The Celts or Cavs will come out of the East. The Cavs have had a dearth of injuries/missing players and just added 4 rotation players for 2 outgoing and yet are 3 games out of the 3rd seed. They wil get the 3rd seed and then knock off Detroit (assuming Det doesn't have a mini-collapse and give the Cavs a chance to catch them). If you watched Cavs-Detroit last year I don't know why you think come playoff time the Pistons will be better. The Cavs will bring in the best defensive and rebounding team in the East come playoff time (getting healthy and mixing new guys) and they have Lebron. That is good enough to take out any East team except perhaps Boston. Though I might pick them to beat Boston too--I'll see how both are playing that last 6 weeks--far more important that what they did before the all-star break.
I haven't seen that many Celtics games, but their fastbreak offense sucks. Do they not practice it? Last year our fast break offense sucked which led me to believe that our coaching staff did not emphasize it last year. Is it a coincidence that Tom Thibodeaux is the Celt's asst. coach?
Couple things I can think of... 1) they have been so far superior in their half court offense and defense than most opponents I can seen them not wanting to run 2) their PGs are not conducive (Rondo is young. House is no push the ball and distribute typer) 3) their wings are a little old. It would not be a concern if I were them, half court execution is increasinly important relative to running in the playoffs.
wheres the depth of new orleans ? they dont seem to be having too much trouble being "on par" with the rest of the west. boston will be just fine. if anyone is overrated in the east, its the pistons IMO. i think the cavs and celtics could take them out in a series. they just seem to think they are too good, that nobody can beat them, and they just start coasting. hell i bet even the magic could knock them out if they keep that up again in the playoffs this year.
