[sacphil_08Participant]

So after watching the game last night (BOS vs NYK) besides realizing the game was one of the best thus far into the season, i really saw a few things from the celtics:

1) they are obviously a team full of pride with 4 potential (basically) locks to be HOFers and they showed it last night in full affect

2) they play better defense than any team by a wide margin and play as good of team defense as any team since the spurs in the early part of the decade (the knicks scored 116 but in the final minutes of the game they put the clamps down) the play where paul pierce was able to bother amare just enough to miss what would normally be a gimme for him was absolutely huge

3) their depth is superior to pretty much every team. they played without a viable center. Theyre obviously still down kendrick perkins, shaq didnt play, jermaine oneal still hasnt played, so they went with the rotation of glen davis, KG, and i think his name is Erdan Ersay. delonte west is still out and will be for a good while but with nate robinson, marquis daniels and von wafer they were able to get it done which to me shows the quality of depth they have minus the rest of the guys that make them even deeper

4) the big 3 might be playing as well as they were in the 08 season. paul pierce appears to be in better shape than hes been in the past couple years and hes really the main component offensively, ray allen is shooting the best 3 pt percentage he’s EVER shot (44%). theyve won 11 in a row which is probably the quietest win streak in the league thanks to the heat and all the attention they are getting which im sure boston doesnt mind. KG looks much better and hes putting up great number thus far averaging 16 and 10 and hes putting up 20 and 10 in games against top competition so far

i think that at this point the celtics are the best team in the league. i know its relatively early but its a quarter in and boston is deep enough to sustain this and they havent been near full strength as far as being healthy is concerned. they could very well end up with the best record in the league and i think that home court advantage in the finals will be the difference. i dont think the lakers are a lock at this point but we’ll see the difference bynum makes, but even such teams like dallas and san antonio i believe have closed the gap between themselves and the lakers. the lakers are playing as of lately the way they finished the season last year and i know theyll pick it up in the playoffs but i wonder if they can beat san antonio or dallas without home court advantage. just a thought…

now i know there are plenty of people that absolutely hate the celtics but without bias or too much hatred whats your honest opinion of the celts? i feel they are playing with a chip on their shoulder as was evidenced by doc rivers comments after the finals about how LA wouldnt have won if they had perkins as well as how they have been playing and i think the finals last year was the only series the big 3 lost when all of them were available to play so they are definitely bitter. well lets hear it…

[bdoody42Participant]

Best part is you didnt even mention Rondo.. and is  there best overall player this season.

This team is like the defintion of team!

[bdoody42Participant]

Best part is you didnt even mention Rondo.. and is  there best overall player this season.

This team is like the defintion of team!

[sacphil_08Participant]

wow i didnt mention rondo.. thats hilarious. hes averaging stockton like numbers with his assists. he gets where he wants when he wants… nuff said

[sacphil_08Participant]

wow i didnt mention rondo.. thats hilarious. hes averaging stockton like numbers with his assists. he gets where he wants when he wants… nuff said

[Champzilla21Participant]

 The reason you didnt mention rondo is becuz if you look past his assist totals and defense hes quite average or below average at everything else. Hes average only 4.5 rebs hes a good rebounder for a gaurd he should get at it more so he can start the break by himself, hes averaging 4 turnover a game, i know the balls in his hands alot but thats a really high number, the biggest thing though is that hes only averaging 43% from the ft line. No one brings this up, like come on shaq is shooting a better percentage then he is! When ur most capable ball handler shoots that low during a close game it all most makes more sense to have him off the court then risk him getting the ball and getting fouled. Believe me theres no1 out their that enjoys seeing rondo pick someones pocket and make a perfect pass to someone but untill his shot improves he’s just a 2nd tier pg in my books

[Champzilla21Participant]

 The reason you didnt mention rondo is becuz if you look past his assist totals and defense hes quite average or below average at everything else. Hes average only 4.5 rebs hes a good rebounder for a gaurd he should get at it more so he can start the break by himself, hes averaging 4 turnover a game, i know the balls in his hands alot but thats a really high number, the biggest thing though is that hes only averaging 43% from the ft line. No one brings this up, like come on shaq is shooting a better percentage then he is! When ur most capable ball handler shoots that low during a close game it all most makes more sense to have him off the court then risk him getting the ball and getting fouled. Believe me theres no1 out their that enjoys seeing rondo pick someones pocket and make a perfect pass to someone but untill his shot improves he’s just a 2nd tier pg in my books

