I have a couple of spots to disagree with, as you're probably aware.
1. I don't think that the Celtics are the fundamentally better team, as in more talented. The talent level goes to the Heat. But the Celtics, much like the Pats, are the more blue collar, hard working team of the two. Out of every team in the league, the Celtics are just a match-up problem with the Heat. Nobody on Miami's roster can clamp down on Rondo offensively as we saw yesterday with his ability to cut to the hoop. Bosh simply cannot sh!t on Garnett like he did Gasol on Christmas. Garnett is simply too strong and too physical for Bosh to have his way with him (in spite of Bosh's strong effort yesterday). Down low, both Shaq and Perkins are bad match-ups for the ultra-soft Ilgauskas. Speaking of the last match-up, if the Heat want to take more advantage of Shaq and Perkins, they should let Ilgauskas take more outside shots. He's generally a good shooter and if he can sink some of those shots, it could loosen up the Celtics interior defense and prevent them from clogging the paint, which will help Wade out.
I agree with all of the above, no arguments here. EXCEPT, maybe I would not concede the Heat are more talented. The Heat have the best group of 3 players, but the Celts have a true Big 4 - and their role players are, as of now, just better. If the Heat had the supporting cast that Boston had they'd be more dangerous. Heck, if the Heat had a guy like Perk, I think they'd be favorites in the East over Boston.
As for Ilgauskas - the C's defense at times can look like a zone. Back in the 09 playoffs, Rondo was getting reamed by fans for not defending his man on the ball. Apparently these fans were not watching the Celtics during this entire stretch here, b/c if they were, they'd see that Rondo routinely stays out of the paint on defense, letting KG or Perk or one of the bigs disrupt the penetration and own the paint. The only difference was that season we didn't have KG in there to wreak havoc. But the bottom line is, it frees up Rondo to quickly cover the perimeter and to take chances both with his defender on the ball and in the passing lanes. With his speed, he can cover a lot of ground.
So drawing the C's bigs out of the paint makes a lot of sense - but in reality, we haven't seen teams pull it off - can't say I really know why. It might just be because the C's have the speed on the perimeter (Rondo) and on the inside (KG) to adjust. KG is truly the key here. With his combination of length and speed, he allows the Celts to play the kind of D they do.
2. We've disagreed a few times on LeBron. In all, I'm more of a Wade fan than a LeBron fan. But I don't think that "so much of his game" relies on the officiating and his size. He's obviously got talent and natural ability or he wouldn't be one of the better players in the game today. He has the ability to drive on you, get offensive rebounds, and be a nightmare on the perimeter as well as in the paint. On top of all of that, his jump shot has improved immensely this year. With that said, though, I'm not going to deny that he gets the benefit of the doubt with the officials. All of the better players in the game have gotten that. Jordan could literally punch someone in the face and have gotten away with it. Same with Shaq in his prime. Magic, Bird, the list goes on. As for starting your team with him, the Heat didn't do that. They started the team with DWade.
Don't get me wrong - I hold nothing against Lebron for taking advantage of his absurd size and the current state of NBA officiating. He is merely taking advantage of his best asset: his size.
But in terms of pure skill, I couldn't ever compare him to the all-time greats. The reality is that for someone with the unique combination of athletic ability and size that is really at a level we have never witnessed before, Lebron is - at this point - a disappointment as a basketball player.
And I would also agree the team does start with DWade.
3. If the Heat want to beat the Celtics in their last match-up of the season and in the playoffs, it's really simple what needs to happen: Wade needs to play better. The Heat need to find a way to utilize one on one match-ups a bit better (I expanded on one of them in my first point) in order to loosen up that phenomenal Boston interior defense. Wade getting to the basket more is absolutely the key of what needs to happen to swing this match-up. If he shows up against Boston in the playoffs (I generally believe that the two teams will meet) like he has so far this season and is only able to contribute 15-16 points per game, the Heat won't be seeing a championship this year.
As I said, though, great game yesterday. The Celtics are in the Heat's heads and that's not going to change unless the Heat win. That said, our two teams have the best defenses in the Eastern Conference and are both top five in the NBA. The Celtics will get healthy and hopefully the Heat will remain that way. With their two defenses, a Eastern Conference Championship series will be riveting television for any basketball fan.
I hope so - the Magic have grown to bore the hell out of me not just as a Celtics fan, but an NBA fan.
Like I said, I don't think the Celtics regular season triumphs will necessarily translate to postseason. The Heat - in general - are headed in the right direction. I think getting guys like Miller back are huge, I don't know about Haslem's status, but that could be important. I'd be shocked & disappointed if it doesn't end up Miami-Boston in the ECF.
