Jeff Van Gundy still thinks the Celtics would beat us..

[MVP23]

"Celtics would beat the Hawks in a series"

"Celtics would beat the Magic in a series"

"Nobody is beating Cleveland, so it doesn't matter"

hmmm somebody watches to much Sportscenter.

[wfhawkfan]

:lol6: at orlando running off like 20 pts in a row right after he said that. Boston is about to be swept at home by Orl and Us.

1.Cle

2. Orl

3.Atl

4. Old *ss Celtics

[TheNorthCydeRises]

@ MVP . . . you beat me to this post. I was just about to start a topic about this

@ wfhawksfan . . . EXACTLY . . right after he said that, the Magic started DESTOYING the Celtics. People may hate our ISO basketball at times. But if JJ was 3 - 3 in the 3rd quarter, we're still going to him the rest of the quarter. We're not going to be moving the ball all around just to get other people the ball. After going 0 - 5 in the first half, KG hit 3 shots very early in that quarter, and didn't take another shot the rest of the quarter. That's exactly when the Magic made their run.

Meanwhile in that quarter . . .

Allen was 0 - 4

Rondo was 1 - 3

Pierce was 0 - 2

You see why this team has a ton of turnovers. Even the play Allen made when he was driving to the hole at the 4 minute mark, where he drives to the hole, but throws the ball away trying to hit Pierce out by the 3 point line, is a prime example of why they commit so many turnovers.

Ball movement is great. But if you got guys who are missing left and right, and the guy who has it going isn't getting the ball ( KG . . who at the 3 minute mark, is 5 - 8 FG in the 2nd half ), then your offense is going to struggle regardless.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

2nd half shooting with 1 minute to go:

KG : 5 - 8

Ray Allen: 1 - 7

Pierce: 2 - 5

Rondo: 2 - 5

KG is 5 - 8. . . Allen, Pierce, and Rondo are 5 - 17

LOL . . now you tell me? Who should be getting the dang ball?

[Deeman]

I don't know why he would say that. If somebody beats you 4 times straight in a season, its a good chance that they may be the better team. Thats like me saying I think the Hawks can beat the Magic in a playoff series, even though they have been owning us since last year.

[Admin]

Well until we beat them when it counts he might be right but to say it definitively like it sounds like he said seems silly.

I will say this about Orlando, they freaking scare me! I think it was Hollinger who said that Orlando looks bored at times and that's why they have more losses than they should. I don't know if that's true but he also said that they seemed to know that they could turn it on whenever they needed and if that's the case they might just be able to beat Cleveland in the playoffs even though their record is a good bit worse in the regular season and wouldn't have home court.

[gsuteke]

Dolfan I know you constantly work to improve the site bit I'm telling ya whatever you did this afternoon made hs 10x more blackberry friendly

[DjGrizz]

Gundy being Gundy.....

Dumb

[HawkNJersey]

Doc, thinks something different....

One of the guys said, `We’re better than Orlando,’ and I said, `No, you’re not,”’ Rivers said. “They knocked you out of the playoffs last year. Orlando’s better than us right now. Atlanta’s better than us right now. L.A. (Lakers are) better than us right now.”

[Admin]

Dolfan I know you constantly work to improve the site bit I'm telling ya whatever you did this afternoon made hs 10x more blackberry friendly

Yeah I changed your settings to hide signatures and put you on the lo-fi version of the board which doesn't have any images. I'd suggest anyone use that if they're only using the site via mobile phone.

[EazyRoc]

Yeah I changed your settings to hide signatures and put you on the lo-fi version of the board which doesn't have any images. I'd suggest anyone use that if they're only using the site via mobile phone.

Lo Fi makes the site much more phone friendly. I've got the squawk loading on lo fi by default on my droid.

Back to the topic, Jeff Van Gundy was obviously spewing his opinion based off pure impulse. There was obviously no logic involved. If we get homecourt advantage we may very well sweep Celtics in a playoff series.

[dlpin]

@ MVP . . . you beat me to this post. I was just about to start a topic about this

@ wfhawksfan . . . EXACTLY . . right after he said that, the Magic started DESTOYING the Celtics. People may hate our ISO basketball at times. But if JJ was 3 - 3 in the 3rd quarter, we're still going to him the rest of the quarter. We're not going to be moving the ball all around just to get other people the ball. After going 0 - 5 in the first half, KG hit 3 shots very early in that quarter, and didn't take another shot the rest of the quarter. That's exactly when the Magic made their run.

Meanwhile in that quarter . . .

Allen was 0 - 4

Rondo was 1 - 3

Pierce was 0 - 2

You see why this team has a ton of turnovers. Even the play Allen made when he was driving to the hole at the 4 minute mark, where he drives to the hole, but throws the ball away trying to hit Pierce out by the 3 point line, is a prime example of why they commit so many turnovers.

Ball movement is great. But if you got guys who are missing left and right, and the guy who has it going isn't getting the ball ( KG . . who at the 3 minute mark, is 5 - 8 FG in the 2nd half ), then your offense is going to struggle regardless.

So you use the quarter that the celtics moved the ball the least, with several lazy shots early in the shot clock, to prove a point that ball movement is bad?

