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IMO It's not even close how different these '2 teams' are. One could say at the start they were a little mentally weak against the hawks and cavs showing an inability to win the road.

Since then?

The've won 2 games on the road in Detroit (one of which was a CLOSEOUT scenario, which is generally the most difficult) Keep in mind during this 6 year run of the pistons, they have never been closed out at home...that's huge.

But then last night, down 24 in LA, I thought it was over, you did too, JVG said it would be tied 2-2 in the first quarter, and then somehow they did it and pulled off the greatest NBA Finals comeback in history just after being down after the first quarter by the most points in NBA Finals history...wow what a turnaround...

I liken this development by a team in the playoffs to that of the 2006 Miami Heat who were not that impressive at the start, but got better as the playoffs went on and eventually became champs...


So how did they grow/get better as a team?

i don't think we got better, we just started playing like we did in the regular season again. The team that showed up later in the playoffs is the team that won 66 games and was by far the most dominant team in the regular season. The playoffs are totally different and this team had never been in the playoffs together, they were trying to incorporate 2 new players (P.J Brown, who has been huge off the bench & Sam Cassell who i wish would never get off the bench) into the lineup. That's a real tough thing to do considering the timing.

it took them 2 series to get their swagger back, but they did and now again we are seeing them play like they have all season, the first 2 series was the aberration, not these last 2

I think the truly great teams are the ones who can adjust to different styles of play when they play different teams. The team kind of reminds me of the Pistons of old where any player on the team could be the hero, from a scoring sense.

The teams they played in the playoffs all had different styles and the Celtics adjusted instead of just trying to overpower them.

Jesus came back down on earth.

it was a combination of 3 things.

1)Ray Allen and Pierce sucked in the 1rst round. In the second round Pierce looked around and knew it was up to him to matchup with LeBron if we were to have a chance, so as always he maned up and elevated himself out of the slump from the first round simply because he had to. Ray Allen was horrible and got brutally outplayed in the second round by Wally. Please re-read my last sentence and know it was the truth. That's the Ray Allen we had in the first two rounds. Then by the third round Ray joined the fray. The defense was very tough by the Cavs and challenging by the Hawks but Ray and Pierce were regressing to one man style they've played for the past decade; and were having trouble adjusting to the team game.

2) It's our first year. No, really our first year for everything. Everyone keeps saying how young the Lakers are but everyone knowes Kobe. This team has 3 first options that have to adjust to be 3rd options on any given night. Offensive players in Ray and House who have learned to defend. A 2nd year player as the starting PG and the only real PG. And Perkins who is new to playoff pressure. It took some adjustment to calm down for the young guys and to trust the team above themselfs for the stars in Ray Allen and Pierce.

3)Defense. Hawks, lived like their last battle every possesion. Cavs were long,rough,physical, the best rebounding team in teh NBA and LeBron punishes you for opposing him offensively. DET is a machine that doesn't stop once awaken. You have to beat DET at it's own game of consitent defense and not turning the ball over to beat them.

Flat out we were playing great defensive teams in CLE and DET and an otherwordly effort by the Hawks. Anyone would have trouble against those teams.

r u guys that dense? they cruised through the first two rounds. then got down to business when it counted. thats how they are. Atlanta and Cleveland took them to 7 because Boston let them not because Boston got outplayed. Whats Boston since then? 7-3? thats what i thought.

People actually thought the first round was a sign of things to come? Have you paid any attention to 07/08 Celtics basketball?

they beat those teams and thats all that matters at the end of the day, doesn't matter how many games it takes everyone only remembers who won the series...

GreenWithEnvy wrote:r u guys that dense? they cruised through the first two rounds. then got down to business when it counted. thats how they are. Atlanta and Cleveland took them to 7 because Boston let them not because Boston got outplayed. Whats Boston since then? 7-3? thats what i thought.

cleveland outplayed boston, or at least played on boston's level, but uncharacteristically let two winnable games slip away (games 1 and 7).

