The official Heat-Celtics Eastern Conference semifinal thread

[Kontradiction]

The announcers kept harping on the fact that the C's settled for jumpshots. That's b/c when they went to the hoop, they were getting hacked by a Heat player without a foul being called.

You sell the Heat's defense and Doc's coaching short with statements like this. Doc doesn't seem like the kind of coach that would hurt his team's perimeter shooting (especially with Ray Allen firing) by instructing his guys to NOT take it to the hole when they saw a chance to do so.

 

[ausbacker]

I'll admit up front that the officiating was slanted toward Miami in this game. But those are the home cooking calls that basketball fans should come to expect. Boston got it in Games 3 and 4.

1. The Heat will naturally get more foul calls than the Celtics because they were driving to the hole that much more tonight.

2. Unless players like Kristic or O'Neal have their feet set, it's going to be a foul call on the Celtics every single time. If not it will be a charge.

3. Boston got away with A LOT of hacks tonight. One instance that comes to mind is when Wade went strong to the hole against three defenders and was hacked by all three of them (the worst by Kristic).

4. The refs alone didn't cost you the series. So stop pretending like they did. Injuries and bad personnel decisions in the latter part of the season, along with age had a much bigger part in costing the Celtics the series.

I'd generally agree with you Kontra if the same decisions went the same way. I cannot support you in this instance. Granted the officiating was of a poor overall standard (again in the NBA playoffs) but the same play for the Heat was a foul whereas down the stretch tonight it was a no call against the Celtics. I'm sure you can appreciate the blatant favoritism and general sentiment that accompanies something as such.

The rest I agree with and have made mention of. If Dallas wins through to the finals, they are going to be incredibly difficult for you to beat.

Good luck nonetheless.

 

[Kontradiction]

I agree with you in that the officiating was so completely one sided that I thought I was watching game 7 of the NBA Finals last year save for Miami replacing LA.

All of that aside, the Celtics simply aren't good enough to compete with a younger, athletic and championship caliber team when it mattered (even in spite of the officiating).

It's time for a reconstruction of the Celtics. Like LA this team needs to be overhauled and rebuilt. Ainge has the bollocks for it but will he do it knowing that the Knicks will get better, the Bulls are a solid outfit, the Heat are a center away from being totally dominant, the Thunder and Grizzlies are on the rise etc and the elderly teams are fading away.

I take my hat off to the Celtics for fighting through to the last whistle but it's time.

Congrats Kontra.

Thanks for the congrats, man. But this isn't it for the Heat, hopefully. There's still a tough series to be played after this, most likely against the Bulls. After that, if the Heat get that far, they'll most likely be playing the Mavs or the Thunder, both of whom present match-up problems for the Heat.

As for the Celts, I don't think they should completely blow it up. For instance, IMO, they can trade Garnett and Allen for Kevin Love and reload pieces of their bench and still be contenders in the East next season. I fully expect the Celts to make some moves in the offseason. They're not done yet.

I read nothing out of the Celtics ability to play in the 4th quarter from tonite. They couldn't buy a call, so they couldn't bother going to the hoop. Pierce accrued a bunch of BS calls which took him out of the game. It really just wasn't a fair fight.

Congrats to Kontra, but I wouldn't be shocked to see the Bulls put up a fight. After controlling the game for the 3rd straight game, I am less impressed with this Heat team than I was a week ago. But then again, the Bulls have not done much to impress in their playoffs thus far.

The Bulls will put up more than a fight. I think that series will go to seven. But I really can't see either of the two teams left in the East winning a seven game series with the Heat to be honest. They're playing too good of basketball right now. In the West, Dallas looks like a monster team and this could be their year. Chandler put them over the top and Dirk is on another level while Barrea is a breath of fresh air off the bench. OKC has the guy that the Celtics traded away (a match-up issue for the Heat), Durant, and a very capable PG that can take over a game, if needed (see Game 4 vs. the Grizz).

 

[Kontradiction]

Anyway, good series C's fans. Hopefully you guys make some moves in the offseason. This rivalry is too good (and too fun) to go by the wayside due to age. Make a move for Kevin Love and come back to us next year.

 

[BradyManny]

Kontra -

I would normally agree with you about the refs. The Heat normally earn their calls by taking it strong to the hoop.

Last night, the Celtics did take it to the hoop and create contact. They got no calls. The Celtics played their best defense of the series on the other end, and were called for phantom calls consistently.

Again, I would normally agree with you. But last night's game was an unmitigated disaster from a fairness standpoint.

Ultimately, I agree officiating did not cost us the series. Not at all - inevitably, we would've lost the series anyway. Whether last nite or Friday or Monday.

It might have cost the Celts last night's game - but the lack of a consistent interior presence for 48 minutes cost us the series and our season. It was interesting to see Krstic defend the pick and roll better than any of our other bigs, and to see what an effect that had. That truly came out of nowhere. Maybe it was just fresh legs. He was brutal defensively prior to last nite's game, but he has a size that we needed off the bench, which was a plus. Big Baby at the 5 cost us this series.

Perk was a beast at defending the pick and roll and stopping penetration in the middle. I'll never get over that inexplicable trade.

 

[PatsFanAz]

suck my azz Ainge .... friggin dope.

I agree with you 100% i put alot of this on Ainge,bad trade after bad trade.My first thought after this series ended was Danny Ainge needs go.Doc said he wants to come back for another season to make another run at a title really Doc? Celtics will be a another year older 8 players under contract for next year no cap room good luck with that Doc!!!.

 

[chicowalker]

I agree with you 100% i put alot of this on Ainge,bad trade after bad trade.My first thought after this series ended was Danny Ainge needs go.Doc said he wants to come back for another season to make another run at a title really Doc? Celtics will be a another year older 8 players under contract for next year no cap room good luck with that Doc!!!.

Bad trade after bad trade? wht were all these bad moves?

Ainge is also the guy who put this team together in the first place.

 

[BradyManny]

Bad trade after bad trade? wht were all these bad moves?

Ainge is also the guy who put this team together in the first place.

Not all of Ainge's moves are gold. Most of his trades - the original Antoine trade, the Ricky Davis trade, the Gary Payton trade, the Sczerbiak trade, etc. had really no impact one way or the other.

The trade for Telfair was atrocious. And now, in hindsight, the Perk trade was absolutely abysmal, as both Jeff Green and Nenad Krstic were rather worthless in the postseason for us, and certainly, Perk would have had more value.

It's to Danny's credit that he had the chips to make the KG deal happen. But, he has made some poor player evaluations throughout the course of his time here. I think his evaluation of Green was one of the more costly decisions.