Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks were able to squeeze themselves into a playoff spot within the last week and a half.
They have managed to finish the season under .500 and still clinch the eighth seed, which means they will have to face the No. 1 seed in Boston.
It may not be fair for people to write off the Hawks against the rejuvenated Celtics, but that just may be the case. The Hawks are 0-3 against the Celtics this season and in those games, Atlanta had nothing for the C’s. In all three games against Boston, Atlanta lost by 10 or more points.
Paul Pierce scored 22.3 points per game against Atlanta in his matchup against Hawks forward Marvin Williams. Williams isn’t the right defender for Pierce for obvious reasons.
Pierce’s strength and ability to drive the ball to the basket is too much for Williams and Doc Rivers knows that.
Because of the mismatch, Rivers runs plays that involve Pierce going straight to the basket and with Pierce being a good ball handler, he has no problem setting up the play and trusting himself to do the right things.
This is Rivers’ fourth appearance in the playoffs as a head coach with little success. All four appearances resulted in a first round, but if there is a year to change all of that, it’s now.
He has a hungry team in All-Stars Kevin Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen. These three were the best on their respective teams, but once they got together in Boston, they’ve done nothing but show their strength as a unit.
The three players have brought a boost of confidence to the rest of the team by leading them to the best record in the NBA. We all see they are comfortable playing with each other.
There may be a lot of star power on this team, but they don’t let that affect how they play, unlike some other teams would allow (cough-Denver-cough).
Atlanta is eager to knock Boston out of their place, but the numbers just don’t convince enough people to choose them over the C’s. This is a team that doesn’t possess a lot of playoff experience and even if they did, would it be enough to upset Boston?
Mike Woodson has yet to accomplish anything as an NBA head coach, but he’s only been coaching for four seasons.
No disrespect, but it’s obvious that Atlanta doesn’t have enough weapons to overcome the powerful C’s.
Detroit Pistons vs. Philadelphia 76ers
If an upset were to occur in the playoffs, this would be the logical pick.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Detroit Pistons articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
0 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete