2012 Conf. Semis: (4) Celtics vs. (8) 76ers

[Lamrock]

Boston in 5. The Sixers may have (barely) dispatched Chicago without their two best players, but the Celtics are just a far better basketball team. Fun to see an 8 seed advance to round 2, but with Noah having been likely to come back for this series, I'm pretty sure Boston was rooting for Philly.

[Axel The Great]

Picked the very last option, but in all seriousness, I think Celtics in 5. Unless the Celtics suffer key injuries like the Bulls did (*knock on wood*), Philly does not stand a chance.

[JaoSming]

I'm thinking Celtics in 5, but evidently my mouse thinks Celtics in 6.

[Patr1ck]

I also think Celtics in 6. 76ers will outrun them one game, and then win a close game, maybe due to an injured Celtic star. Eventually, Boston will out coach and out experience them.

On the other hand, history may repeat itself and the 76ers may go all the way to get sweeped by the Spurs.

[NovU]

If the 76ers really tanked to play against the Bulls in the first round, it seems they made a right call. Rather than facing the Heat in the second round, they get to face offensively challenged team in Celtics for the second round match up. But the Celtics looks to have found their original identity though, suffocating D with KG in the paint and Rondo at the perimeter. So the Celtics in 6 again.

[shadowgrin]

Last option is actually the other way around. The crowd get free Big Macs when the Sixers hold their opponents below 76 points or when the Sixers score 100 points.

I'm going with Sixers in 5 like how I picked in the last one hoping to keep up the Sixers' win.

There will be one game where Pierce will flop an injury again, another game where Rondo will be an absolute jerk like he always does, and a possible game where Nikola Vucevic will get minutes and KG will bully and elbow him.

[Spree#8]

Looks like we're in for another ugly series. Two of the top3 NBA defenses once again. They're two completely different teams however. Sixers are young, athletic, inexperienced and lack a leader while the Celtics are old, slow, experienced and have distinct leaders on both ends of the court. The matchups are really not that bad for Philadelphia. They have a very good defender for every single one of Boston stars, unless Brand and Thad Young get owned by Garnett (I'm not even trying to count on Hawes). And they're gonna have a nice mismatch and the 2 position: Avery Bradley may go a good job on defense against the likes of Jrue and Lou, but Turner is 6'7'' and can post him easily leaving him helpless - that's why it's important for him to play well and he'll likely have to play a large role in organising the offense. Offense has been a huge problem against the Bulls. As dreadful as it sounds, Hawes might be the second (or maybe even the first) key to prevent moments like 2nd half of game 6 vs the Bulls from happening. Thanks to his range, he could make Garnett go out to the perimeter after him and when he does, there's nobody to defend the rim for Boston. That is what caused problems against Chicago: a horde of great defensive bigmen rotating quickly and blocking and/or altering shots on any drive attempts.

Another thing Philly will have to take advantage of is the Celtics' bench. The big3 is old. Pierce and Garnett both averaged 38 minutes per game against Atlanta. The Sixers play very aggressive and intensive defense. Inevitably, Rivers will have to use the likes of Greg Stiemsma, Marquis Daniels and Ryan Hollins. If they fall behind, that could be the time to pick it up on both ends and bounce back.

And then there's obviously the rebounding issue, which shouldn't be nearly as visible against Boston as it was in the Chicago series. A special shoutout goes to Elton Brand for getting 3 rebounds in 35 minutes yesterday. With such amazing effort on the glass, I really hope (but doubt) that Collins won't be afraid to play Vucevic and/or Lavoy Allen, who contributed greatly to one win against the Bulls but didn't see a minute in game 6 when we were getting horribly raped on the glass.

All in all, if the Sixers play as badly on offense as they did the last two games of the 1st round, there's no way they'll do anything here. But if they play more like in games 2, 4 and even 1 - they really do stand a chance. They're very unpredictable as a team, so I won't make any predictions. But Boston is really not as strong as many people believe them to be and I'll be disappointed if the Sixers don't win at least 2 games in this series.

and a possible game where Nikola Vucevic will get minutes and KG will bully and elbow him.

No. KG only bullies and elbows white guys 6'5'' or shorter and proceeds to run away from anyone else.

[shadowgrin]

KG bullies any white Euros like he did with Noah.

[cavs4872]

Celtics in 6

[jettdaking!]

Celtics in 7. Iguodala and Holiday will shine but C's are just too good. But then again, that's what I said about the Bulls. Hmmmmm

[rise]

Expecting the lowest playoff final scores in recent memory. Would be surprised if either team broke 90 at any point in the series. Celts in six.

[benji]

In the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals neither team had more than 85 points.

[rise]

I think we can expect something similar here. Two really good defensive teams that aren't really that good on offense.

[benji]

The Pacers and post-trade Pistons were both top ten offenses. These two teams rank 20th and 27th offensively.

[Spree#8]

Lou Williams is officially the moron of the night. He fucked up 3 straight crucial possessions with two dumb shots and running into Bradley once on a drive attempt. They're not coming back now. Sixers are just losing a game they could have and should have won.

