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The Celtics are still the best team in the East. They are the most mentally tough team in the league. If Kevin Garnett comes back -- and he is supposed to be back Friday -- I like them going back to the Finals. Boston is a shadow of themselves without him. They are not nearly the team they will be when he is healthy.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime

Honestly, Jon Barry is an idiot. One day he says we have no chance even with KG because our chemistry is destroyed from not having Posey and Pj Brown and now he says this.. whatever..I hope he's right tho.

Do you agree or disagree?

I agree in general but he isn't saying anything that hasn't already been said throughout this season. Especially, about Orlando.

The Cavaliers have other offensive threats in Ilgauskas, West, Gibson or Varejao. And there's always Szczerbiak... But, they all will need to be consistent in the playoffs.

In the playoffs Orlando could end up being a problem for Cleveland because Cleveland has small guards. Orlando can slide Hedo Turkoglu to the two and he would give Delonte West problems. The Hawks' Joe Johnson is another big two-guard who may give Cleveland headaches.

Cleveland will finish the regular season with the best record in the East. Boston is too banged up and the Cavaliers have 10 more home games where they are an unbelievable 30-1.

I don't like them to go to the Finals, though. Mo Williams is averaging 22 points per game in March and is a great second option, but who is the third option for Cleveland? You can't totally stop LeBron, but if you slow him down and take out Williams, who is going to step up for them? They need a third guy.

Plus, don't underestimate the loss of Ben Wallace. If he can't come back, that is a huge loss. He is a bigger piece than people realize. He does all of the dirty work, takes guys off the boards and is a good one-on-one defender. They have been getting beat up inside without him.

The Celtics are still the best team in the East. They are the most mentally tough team in the league. If Kevin Garnett comes back -- and he is supposed to be back Friday -- I like them going back to the Finals. Boston is a shadow of themselves without him. They are not nearly the team they will be when he is healthy.

Meanwhile, Orlando is playing good basketball and they have some impressive wins, but they need a power forward. They play with the small lineup. They don't have anyone other than Howard to go to in the post. They shoot a lot of jump shots and do a lot of one-on-one basketball. If they had another big body, they would be so much better defensively.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime

Pretty much spot on...he was one of the few people (the other being Legler) last season who had any brains...

DieselCeltic wrote:Honestly, Jon Barry is an idiot. One day he says we have no chance even with KG because our chemistry is destroyed from not having Posey and Pj Brown and now he says this.. whatever..I hope he's right tho.

What he sees is a team with 6 guys down on the road with a never say die attitude fighting their asses off and he knows when we get healthy.....we are gonna kick ass.....I really believe that....this is gonna be the fuel that burns right thru the playoffs.

Right on Kefa!

Remember - players get injured during playoffs too which delivers the ultimate blow to any team with any proven all-star player.

Did someone put some jinx on our team or something. We are just dropping like flies.

DieselCeltic wrote:Remember - players get injured during playoffs too which delivers the ultimate blow to any team with any proven all-star player.

Did someone put some jinx on our team or something. We are just dropping like flies.

I was thinking the same thing, when Powe hit his knee and then Rondo tweaked his ankle I literally said out loud "seriously?"

I mean what next, Ray's **** arm falls off?

He's looking at the roster, where all players are expected to be available for the playoffs, and due to recent pickups and injuries the Celtics now have Marbury, Moore and Walker being integrated into the lineup in a real big hurry. 3 good assets not available when the Celtics went on 19 and 12 game winning streaks.

Injuries are part of the game, all teams work through them, the Celtics in the midst of a pretty mind-boggling run of bad injury luck. So the results on the floor are below standard, but when we get a bunch of rested guys back, I think the Celtics could go on a real positive run.

We never had any serious injuries that I can remember last year. I believe them being all healthy and stuff was the key factor of why they won the 17th title.

Dave_From_NB wrote:He's looking at the roster, where all players are expected to be available for the playoffs, and due to recent pickups and injuries the Celtics now have Marbury, Moore and Walker being integrated into the lineup in a real big hurry. 3 good assets not available when the Celtics went on 19 and 12 game winning streaks.

Injuries are part of the game, all teams work through them, the Celtics in the midst of a pretty mind-boggling run of bad injury luck. So the results on the floor are below standard, but when we get a bunch of rested guys back, I think the Celtics could go on a real positive run.

