15 fouls they can use on Howard, which is more than enough. Shut down the other Magic, let Howard score from the foul line. Also, go to Perk early every game the first 5 or 6 possessions to draw at least 1 foul on Howard…

by BirthTimes on May 16, 2010 7:52 AM EDT up reply actions

these experts are funny
they make a prediction
they’re proven wrong
then they all of a sudden know why the celtics were better, and their reasons would have been justifyable even before the series

Boston in 5

by SDK on May 15, 2010 10:57 PM EDT reply actions

Boston..

Will let the so-called “experts” eat their words..

by BOOMBOOM on May 15, 2010 10:59 PM EDT reply actions

BOSTON IN 6..

by BOOMBOOM on May 15, 2010 11:00 PM EDT reply actions

Of course they do, haven't we been thru this already?

Kenny the Jet?
Chuck eating his words yet and picking green?
Cedric Maxwell picks green, along with most local broadcasters jumping back on the wagon

by Warrior Spirit on May 15, 2010 11:03 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

IF..

Sheed, Finley, Daniels, Davis, Robinson & TA play accdg to their talent, I wouldn’t be surprise Boston sweeps Orlando.. That’s how strong & talented this team is.. GO CELTICS!!!

by BOOMBOOM on May 15, 2010 11:06 PM EDT reply actions

These guys predictions are so predictable

They don’t do any meaningful reasoning, they just pick the team that had the better record during the season. Guess that is why they are wrong as often as they are right. I would have liked to see them discuss each matchup and vote on who has the advantage, as they are saying Orlando has more advantages overall than Boston. I have a feeling that Boston may actually have that advantage. Only Boston has a low post presence that will require a double team, and that is Garnett. Every other matchup is close save for Howard vs. Perkins, but that will be played straight up. Wallace was coveted for his ability to get in Dwight’s head, and now is where his dismal season can really pay off. The key to me is the Rondo / Nelson match up, if Nelson can not draw the defense in and get shots for his teammates, the Magic could struggle early. Where as Garnett can draw the defense in the post consistently and get people open looks. Still with the amount of talent on either side, this should be great basketball. Again, if the refs don’t pick sides and let them play. I think both teams have had enough of one sided calls for this year.

by Eric9321 on May 15, 2010 11:12 PM EDT reply actions

Don't you know?

David Stern is fixing it so the Cavs make the finals. I’ve heard that about 1000 times around here the last three weeks.

Wrong again conspiracy theorists!

by TheOutletPass on May 16, 2010 1:25 AM EDT up reply actions

Suns vs Magic in the Finals?????

Do you really think Stern will let that happen? Who would care or even watch?

Stern now needs Celtics vs Lakers to salvage the NBA season. Plus.. Who gets the highest tv ratings of all the teams left in the playoffs?

;-)

by David Henderson on May 16, 2010 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions

The truth of the matter is....

“We have not overthrown the divine right of kings to fall down for the divine right of experts.”

(just ask the former King Lebron)

Is it Soup Yet?

by Master Po on May 15, 2010 11:13 PM EDT reply actions

i love how

experts talk as if we lost last year with garnett

hollinger said that the magic won last year even though they didnt have jameer nelson, so i guess us not havin kg doesnt matter because they didnt have jameer

the media gives us no credit, which will be all fine and dandy if we win it all, I believe and they dont, actually i wouldnt want it any other way

GO CELTICS shock the world

by celticcrazy on May 16, 2010 1:01 AM EDT reply actions

“experts” never give us credit. the series against Cleveland everyone was saying that Cleveland lose because Lebron wasn’t himself and Shaun Powell (from NBA.com) said that Celtics didn’t beat Cavs as much as LBJ did..

Still The Celtics are ready to upset everyone who doubted them.

Go Celtics!

gie+Rondo4MVP

by RONDO4MVP on May 16, 2010 3:57 AM EDT up reply actions

abbott is always a joke, i feel obligated to say

by friedgreentomatoes on May 16, 2010 1:14 AM EDT reply actions

magic add Jameer and swap turkglo for Vince

we add KG and swap Sheed for ……wait for it……….Scal and Mikki

seems like Im joking again doesn’t it?

Hey does anyone think Rajon is even better? How about the bench= TA?

Im tempted to pick us in 5 but figure we love to give games away but I think we win this somehow in 6 or 7

by wahz on May 16, 2010 1:20 AM EDT reply actions

Only 5 point total difference during the season series and Boston's much healthier now

The Cs just beat 2 more impressive teams in the playoffs, Howard struggles offensively against Boston, and Rondo clearly outplayed Nelson in their match-ups this year.

