NBA Playoff Schedule 2012: Boston Celtics and Teams That Are Doomed

At first glance, it might seem a bit presumptuous to count any team out of the NBA playoffs after one weekend. After all, one game can't possibly define a series that has to go at least four...

Right?

Try telling that to these three teams, all of whom had better get their respective acts together in a hurry before the 2012 postseason becomes a thing of the past.

Boston Celtics

To say that the Celtics didn't look good against the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 would be something of an understatement. The C's looked old, disinterested and entitled against an athletic Atlanta team that made old fogies Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce look even more decrepit than usual.

Boston showed some fight down the stretch, though. A little too much, actually, as Rajon Rondo got tossed in the fourth quarter on a pair of technical fouls after bumping the official.

Whether it was intentional or not won't likely help Rondo in his case to return in time for Game 2 on Tuesday. The C's are starved for depth as it is with Ray Allen's ankle still giving him trouble and can ill-afford to lose any more healthy bodies.

Not that they'll have any choice now. A 2-0 deficit wouldn't be insurmountable, per se, though Doc River's squad will be hard-pressed to come back if they're coming apart at the seams already.

New York Knicks

I know it looks bad, the Knicks' 33-point Game 1 loss to the Heat, I mean.

But...

Aw, who am I kidding? New York played poorly against Miami during the regular season and wouldn't appear to have things under any better control now. The Knicks would appear to be the deeper, more talented team all around on paper.

Unfortunately for Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and company, the NBA doesn't play its games the same way that college kids play Dungeons and Dragons. The ball don't lie, and so far, it's saying that the Knicks can't score against Miami's smothering defense and are equally helpless to slow down LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

That's not to say that a sweep is necessarily in store, but rather that fans at Madison Square Garden had better enjoy the two playoff games they're guaranteed to see this year.

Because they aren't likely to see any more than that. 

Denver Nuggets

There are very few teams in the NBA today that can handle the size and skill that the Los Angeles Lakers have in their frontcourt.

The Denver Nuggets clearly aren't one of them.

George Karl's club, which led the league in scoring and ranked second in field-goal percentage during the regular season, struggled to muster much of anything against the towering tandem of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, the latter of whom tied a playoff record with 10 blocks.

All told, the Nuggets scored more than 14 points fewer and shot more than 12 percentage points worse than their season averages, all the while watching as everyone from Kobe Bryant to Devin Ebanks torched the nets at the Staples Center.

Denver's only shot to win this series was to push the pace against the "Slowtime" Lakers, but even that proved to be too much of a chore for a team that's been burning up floor boards for months.

Of course, this could all change in a heartbeat. Perhaps the Lakers will get careless with the ball, as they're prone to do at times. Perhaps the Nuggets will force the issue a bit more with a pressing style of defense or on secondary breaks after made baskets.

Whatever it is, they'd better do it quick; there's only so much of Bynum and Gasol that Kenneth Faried and the rest of Denver's rather goofy front line will be able to handle before the series gets completely out of hand.

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