[sacphil_08Participant]

champzilla

rondo averages 14-15 assists a game.. with 4 turnovers that makes his assist to turnonver ratio something like 3.7 assists to 1 turnover which is phenomonal. with his team he doesnt need to be anything more than what he is. he doesnt need to score, he could improve his free throw shooting clip and hit more open jumpers but they are winning and thats what matters. 2nd tier PG? wow he is the prototypical ‘pure’ pg. like we said he could hit more open jumpers and he needs to be a better free throw shooter but he is allowed to get by with those numbers because he runs a team with 4 HOFers on it better than anyone else probably could and for what he cant do everyone else can 

[sacphil_08Participant]

champzilla

rondo averages 14-15 assists a game.. with 4 turnovers that makes his assist to turnonver ratio something like 3.7 assists to 1 turnover which is phenomonal. with his team he doesnt need to be anything more than what he is. he doesnt need to score, he could improve his free throw shooting clip and hit more open jumpers but they are winning and thats what matters. 2nd tier PG? wow he is the prototypical ‘pure’ pg. like we said he could hit more open jumpers and he needs to be a better free throw shooter but he is allowed to get by with those numbers because he runs a team with 4 HOFers on it better than anyone else probably could and for what he cant do everyone else can 

[bdoody42Participant]

Rondo isnt a good FT shooter your right… but his true shooting percnatage is same as rose. He is shooting 35% for 3 which is career high for him.

people knock him because he cant shoot but people dont understand what he does for the C’s!

[bdoody42Participant]

Rondo isnt a good FT shooter your right… but his true shooting percnatage is same as rose. He is shooting 35% for 3 which is career high for him.

people knock him because he cant shoot but people dont understand what he does for the C’s!

[Champzilla21Participant]

 hes shot 5-16 from 3 dont make it seem like hes killin it from down their

[Champzilla21Participant]

 hes shot 5-16 from 3 dont make it seem like hes killin it from down their

[ChrischiParticipant]

Erm but Rose is taking a lot more shots than Rondo especially from 3pt. Rondo is really only shooting the ball when is right next to it, while Rose is forcing shots and taking a ton of tough shots. So the True Shooting doesn’t really count in this discussion.

[ChrischiParticipant]

Erm but Rose is taking a lot more shots than Rondo especially from 3pt. Rondo is really only shooting the ball when is right next to it, while Rose is forcing shots and taking a ton of tough shots. So the True Shooting doesn’t really count in this discussion.

[billykParticipant]

Rondo is shooting 53% from the field… I would rather a player who cant shoot make 53% of their shots than a player who can shoot making 45% of their shots…

[billykParticipant]

Rondo is shooting 53% from the field… I would rather a player who cant shoot make 53% of their shots than a player who can shoot making 45% of their shots…

[Ghost01Participant]

Rondo is shooting 53% from the field… I would rather a player who cant shoot make 53% of their shots than a player who can shoot making 45% of their shots…

 

There were multiple seasons earlier this decade where this logic would have told us Marcus Camby was better than Iverson and Kobe. Foolish, really.

[Ghost01Participant]

Rondo is shooting 53% from the field… I would rather a player who cant shoot make 53% of their shots than a player who can shoot making 45% of their shots…

 

There were multiple seasons earlier this decade where this logic would have told us Marcus Camby was better than Iverson and Kobe. Foolish, really.

[andxxxParticipant]

 The Celtics have looked like the best team in the league thus far and don’t forget Delonte West is injured as well and he was getting minutes before he was injured.  They have so much depth it’s rediculous, but as always for them to win in the Playoffs the Big 4 has to remain healthy

[andxxxParticipant]

 The Celtics have looked like the best team in the league thus far and don’t forget Delonte West is injured as well and he was getting minutes before he was injured.  They have so much depth it’s rediculous, but as always for them to win in the Playoffs the Big 4 has to remain healthy

[Toronto16Participant]

 Rondo is out for a few weeks…..

[Toronto16Participant]

 Rondo is out for a few weeks…..

[apb540Participant]

I hope Bradley gets a chance to do something. 

[apb540Participant]

I hope Bradley gets a chance to do something. 

[llperez]

the only comment i dont agree with is the depth being better then everyone elses. I think orlando has more depth and i think my lakers have more depth

celtics bench(assuming shaq is a starter)

delonte west, nate robinson, glen davis, jermaine oneal, semih erden, marquis daniels

jermaine has been injured for years and is little more then average when healthy. Daniels, west and erden dont scare anybody. That pretty much leaves glen davis and nate robinson as diffence makers. also, in both the 2008 team and last years team, they had a defenisve wing to put on the other teams top scorers if they were hot(posey, tony allen) Whos that guy this year? West is too short and couldnt even stop hedo in the playoffs. Daniels has never been labeled a defensive stopper.

