NBA Playoffs 2011: Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat, Comparing Position by Position
The Miami Heat meet the Boston Celtics in the 2011 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals as the series starts this Sunday at 3:30 pm ET in Miami.
It would be an understatement to say that this is a highly anticipated series. In fact, this is pretty much the Eastern Conference series that David Stern dreamed about night after night, all season long.
For the NBA and its ratings, this series is a godsend—especially if it lives up to all of the hype.
As soon as the Heat game went final, people started tweeting, updating statuses and writing and putting forth their theories on what will happen in this series.
Honestly, there is no way to know what is going to happen until the two teams step foot on the court, but what fun would waiting be? Right?
If we always just waited to see what happens, I would never have been lumped into a group that internet literati so affectionately would call "h8erzzz."
So, in hopes that we continue to argue for the next century about trivial things that don't really affect our lives (but are so much fun to argue about), I'll throw my own analysis into the ring.
I've broken down each team position by position, matched them up with their counterpart and declared a winner. Plus I've thrown in bench and hometown crowd ratings.
PG: Rajon Rondo vs. Mike Bibby
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I don't think I even needed to write this slide. Honestly, would anyone have been upset?
Oh well, I'll go through with it anyway.
Rajon Rondo has everything you would ever want your point guard to have, except for a jump shot.
Rondo can dribble, drive, dribble-drive, move with the ball, without the ball; he can see everything happening on the court all at once and he can flat out defend.
In fact, I think it can be argued that Rondo's lack of a jumper actually gives him an advantage as a point guard, as his defender usually gives him five to eight feet from which he can evaluate the defense and pick it apart.
It's like making the defensive line count to three before they blitz Peyton Manning.
Mike Bibby, on the other hand, may very well be dead.
To be fair, Mario Chalmers plays most of the minutes at point guard for the Heat, but I'm comparing starters at this point, so it's Rondo vs. Weekend at Bibby's.
Advantage: Boston...by a lot.
SG: Ray Allen vs. Dwyane Wade
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This is another one that's not really a debate, but it's nowhere near as much of a blowout as the point guard position was.
Dwyane Wade is a top five player. He can do anything you need him to do. Defend, shoot, drive, lead, anything.
The only question mark I have with Wade, and it's a tiny one, is his health. He has had migraine problems all season and, if they continue to bother him, it may hinder his game just a tad. Even then I would still take Wade over Allen.
Ray Allen, even at age 35, is possibly having one of his best seasons yet. He had his best shooting year in his career from both the three-point line and from the field, plus he is still an above-average defender.
Advantage: Miami, moderate advantage.
SF: Paul Pierce vs. LeBron James
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Watching these two defend each other in the playoffs is one of my favorite basketball pastimes.
The first time these two met in the postseason was back in 2008. Paul Pierce went two for 14, LeBron James went two for 18—hell of a game.
The first four times these two played each other in the postseason, neither of them scored over 21 points. Then they had their first real epic matchup.
LeBron went for 35 points and Pierce went for 29 as Boston won Game 5 in the 2008 playoffs. Then LeBron took over (statistically).
He scored 32 and grabbed 12 boards tying the series at three games apiece, holding Pierce to 16 points in the process. I remember that game vividly, and LeBron was ferocious. Pierce was too, but LeBron was just able to get past him and through him.
LeBron put everything into Game 7, scoring 45 points, but the Pierce and the Celtics took the game on the back of Pierce and his 41 points.
The 2010 series was a travesty that I refuse to rehash. While LeBron did get his stats, he was not LeBron—if you say differently, you did not watch the series. He recorded the worst triple-double in the history of the NBA in the closeout game 6(27-19-10), where the only Cavalier who tried in the final five minutes was Anderson Varejao.
The point I'm trying to make here is that yes, LeBron James is a better basketball player than Paul Pierce, but Pierce is a basketball thug and he plays defense like a basketball thug, which is the way to defend James.
James, a career 46 percent shooter in the playoffs, shoots only 38 percent when Pierce defends him.
Meanwhile, Pierce shoots only 36 percent when James is guarding him.
The thing is, you don't notice when it's happening that either one is missing a lot of shots (save for that first game), which is an indicator of good defense, not bad offense.
