Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff
1) If nothing else, the Celtics imminent signing of Stephon Marbury and the signing of Mikki Moore shake up the dynamic.
The way I see, the C’s are a step behind the Lakers and Cavaliers. Last year’s post-season win over Cleveland largely came down to home court advantage, with the Cavs coming much closer to winning at the Garden than Boston did at the mistake by the lake. As for the Lakers, they’ve shown they can beat the Green home and away this year. There’s no reason to believe that will be different come June. The intimidation factor is no longer applicable, since the boys from LA know they can come in here and win.
What Marbury, and to a small extent Moore, do is change the dynamic. If the enigmatic guard comes in and fits in (no guarantee, by the way), then the C’s end up with renewed confidence that they’re new acquisitions are enough to reverse the tide. After losing to the Lakers at home, KG and the rest of the gang paid the proper lip service about still being the champs till someone knocks them off. But a look at their faces on and off the court that night revealed a team that had lost the intangible that comes when one team “owns” another physically. The Lakers stood toe-to-toe with Boston, didn’t flinch, and ultimately punched back more effectively. And this doesn’t even begin to take into account how easily Cleveland has handled the C’s when playing in Ohio.
Hopefully, Marbury and Moore make a difference.
2) I’m still not sure which way this Red Sox season is going to go.
Sure, they’ll be in the hunt, with another World Series not out of the question. Yet, I could just as easily envision them finishing third in the AL East, behind Tampa and New York.
A lot will depend on the health of John Smoltz and Brad Penny. If they’re healthy, especially in October, this team has the best pitching in the league. However, even that might not be enough if Big Papi and Mike Lowell don’t rebound, or barring that, Theo Epstein can’t find a big bat via trade.
The guess here (or perhaps just the hope): Theo finds a team in July that wants to unload a big bat to save a few bucks, and is willing to do so without demanding anything in return other than salary relief. If you can look into your crystal ball and tell me exactly WHO that bat is, I can tell you whether to plan for an October parade or September funeral.
3) Bring on the Madness
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Good luck...see you when the Madness begins!
I think you over rate the regular season loss to the Lakers. After all, it is regular season and it was only one game. If you saw that game, the Celtics were just hanging around all game and came up short at the end. We need to get over this old school Boston approach where regular season is life and death. A regular season loss which could prove meaningless, and which hasn't clinched them the best record in the NBA either. The loss didn't even happen half way thrugh the season.
You can never overestimate the importance of a team getting a monkey off it's back. The Lakers were thought to be physically intimidated by the Celtics....they came into both games this year determined to not back down, and they didn't. Think of it the same way as when the Bulls no longer allowed the Pistons to push them around, and Michael finally broke through. Happens in every sport....think Sox-Yankees, Bruins-Canadiens, etc....Once a team finally beats their tormentor, they no longer fear that opponent and beat them regularly thereafter.
I remember years in the 80's when the Celtics and Lakers used to alternate superiority. Go back and look it up....every time a team swept the regular season matchup, they went on to win the playoff matchup.
Yes, those were regular season games against the Lakers in December and February...but they were played WITH playoff intensity. Now the Lakers not only think they can survive that atmosphere, the know it. That makes them a dangerous opponent.
Don't want to seem negative here, but anyone watching with an objective or unobjective mind knows this Celtics team that is losing games to the Knicks, Clipper and Bobcats is not going to win 7-game series agasint Cleveland or the Lakers.