On The Ropes

The Celts on the Ropes

There's bad news and good news. The bad news: Boston is on the ropes after losing the first two games in Miami against the Heat. The good news: the Lakers are in a worse predicament, after having lost the first two games against Dallas on their home court !

We make no pretension on this blog. All we really care about is two things:

* That the Celtics win championships.

* That the Celtics beat LA (in any game, but it is especially satisfyingly

sweet when they do so in the NBA Finals).

Now the road to either of these destinations is blocked by very two seemingly unsurmountable obstacles.

First for the Celtics. Against the Heat, three things stand out

* They have looked old

We knew that Miami is the most athletic team in the league and in the first two games Wade and LeBron have made Boston's star players look slow and old. Witness Wade's moves in Game 2. On one drive, he Euro-stepped faked KG so badly that he was able to go in for an uncontested layup. And then he broke Ray Allen's ankles with a mean crossover that caused Allen to trip over his own feet. KG and Ray are both amongst the best conditioned athletes in the league, but it's hard to do anything against quality offensive moves like that. For his part, LeBron was content to play second fiddle to Wade in Game1 before exploding in Game 2 for 30 plus points scored with long-rate shots, dunks, and the power move that flattened Rondo in the open court. He also stuffed KG on a play where KG tried to bring the ball back before shooting it. Besides Rondo, all of the Celtics stars are on the wrong side of 30 while all of the Heat

are younger than 30. The Heat have been superior athletically in all facets of the game and especially in the two areas that are their forte: scoring on the fast break and playing good defense, and hustle plays. They are simply quicker to loose balls which is fueling their fast break.

* Our big three is not playing as good as the their big three

When TNT showed a graphic comparing the Big Three stats in Game 2, the Heat

stars had outscored the Celtics star 72-32. While the Celtics bench was much better than the Heat bench, it is the stars that win series and ultimately championships. A good bench provides a good supporting role bu no more. If

the Heat Big 3 are going to consistently outscore the Celtics Big Three, this

series will wrap up in 5 games. The Celtics will win one game simply out of

honor, pride, and will, but they will not be able to beat the Heat at home.

In Game 1, Wade scored 38 and was truly the best player on the floor. But LeBron chipped in with a 22 and Bosh had 7 (. The Heat's trio outscored Boston's trio 67 to 50. In Game 2, the margin was much worse (80-36).

It is quite simple. For the Celtics to get back into this series, their Big Three have to perform better. Scoring less than 50% of the Heat's Big Three

is just not going to cut it.

The bench play has largely been equal (due to James Jones insane Game 1

record high of 25)

* The late season trade is a big factor in this series.

The Celtics really miss Kendrick Perkins' presence in the paint. Without him

(or any other big man such as Shaq), James and Wade are fearless going inside.

In the games where the Celtics beat the Heat early in the season, Shaq helped to clog the lane and prevent easy shots and put backs. No one expects Shaq to play more than about 10-15 minutes, but even in that short time, he would

help the interior defense tremendously. Wade, LeBron, and Bosh would think twice about driving the lane. And everyone knows that when LeBron starts to think instead of just playing within the flow of the game, the game doesn't come to him as easily.

The current Celtic big men Jermaine O'Neal has been okay offensively but has failed to guard the paint as needed. Meanwhile, the other big, Nenad Kristic has been a total non-factor.

In both games, the Heat outrebounded the Celtics by just 6 total rebounds but the difference was the Heat's fearless approach driving to the hoop that set the tone for both games.

Also missing in action has been Big Baby Davis. I wonder how much the Perkins trade has also affected him, not only physically, but also mentally. The NBA's leader in collecting offensive charging calls has been notoriously quiet in this series. Davis needs to impose his will on both sides of the court on Saturday in order for Boston to have a chance.

The Celtics somehow how to re-establish dominance in the paint area and find a way to shut down the Heat's formidable transition game if they're to have a chance.

As Kenny "The Jet" Smith put it: "Some guys game don't travel well." it will be interesting to see not only how well the Heat's bench players perform up in Boston but also the James and Wade. They have not had much success winning games in the Garden over the past couple of years, and James has specifically struggle mightily.

Simply put, the Celtics have got to the off the ropes, and punch the Heat back early in Game 3. Playing rope-a-dope may cut it in boxing, but it just doesn't work in basketball.

As for the Lakers, misery loves company. As of this writing, the Lakers completely self-destructed in the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter. Leading by 8 with that much time to go, the Lakers completely forgot that Dirk Nowitzky is the best shooting 7' footer of all time and promptly left him open for numerous shots. When they guarded the Big German, other Mavericks such as Terry or Peja hit key shots. The Lakers completely faded after that and the Mavericks closed out Game 3.

As Kobe walked off the court in obvious disgust, it was clear to me that the Lakers are simply exhausted after playing so much basketball for 3 consecutive seasons. They are not a young team either, and it's apparent, that like the Celtics, that their era of dominance is now over.