This is how I feel...I think teams will think we'll be an easy out and we'll steamroll 'em!

I'm pretty sure the injuries started to happen after we fired Lucky. Weird coincidence haha

Yes - I think people are just getting down on this team because of the record post AS break, but its really a reflection of how this team is built - with so many injuries to rotation players, the team was going to have to slog through the rough times...which is why a hot start was such a focus...

As long as KG, Davis, and Powe are back by friday, this team will have a deep frontcourt rotation and all of its starters back - Perk and Powe have been playing lights out and KG and Davis are sure to deliver the floor spacing look the team needs for its slashers - Moore has been shooting great as well.

With Walker making things happen, this team isn't as desperate for TA and Scal to come back and help out with the wing minutes, so getting them back with 2-3 regular season games left should be enough considering their limited roles and knowledge of the defense.

The only major thing this team needs is to keep working Stephon Marbury as much as possible and get him up to speed - they still have 14 games to do so, which I believe will be enough time. Marbury already looks much, much more comfortable running the team and his own offense will come once he can do more off the dribble, which is about legs.

Barring any further injury the team should have about 7-10 regular season games with which to re-establish chemistry and put it together for the stretch run - the first round of the playoffs will not be steep enough of a challenge to prevent victory as long as the starting 5 are in tact. That will give the team another 5-6 games to gel.

By the time the real challenge comes along, Orl most likely, this team will have played together for about a month - which is ample time to be prepared and at full strength....

...all we have to pray against is further nagging injury problems, but that is beyond our control...

I'm not much of a Barry fan. I always had the impression that he'd Kobe's head too far up his... Never mind.

bonsaiflipflops wrote:I'm not much of a Barry fan. I always had the impression that he'd Kobe's head too far up his... Never mind.

I've never minded him too much...

Who in the national media DOESN'T want to have Kobe's child, though?

Barry always seems kind of pro Celtics; maybe he feels guilty about his behavior when we drafted him.

It didn't help when he predicted us to win the lottery though.

billfromBoston wrote:Yes - I think people are just getting down on this team because of the record post AS break, but its really a reflection of how this team is built - with so many injuries to rotation players, the team was going to have to slog through the rough times...which is why a hot start was such a focus...

As long as KG, Davis, and Powe are back by friday, this team will have a deep frontcourt rotation and all of its starters back - Perk and Powe have been playing lights out and KG and Davis are sure to deliver the floor spacing look the team needs for its slashers - Moore has been shooting great as well.

With Walker making things happen, this team isn't as desperate for TA and Scal to come back and help out with the wing minutes, so getting them back with 2-3 regular season games left should be enough considering their limited roles and knowledge of the defense.

The only major thing this team needs is to keep working Stephon Marbury as much as possible and get him up to speed - they still have 14 games to do so, which I believe will be enough time. Marbury already looks much, much more comfortable running the team and his own offense will come once he can do more off the dribble, which is about legs.

Barring any further injury the team should have about 7-10 regular season games with which to re-establish chemistry and put it together for the stretch run - the first round of the playoffs will not be steep enough of a challenge to prevent victory as long as the starting 5 are in tact. That will give the team another 5-6 games to gel.

By the time the real challenge comes along, Orl most likely, this team will have played together for about a month - which is ample time to be prepared and at full strength....

...all we have to pray against is further nagging injury problems, but that is beyond our control...

Bill you are right on the money as usual........

Actually, rereading his quote, I feel like Varejao provides what you lose in Wallace. Varejao's a better player and is younger. The lost of Wallace has more of an affect on Cleveland's depth than to what they can do defensively. I think they're better starting Varejao with Ilgauskas. All that length helps against Orlando's front court. And LeBron's tall as well. But, I concur, from a back court standpoint, they're short like Boston's short in the front court. Hence, why you need Moore to stay out of foul trouble in the playoffs.

chakdaddy wrote:Barry always seems kind of pro Celtics; maybe he feels guilty about his behavior when we drafted him.

It didn't help when he predicted us to win the lottery though.

What happened when we drafted him? Was he a tool?

Why did this appear here? Posted it under another topic?? Opps.......deleted it now