Cs in 6 and take 1 of the first 2.

by colincb on May 16, 2010 2:10 AM EDT reply actions

c's in 6

c’s MUST split the 1st 2 games and protect home court…..
this is the best route for them; we’re all confident of the c’s
on the road for possibly a game 7, but logical thinking is
a game 7 could be too much for the c’s at this point, on the
road hostile fans and odds against them to overcome….

by Vince_frmthePhils on May 16, 2010 2:16 AM EDT reply actions

experts??!! that's their job....

of all the so-called experts, only kenny smith and jamal mashburn
have made constructive analysis before making any predictions,
and this is why they’ve picked the c’s correctly for the 1st 2 rounds…
kenny picks the c’s again in 6, don’t know right now if mash still
picks the c’s, anyone know?

by Vince_frmthePhils on May 16, 2010 2:20 AM EDT reply actions

Masburn picked Orlando in 6

"There are two ways to argue with a woman, and neither of them work."; Carlos Boozer

I'll tell ya about the Magic It'll free your soul but it's like trying to tell a stranger 'bout rock n roll

The only way to stop LeBron is Smith and Wesson, but even that's a double team.

by NC Magic Fan on May 16, 2010 9:07 AM EDT up reply actions

KryptoNATE

I would love to see Nate get some significant minutes on the floor. Against WHITE CHOCO I think that would be nice…

by Papatrichs on May 16, 2010 2:29 AM EDT reply actions

Suns fan here, i know this wont be taken well, but who in the right mind wouldnt pick orlando? they won 14, have homecourt advantage and because lewis is taller than that jamison

it will be a much tougher, and entertaining matchup. You guys matchup really well and i am a big fan of KG, so this should be an interesting series; especially because i like the magic a lot too

Phoenix, Arizona where BULLY BALL HAPPENS!!!!!!!!

by Bkj on May 16, 2010 3:10 AM EDT reply actions

Howard, Magic Stronger Versus Celtics

I do believe the Magic have tremendous upperhand against the Celtics. They are younger, more athletic and hungrier than ever. Not to take anything away from the Celtic pride, but I feel the Magic are wiser this time around when they play the Cs.
Here’s my take: http://richavady.com/2010/05/16/celtics-magic-a-battle-of-two-beasts-in-the-east/

by richava on May 16, 2010 3:23 AM EDT reply actions

Oi

First it was Cleveland – the team with the best record in the league. We won’t be able to take them! They’re so powerful with that Varejao guy and Jamison and omg LeBron will own us all! Well look here, Celtics owned them. And now it’s the same story, except it’s not a team who has the best record in the league. It’s not the team with the MVP playing for them. Orlando has Dwight for defense, but why should we care about that? Defense is OUR thing, not theirs. And last year Rondo was 3 levels below than what he is today. Last year Paul wasn’t three point shooting champion. Last year Garnett wasn’t playing. Last year Perkins and Davis weren’t so able and experienced like they are now. Last year we didn’t have the element of surprise – Rasheeeeeeeed Wallaaace! (XD) Who in the right mind WOULD say the Magic can win this?! They’re younger and hungrier? Hungrier?! Or no, better yet – they will win because of their 46% 3pts shooting? Oh yeah, that makes sense. I haven’t been ticked by all the prognosis before, but these comments are just aggrevating! Garnett didn’t come to win only one title. Pierce is far from done. Allen is not retiring – he proved it to us this year, he proved that we need him for another year or two. We got Nate who can’t wait to explode. We got Tony Allen who is improved so much over these couple of months. Whole Celtics team is 300% changed from last year. Just look at last year score sheet – PP leads in points. This year Paul is trying to get teammates to play, but when nobody can score, Paul steps in and becomes a judge with 3-4 three pointers in 10 seconds while Rondo and him stealing 3 balls in only couple of seconds. For crying out loud, use your brains.

by LeoMoreno on May 16, 2010 3:40 AM EDT reply actions

And

Furthermore – even if C’s don’t find any solution at all for offense, and I don’t think anyone should be worried about that, there’s 99% chance that Rondo will make another game solving solo-performance. Nobody can take care of him defensively, ESPECIALLY not Dwight. LeBron wasn’t able to stop him. Why should a bigger and slower guy have more chance? And in defense, expect Rondo to have at least 5 steals. Him and Rasheed will combine together more than 10 stolen balls.

by LeoMoreno on May 16, 2010 3:51 AM EDT reply actions