The celtics moved the ball very well for 3 quarters, and won those three quarters. The celtics settled for lazy jumpshots early in the shot clock in the third and they lost that quarter badly. If anything, that is evidence of the importance of ball movement.

[FrankWhite]

Well, JVG also dismissed his own brother's team there, too.

[TheNorthCydeRises]

So you use the quarter that the celtics moved the ball the least, with several lazy shots early in the shot clock, to prove a point that ball movement is bad?

The celtics moved the ball very well for 3 quarters, and won those three quarters. The celtics settled for lazy jumpshots early in the shot clock in the third and they lost that quarter badly. If anything, that is evidence of the importance of ball movement.

Nope . . . it's not properly recognizing the hot hand and/or the mismatch, that I'm pointing out. When KG hits 3 shots in 2 1/2 minutes, and he doesn't get another shot in the quarter, something is wrong.

Some of the shots the Celtics missed were wide open shots, despite the fact that they took a few quick shots. I watched that game. It's not like they were missing challenged shots. It's just that they couldn't make wide open shots.

Notice that KG got about 6 or 7 shots in that 4th quarter. That should've been happening in the first place. They went to the guy who could make shots and get them back into the game.

In that 4th quarter, after their bench stabilized things a little, the guy who was making shots and creating for others, were Rondo and KG. Yet, Ray Allen was still jacking up shots ( wide open shots ) even though he was ice cold, and Pierce barely touched the ball in good scoring situations.

Not good basketball. Not smart basketball.

If Vince Carter hits 3 early shots in a row, no way is he going shotless for the rest of the quarter. The Celtics lost that game in the 3rd, simply because the right people weren't shooting the ball, whether it be through ball movement, or through isolation offense. They had full control of that game, and lost it stupidly.

[dlpin]

to me that 3rd quarter is a great example of what drives me nuts about Doc. I think he is a great player's coach. I think he is a great coach for team chemistry and so on. But his management of time outs and substitutions is horrendous.

It took him 8 minutes to make the first sub in the third quarter. It took him 6 minutes to call a time out. And from the moment the game was tied to the moment the celtics were down by 14 he didnt call a single time out. How can anyone be so passive in a 36-11 quarter?

[Diesel]

I don't know why he would say that. If somebody beats you 4 times straight in a season, its a good chance that they may be the better team. Thats like me saying I think the Hawks can beat the Magic in a playoff series, even though they have been owning us since last year.

Van Gundy is a believer in the playoffs. He should be... look at the Knicks-Miami series he presided over.

However, I think we proved 2 years ago that in a playoff series (with Boston at their best and us as a lesser team) that they couldn't beat us at Home. Van Gundy has forgotten the History. Yeah, Boston has had some injuries... yadayadayada... BUT we have confidence and "Larry Bird is not walking through that door". These Celtics are aging right before our collective eyes.

[Plainview1981]

"Celtics would beat the Hawks in a series"

"Celtics would beat the Magic in a series"

"Nobody is beating Cleveland, so it doesn't matter"

hmmm somebody watches to much Sportscenter.

Nobody was going to beat Cleveland last year either. Oh wait.

I'm about "glass is half empty" as it gets, and I can't see Boston easily winning the series. They've got past their prime. yeah, they have injuries, but when players get old it starts being more of a weakness than a real excuse.

Edited February 8, 2010 by Hotlanta1981

[lethalweapon3]

JVG's guilty of poor verb usage. Either that or he still has brain damage from getting mopped around the MSG floor (I miss the old Heat-Knicks series)

The Celts COULD beat the Hawks in a series... and the Magic, too. Sure. But an awful lot of things have to change in Beantown before COULD turns to WOULD.

* They've got to get healthy... starters and MAJOR backups. Under any circumstance, Scalabrine starting a game = FAIL, as far as conference championships go.

* Pizzeria-Uno-Uno/Big Baby or whatever he is now, Sheed, and Shelden have to have a better presence with the boards. They are still last in the league in O-Rebs... and their declining team shooting percentage isn't helping to mask that. They led the league in 3FG% last season, but are now middle-of-the-pack with the same cast+Sheed.

* They've got to do a better job of turning TOs into quick transition buckets... not a problem with Rondo in there, but certainly a challenge when he's not. The halfcourt offense is getting too predictable with this team.

* We worry about Smoove shooting less than 60 percent FTs... how about two starters below 60% (Perkins, Rondo)?

* If they're not ready to Ryde-or-Die with Ray Allen (below 35% 3FG for the first time in his career) in the playoffs this year, they'd better have a plan before the Trade Deadline.

And the defending-champ Magic are the East's team-to-beat come playoff time, not the Celtics or the Cavs, I don't care what their records are.

~lw3

[Admin]

Nobody was going to beat Cleveland last year either. Oh wait.

I'm about "glass is half empty" as it gets, and I can't see Boston easily winning the series. They've got past their prime. yeah, they have injuries, but when players get old it starts being more of a weakness than a real excuse.

Yep you've got a good point there, I know I was confident that Cleveland was going to waltz into the finals but it didn't happen so I'm not going to assume anything this year, especially with how amazing I've seen Orlando play when they really want to.

You, glass half empty? No wayyy ... :snowballfight:

[SneakerKing33]

The Gundy brothers are some morons. SVG sucks and so does Jeff. I prefer Mark Jackson.