[jettdaking!]

even though they lost, with the way the Sixers played, i'm sure they're gonna win more than 2 games

[Andrew]

Celtics in 5. Maybe I'm selling the Sixers a little short, but a relatively healthy Celtics team should prove to be much tougher than a depleted Bulls team and KG's turning in a throwback performance so far in the postseason. I'm guessing the Sixers either take one at home or get the split in Game 2 before losing three straight.

[JBoom_LALALAND]

Celtics in 6. If this series goes beyond 6 ... it's the end of the world in december.

[Spree#8]

This kind of losses hurt the most - when you come so close, but ultimately lose. However, some positives are there for the Sixers after this game.

Like I said, Boston is not that scary on the offensive end when put against a great defense. Clearly, the idea on defense was to let Garnett and Bass shoot from mid-range and guard the paint heavily. Bass couldn't hurt us, Garnett was better unfortunately. Anyway, the Celtics needed a beastly performance by Garnett, a triple-double by Rondo, a completely off night by Jrue and Lou's dumb plays in the clutch to win the game by 1 point in their own building. KG has just played his two best games of the entire season. No way he keeps this up for much longer.

Have I mentioned Elton Brand sucks? Well, if I haven't: he sucks. He must have heard about many people being upset about his performance in games 3-6 against Chicago, particularly on the glass, so this time he decided to step his game up and grab a grand total of 1 rebound in 15 minutes. He's at least supposed to be solid with his mid-range jumper but that's kind of failing as well. Man, just get him out of the rotation. Lavoy Allen is plenty of times better despite earning 36 times less money. Why is it that at least one of the Philly bigmen has to play like a complete retard in any given game? In the first two games against the Bulls, it was Hawes. Then, it's been Brand all the way.

Thad Young was a non-factor against the Bulls and it looks like he's gonna be a non-factor against the Celtics as well. 5 points and 1 rebound in 22 minutes. He got to the line, but he couldn't make free throws. Young and Brand - 77% and 73% FT shooters, respectively - went 3/8 combined from the line yesterday. And then they lose the game by 1.

Iggy, Turner, Hawes and Allen came to play though. Other than guarding Pierce, Iggy's doing his best to carry the team on offense with scoring and creating. That clutch three right in the C's face was huge, unfortunately it ended up not meaning much. ET was very active on both ends and - as usual - on the glass. This kid's showing he really knows how to play and many people put a cross on him way too quickly. When Hawes feels like being somewhat competent at the 5 position, he can. And I loved Lavoy's effort and hustle in game 1 also. Even his mid-range jumpshots were falling nicely. Jrue did a solid job on defense chasing Ray around the screens (just like he did with Rip in the 1st round), his block on Allen was awesome. Too bad he couldn't get anything to go in on offense. And why didn't Doug give Meeks more time? It's a sure thing the Sixers' offense will get stagnant at some point in the game and when it happens, isn't it better to run something for Meeks instead of giving the ball to Lou and letting him shoot a three over his defender with 2 (or 20, no difference to him) seconds on the shot clock?

What I'm worried about is that the Sixers might be a bit down after how game 1 ended. If they just shake it off, they can definitely take game 2. With that and 3 potential home games waiting for them, they could pull off another upset. If they lose game 2, they'd have to win both games 3 and 4 in Philly to have a chance. We'll see how it turns out.

[Spree#8]

I have to say I didn't know Ryan Hollins is such a giant flopper. When Ray pushes Jrue off with his shoulder on the other end, it's nothing though.

edit: by making the two clutch FTs in game 6 against the Bulls, looks like Iggy has hit his limit for decent free throw shooting for this month.

edit2: man, FINALLY! when I was just about sure the Celtics (especially Garnett) are just allowed to set illegal screens all they want. We have the HCA now. still anybody's series.

[NovU]

Perhaps I never gave 76ers enough respect that was due from series 1 as most of us regarded the series win as more of failure on Bulls' part. The sixers not only won today but also came so so close to 2-0 in this series, perhaps more than the Celtics. The Celtics are lucky to split the first two games.

[Andrew]

I'd say that both hold true. The Bulls' injuries were obviously a factor and they made some late game blunders that left the door open for the Sixers to win a couple of games in that series where they had been trailing. However, the Sixers have legitimate talent and shouldn't be taken lightly, clearly matching up well with the Celtics so far. They're not an eighth seed that snuck into the Playoffs, they're a 4-6 seed that dropped due to a late season slump during a close seeding race.

[Spree#8]

There goes the HCA. The game isn't over yet, but a 23-point deficit going into the 4th, complete lack of energy, Celtics making everything and Sixers barely making anything don't make me think they can turn this thing around. Thad has finally woken up, but everyone else has gone to sleep for a change. Game 4 is a must win, otherwise the series is pretty much over. Just have to hope Boston won't have another offensive night like this one.

[Andrew]

Just when you think the Celtics may be running out of steam...

[Spree#8]

Looked quite horrific for the Sixers, but it's still just one game. In the RS the Celtics were the 4th worst offensive team in the NBA (the worst of those still in play) and so far the playoffs haven't shown anything different. It will be difficult for them to play like that again, but that doesn't exactly make things easy for Philly at this point.