Now in the second round, the Celtics will face an even tougher opponent in the Magic. The Celtics barely survived a seven game series versus the young up and coming Bulls, a series in which they lost the rugged Leon Powe for the playoffs. That right there is a problem for the Celtics, because Dwight Howard was a beast versus the 76ers in round 1, and will only continue to dominate in the paint. Kendrick Perkins and Glenn Davis have nothing on Howard, and will also struggle to attack him offensively.
Without Kevin Garnett in the Boston lineup, the Celtics’ defensive weakness was exposed by the Bulls. That whole series came down to which team could play a solid stretch of defense. In this upcoming series, that will be the focus once again.
The Magic showed that they could play defense in the first round, but only for a few games, and showed that they couldn’t contain an offensively weak Philadelphia team. Orlando really doesn’t have that swagger, which says we can plan hard and compete. The make-up of the team doesn’t look as if they want to win. The only players that can set the tone is Dwight Howard, and he plays hard each and every single night. If only the rest of his team mates could play like him, the Magic can easily win this series. Too bad the Magic have players that take nights off, in Rashard Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu. These two have to be the most over-rated players in the Association today. They score when they feel they can score, and if they are off one night, they will continue to take stupid shots. Defensively, they are two of the worst defenders, and neither of them could stop Paul Pierce or Ray Allen.
For the Celtics, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce will be the deciding factors in this series. No one on the Magic can guard them, and in turn, the Magic don’t have a solid swing man that can drive the ball to the basket. Rajon Rondo easily wins in the point guard position, because after the Magic lost Jameer Nelson to a season ending shoulder injury, they lost the one player that runs the offense and the only player that consistently drove to the bucket. His replacement Rafer Alston is good, but Rondo has shown more to his game and that driving ability, something Alston rarely does.
Both these teams will get their shots off, and just like round one, each game will be close and will pretty much come down to which ever team has the last possession. In the end, the Celtics have that winning mentality, and don’t give up on any games. Even the games the Celtics lost, they could’ve easily won, and they even showed they could blow out teams. The Celtics have that swagger that the Orlando players don’t have, show, or play with. This will be a tight series, and the Magic are probably the favourites heading into this series, but will lose out to Boston.
SERIES PREDICTION --> THE BOSTON CELTICS WILL WIN THIS SERIES IN 7 GAMES, AND BARELY EDGE OUT THE MAGIC. PAUL PIERCE NEEDS TO CONTINUE HIS STRONG PLAY, AND RAY ALLEN NEEDS TO BE MORE CONSISTENT IN HIS SCORING.
*THE ORLANDO MAGIC CAN WIN THIS SERIES IF THEY WIN TWO GAMES IN BOSTON, AND PLAYERS OTHER THAN DWIGHT HOWARD REALLY STEP UP.
The opinions and thoughts expressed in this or any other article written by 12nadnuk are of his thinking and what he thinks is correct or close to it in the sporting world. If there are any problems by anyone, 12nadnuk is open for rebuttal and what not, and honest criticism. There is also a comments section, so feel free to post what is on your mind about the article. Thank you for reading.
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