These two guarding each other is like World War I—both are butting heads as hard as possible, relishing every inch, and when they do get that inch it seems like a small victory.
Advantage: Miami, but not by as much as you would think.
PF: Kevin Garnett vs. Chris Bosh
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Offensively, Chis Bosh beats Kevin Garnett by a bit in terms of skill and by a bit in terms of what he can do for an offense and to a defense.
Bosh has a longer range than Garnett, and anytime you can lure one of your opponent's big men out of the paint, it's a double victory.
Either Bosh can take the jumper, or he can dish the ball down low to whatever big man may be in (yea, Big Z and Joel Anthony aren't offensive threats, but that first pass can start the ball movement around the horn to an open man) or he can pass it to a driving James or Wade.
Defensively, Garnett beats Bosh by more than a little.
Garnett is in the running for meanest and toughest power forward in the NBA (Zach Randolph is starting to sway me, but I'd still give an edge to Garnett), while Chris Bosh isn't exactly a picture of toughness.
Garnett pushes and shoves, pokes and prods, yells and screams and talks a big game. He is just a big mean man.
Bosh, on the other hand, has learned to be tougher throughout the season, something I must give him credit for, but he is nowhere near Garnett at this point.
Advantage: Boston...slightly.
C: Jermaine O'Neal vs. Zydrunas Ilgauskas
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Can we just play four on four?
Props to Jermaine O'Neal for stepping up his defense in the first round with over two blocks a game, but he still is almost no offensive threat.
Props to Z for still having knees to shoot his pretty jumper.
There is nothing special about this matchup. They are two guys who probably should have retired before the season, but now are playing big roles on teams looking to go on a championship run.
Advantage: Boston...but really, who cares?
Bench: Top Three on Each Side
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Boston's top three bench guys in the first round were Big Baby, Jeff Green and Delonte West—only three other guys played any minutes.
Baby has been decent this postseason, but he needs to do better for his team to be playing him the amount of minutes they have been.
Jeff Green is an absolute trainwreck, shooting 33 percent and 16 percent for three while looking lost at times on defense.
West has been equally bad, shooting just 27 percent, but at least doing some good things on the court defensively.
Miami's top three were Mario Chalmers, James Jones and Joel Anthony.
The Miami bench is much more important to their team than the bench for Boston, as they have three players who play at least 24 minutes, and two of them play more minutes than their starter counterparts.
Chalmers has had a terrible series on offense, shooting 37 percent averaging only 7.4 points per game. On defense he has been pretty good, however.
Jones is their three-point shooter extraordinaire, shooting 42 percent from downtown and averaging 7.6 points, but doing almost nothing on defense.
Anthony has been a great defender, but not much more offensively than Juwan Howard could be.
IR: Shaquillie O'Neal vs. Udonis Haslem
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The official status of both Shaquille O'Neal and Udonis Haslem is "possibly, probably, maybe not, questionably, day-to-day," also known as, "ask me tomorrow."
Shaq has played one game since February 1, a game in April where he played three minutes and hobbled off again. This brings up questions of whether or not his legs will even work if he is healthy enough to come back.
Udonis Haslem, meanwhile, hasn't played a game since November, which brings up questions of how well he will be able to fit into the lineup.
Advantage: Boston...but who knows really?
Conclusion
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I'm sitting here with Rondo way over Bibby, Wade over Allen by a good chunk, James a bit over Pierce, Garnett a bit over Bosh, Miami's bench over Boston's and nobody caring about Zydrunas Ilgauskas or Jermaine O'Neal.
In the end, I think James and Pierce will take care of each other, with each one being the main reason for at least one win each.
Afterward, the whole thing really seems like it will be a team effort throughout, with key players swinging games one way or the other.
So I suppose I'll give you my guess, because really that's what it is—nobody can give you more than a guess. They can call it a prediction, but it's a guess no matter how you try to pretty it up.
I'd take Boston in six games. I'm hoping for seven, but I feel six games.
So go on people, go back to calling me a hater or whatever it is you young'ins like to do these days.
Oh, and if you're interested, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/JDorsey33. I'm just starting up on it, so don't be discouraged by my lack of activity thus far—I'll get the ball rolling shortly.
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