Comments on: 2010 Eastern Conference Finals Preview: Orlando vs. Boston http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965 NBA & ABA Basketball Statistics & History Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:56:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6 By: Jason J http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17321 Mon, 17 May 2010 15:33:02 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17321 Neil, do you think more weight should be given to a team's playoff performance than regular performance (on a per game basis anyway), because the playoffs basically guarantee a tougher strength of schedule?

This Celtics team is sort of reminding me of the 2001 Lakers. They aren't as dominant obviously as a regular season squad or a playoff squad, but at this point it seems clear that they were hampered by injuries and then holding back to get healthy in the second half of the reg season. So, like the Lakers, I think when we talk about upsets and such regarding this team, we need to look more to their playoff performances than to their regular season performances.

]]> By: AYC http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17320 Mon, 17 May 2010 15:28:42 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17320 What did Tony Allen do to ESPN? That ridiculous one-handed alley-oop didn't make the top 10, didn't even make the game recap

]]> By: Neil Paine http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17310 Mon, 17 May 2010 03:04:12 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17310 That is true, and the complaint then was that they couldn't win a road playoff game. But what was different was that the regular-season version was one of the most dominant teams of all time, so they had proven for at least 82 games what they were capable of. This year's team has proven it for maybe 40 games, including this afternoon's.

]]> By: AYC http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17307 Mon, 17 May 2010 01:59:11 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17307 Even the 08 team was like this; remember how bad they looked against the Hawks in the first round? This team is potentially better, because Rondo is so much better (and Perk and Davis)

]]> By: Neil Paine http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17305 Mon, 17 May 2010 00:17:58 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17305 Who knows with these Celtics anymore... I've seen them dominate teams they weren't even supposed to beat, lose to teams they were supposed to dominate, and blow 20-point leads against every type of team. Nothing would surprise me at this point.

]]> By: AYC http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17303 Sun, 16 May 2010 23:14:34 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17303 Is anybody surprised?

]]> By: Johnny Twisto http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17288 Sun, 16 May 2010 07:24:20 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17288 You'll come back just in case they don't, too, right?

]]> By: Phillip http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17276 Sat, 15 May 2010 17:14:47 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17276 "I have the Celts going all the way now..."
"I think [the Magic are] the odds-on favorites to win the championship right now."

Bookmarked! I'm going to enjoy returning here to scrape up these quotes after the Lakers win their repeat championship in June. That said, the Orlando-Celtics series should be entertaining. You should write a post about Vince Carter's playoff performances.

Cheers!

]]> By: Jason J http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17259 Fri, 14 May 2010 21:05:35 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17259 Boston is a different team when Garnett plays this well. It's a little like the '95 Rockets where Clyde suddenly turned back into Clyde and they destroyed expectations.

]]> By: DSMok1 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965&cpage=1#comment-17255 Fri, 14 May 2010 20:07:21 +0000 http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=5965#comment-17255 Statistical Plus/Minus + Weighted minutes played projection:

ORL vs BOS
4 to 0 14.8%
4 to 1 28.0%
4 to 2 18.0%
4 to 3 19.2%
3 to 4 6.7%
2 to 4 8.5%
1 to 4 3.2%
0 to 4 1.6%

Margin
9.55 5.24
ORL BOS
80.0% 20.0%

Orlando in 5 is the estimate here. Orlando looks to be the best team in the league right now, by a 1.5 pt. margin.

BTW: even after the fact, the Boston demolition of Cleveland looks like it was pretty unlikely.

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