They found their mental toughness in game 6 when they closed out Detroit. Just in the way they came back. They haven't relinquished it. It would be a monumental collapse, obviously on their part if the Lakers were allowed to come back and force a game 7.

Boston had the talent. They had enough guys on the bench that could make a difference. They had the great defense. They lacked the mental toughness. Regularly they went to KG down the stretch of games in the first 2 rounds only to watch him not deliver b/c he just isn't a closer. When they realized that Allen and Pierce should dominate those situations they seem to find their ability to win close games. Once they got that they just needed their mental toughness to be a champion.

Boston had an even better regular season record vs. west coast teams than eastern conf teams. Maybe the east was underrated some. I also think that first home loss vs. Detroit when everyone counted them out was a turning point they knew they had to turn it up after that.

Miami's Finest wrote:Boston had an even better regular season record vs. west coast teams than eastern conf teams. Maybe the east was underrated some. I also think that first home loss vs. Detroit when everyone counted them out was a turning point they knew they had to turn it up after that.

No dude. Atlanta and Cleveland were god awful. I think its just the case of a new team with a coach that hadn't won a playoff series learning who to win as they did it. Thats usually how first time champions do it. The good thing about the Celts is that you can trace back throughout this post season when they learned each and everything a championship team needs.

Iggyemu wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



No dude. Atlanta and Cleveland were god awful. I think its just the case of a new team with a coach that hadn't won a playoff series learning who to win as they did it. Thats usually how first time champions do it. The good thing about the Celts is that you can trace back throughout this post season when they learned each and everything a championship team needs.

I agree with you I think a large part was Boston turning it up a notch, but I don't think Atlanta and Cleveland were god awful. They both were hitting much more clutch shots than anyone on LA, and taking it to the Boston D, while the Lakers have settled for a lot of jumpers.

Hell

I don't think we actually seen Boston play good yet. They have played terrible for most of the playoffs until the finals. They are gonna win the championship playing bad.

I seriously believe they can repeat after playing so bad.

They had no clue how to win close games in the first 2 rounds. Now there more sure what they want to.

Some people think the Celtics are a one year and out champ. I personally think they will be better next year than this year. It would not shock me to see them in the finals 3 next year.

lj4mvp wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



cleveland outplayed boston, or at least played on boston's level, but uncharacteristically let two winnable games slip away (games 1 and 7).

Nope, there's a reason Boston got to ECF and not the Cavs- they ended up playing better and winning 2 close games- that's what the better team does.

Don't even know how you can say that Boston got outplayed when they won the series.

But yeah, I agree that Cleveland definitely played on Boston's level and were a couple plays away from getting to the ECF.

I've never seen a team get so overrated so quickly. The Celtics had tough series because the teams that they played played better defense and were tough matchups. Not because the Celtics got their swagger or played down to their competition. The Cavs for one have not been "dominated" by the Celtics once this season. That was just good defense.

The Cavs matchup with the Celtics.. Not in terms of just individual matchups, but in terms of their weaknesses ...

The Cavs defend and rebound extremely well... The Celtics don't rebound tremendously well..

The key to stopping the Celtics is limiting Pierce because he's the only guy that can create and score at the same time... Rondo is only looking to create on penetration... Pierce is deadly because he can score and create..

By sticking LeBron on Pierce, Pierce is not going to draw a lot of his cheap fouls by snapping his head back like he was hit by a truck on his drives (like the one he drew on Kobe towards the end of the game)... Thus, LeBron was able to get physical with Pierce.. In which case, made it tough on him for the most part...

Tayshaun Prince is a long defender, but he's not physical... And the Lakers are just flat out soft... For as "great" a defender everyone keeps telling me Kobe is, he's at Pierce's mercy when Pierce has the ball... LeBron was able to not only stay in front of him, but was physical with him...You can't keep a great player down for every game in a 7 game series, but the Lakers aren't even close..

But as a team, you have to get them on the boards... And it's flat out embarrassing watching Rondo, House and Ray Allen get on the glass against the Lakers... That's what you get though when you have these flamers out there like Radmonovich and Vujacic, that can't box out or get a board..