Magic Bench with current starting 5

chris duhon, jj reddick, quentin richardson, ryan andersen, marcin gortat, mikael pietrus

theyy cover all positions. Have shooters and size and a wing defender in pietrus. They could have an injury to anyone not named dwight and play through it.

Lakers bench with odom as a starter

steve blake, shannon brown, matt barnes, andrew bynum, joe smith

Brown is having a breakout year, smith will add another solid vet barnes has been playing well and if bynum gets back to form, he probably moves to the starting lineup and odom has a chance to win 6th man of the year.

[llperez]

the only comment i dont agree with is the depth being better then everyone elses. I think orlando has more depth and i think my lakers have more depth

celtics bench(assuming shaq is a starter)

delonte west, nate robinson, glen davis, jermaine oneal, semih erden, marquis daniels

jermaine has been injured for years and is little more then average when healthy. Daniels, west and erden dont scare anybody. That pretty much leaves glen davis and nate robinson as diffence makers. also, in both the 2008 team and last years team, they had a defenisve wing to put on the other teams top scorers if they were hot(posey, tony allen) Whos that guy this year? West is too short and couldnt even stop hedo in the playoffs. Daniels has never been labeled a defensive stopper.

Magic Bench with current starting 5

chris duhon, jj reddick, quentin richardson, ryan andersen, marcin gortat, mikael pietrus

theyy cover all positions. Have shooters and size and a wing defender in pietrus. They could have an injury to anyone not named dwight and play through it.

Lakers bench with odom as a starter

steve blake, shannon brown, matt barnes, andrew bynum, joe smith

Brown is having a breakout year, smith will add another solid vet barnes has been playing well and if bynum gets back to form, he probably moves to the starting lineup and odom has a chance to win 6th man of the year.

[NYK2010Participant]

4 HOF players, Rondo has a long way to go.

Lets see how he does when the big 3 are gone.

[NYK2010Participant]

4 HOF players, Rondo has a long way to go.

Lets see how he does when the big 3 are gone.

[llperez]

i was figuring shaq was the 4th hall of famer

[llperez]

i was figuring shaq was the 4th hall of famer

[andxxxParticipant]

 You forgot Perkins and the way the Magic have been playing I’d rather have the Celtics bench, but its close between the Lakers and Celtics, but I’d rather have the Celtics bench

[andxxxParticipant]

 You forgot Perkins and the way the Magic have been playing I’d rather have the Celtics bench, but its close between the Lakers and Celtics, but I’d rather have the Celtics bench

[mgreener_34Participant]

 "theyy cover all positions. Have shooters and size and a wing defender in pietrus. They could have an injury to anyone not named dwight and play through it."

The sad part is that the Celtics do have injuries, and they do play through them better then any team in the league. Big baby could probably start for half the teams in the NBA, and idc how old Shaq is he is still effective *assuming he goes to the bench once perk comes back* and Nate is instant offense off the bench, as well as West. Ill take that over a bunch of shooters anyday. 

[mgreener_34Participant]

 "theyy cover all positions. Have shooters and size and a wing defender in pietrus. They could have an injury to anyone not named dwight and play through it."

The sad part is that the Celtics do have injuries, and they do play through them better then any team in the league. Big baby could probably start for half the teams in the NBA, and idc how old Shaq is he is still effective *assuming he goes to the bench once perk comes back* and Nate is instant offense off the bench, as well as West. Ill take that over a bunch of shooters anyday. 

[llperez]

how about the lakers bench? Would you take celtics bench over lakers bench?

[llperez]

how about the lakers bench? Would you take celtics bench over lakers bench?

[mgreener_34Participant]

When healthy hands down I go with the Celtics. More size and experience, as a Lakers fan you should know how important those two things are. Bynum and Odom are interchangable, and I liked Blake and Barnes but the second unit of the Celtics can do it all. We’ve seen Robinson, Big Baby, West, and the O’neals all step up and be good starters let alone role players. 

[mgreener_34Participant]

When healthy hands down I go with the Celtics. More size and experience, as a Lakers fan you should know how important those two things are. Bynum and Odom are interchangable, and I liked Blake and Barnes but the second unit of the Celtics can do it all. We’ve seen Robinson, Big Baby, West, and the O’neals all step up and be good starters let alone role players. 

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