PG-Kenny Smith 6-3                            PG- Avery Bradley 6-2

     Sam Cassell 6-3                                 Terrence Williams 6-6

SG-Vernon Maxwell 6-4                        SG- Courtney Lee 6-6

      Mario Elie 6-5                                      Jordan Crawford 6-4

SF-Robert Horry 6-9                            SF-Paul Pierce 6-7

                                                              Jeff Green 6-9

PF- Otis Thorpe 6-9                             PF- Brandon Bass 6-8

     Carl Herrera 6-9                                   D.J. White 6-9

C- Hakeem Olajuwan 6-11                   C- Kevin Garnett 6-11

                                                              Chris Wilcox 6-10

Rockets won the championship with an 8 man rotation. Is their team better or deeper than ours?

 

Close call! Cassell was a rookie. Horry was practically a rookie. Maxwell was not better than Courtney Lee IMO. Smith was not better than Bradley to me. Thorpe was not better than Bass.

Pierce of course wins the Horry matchup. Olajuwan wins the Garnett matchup. Mario Elie beats Crawford but I don't know if he's better than T-Will. Herrera was nothing compared to Wilcox. 

Cassell wins the Crawford match up though.

Jeff Green puts us over the top. They have no answer for him.

We STILL have a chance to beat MIAMI!!!! 

 

 

Let's just put it this way, Olajuwon averaged 28.9 ppg in the 1994 playoffs. The Celts don't have a player that comes close to that!

The secret to Houston's success was Olajuwon had to be doubled all the time!

Miami's success against Boston is Lebron can guard Pierce 1 on 1, no help needed.

And don't think about beating the Heat yet because right now the only way the Celts and Heat face each other is if the Celts reach the east finals.

Don't underestimate the Knicks and Pacers. 

Don't underestimate the C's either.  A lot of people did last year as well.  Doesn't matter who had who last year because we had injuries just like some of the other teams.  Who's to say other teams don't have injuries again?  We have what we have and I am ready to roll with them. We are playing the best basketball of the year and I look for us to continue to improve. With the schedule heavy on the road it might not show up in wins and losses but thats not the point.  It only takes one road win in the playoffs and we are more than capable of getting that. The key is winning at home.

In response to OneOnOne's comment:

I'm not comfortable with winning because the other team had an injury to a key player.

The Celts won a championship in 2008 when all their opponents in the playoffs were healthy.

I'm not doubting the Celtics beating NY or Miami. Of course the Celts can beat NY or Miami, but can the Celts do it 4 times and the 4th on the road?

There's a reason why only Celtic fans believe the Celts can beat Miami.

 

 

let me ask you this do you believe the miami heat want to play the celtics?remember dwayne wade said he didnt like to play the celtics that they were a tough out.

In response to bigbostonceltics' comment:

I have no doubt that the Heat will avoid the Celts at all cost. But before the Celts can talk about a Heat vs. Celtics match-up, the Celts need to beat the Pacers first then possibly the Knicks in the semis.

Jeff Green/Pierce tag team should wear Lebron down. Nevermind the Bradley/Lee tag team on Wade!

Look for the refs to give them a HUGE free throw descrepancy in a KEY game! That's all the HELP Miami will need.

In response to DaCeltics' comment:

Remember, right now the Celts won't face the Heat until the east finals. The Celts have to beat NY and Indy first.

The Celts might not even play the Heat if the Celts fail to beat NY and Indy.

We could loose to anybody, but I like to think of us beating anybody.

In response to DaCeltics' comment:

The Celts can beat anybody, true!

But can the Celts beat anybody 4 times and the 4th on the road?

The closer the playoffs get, the better Rondo is starting to look!!  As for the Celtics being better than the Rockets., Hakeem was the best player in the game, when the Rockets were rolling!!  The Celtics don't have anyone close to best player in the game.

The secret to the Celtics, is defense,now that everyone is playing it. 

I think that Jeff Green will play Lebron more, like in the last game against the Heat. An offense that spreads the rock around is also harder to stop than one that depends on one player.

While many of KG's plays involve the "dream shake", KG is a pass first offensive player now.  Other than that, I am not sure that the Rockets and Celtics can be compared easily.

 

In response to DaCeltics' comment:

 

PG-Kenny Smith 6-3                            PG- Avery Bradley 6-2

     Sam Cassell 6-3                                 Terrence Williams 6-6

SG-Vernon Maxwell 6-4                        SG- Courtney Lee 6-6

      Mario Elie 6-5                                      Jordan Crawford 6-4

SF-Robert Horry 6-9                            SF-Paul Pierce 6-7

                                                              Jeff Green 6-9

PF- Otis Thorpe 6-9                             PF- Brandon Bass 6-8

     Carl Herrera 6-9                                   D.J. White 6-9

C- Hakeem Olajuwan 6-11                   C- Kevin Garnett 6-11

                                                              Chris Wilcox 6-10

Rockets won the championship with an 8 man rotation. Is their team better or deeper than ours?

 

Close call! Cassell was a rookie. Horry was practically a rookie. Maxwell was not better than Courtney Lee IMO. Smith was not better than Bradley to me. Thorpe was not better than Bass.

Pierce of course wins the Horry matchup. Olajuwan wins the Garnett matchup. Mario Elie beats Crawford but I don't know if he's better than T-Will. Herrera was nothing compared to Wilcox. 

Cassell wins the Crawford match up though.

Jeff Green puts us over the top. They have no answer for him.

We STILL have a chance to beat MIAMI!!!! 

 

 

 

I agree with most of the comment posts that the big difference that would make Houston better is Olajuwan's dominance in the post. He would need a basher like Perk to guard him until Perk fouled out in the 3rd qtr.

 

You've done some good research here but can you tell us who were the teams in the playoffs & whom did the Rockets beat ? The point, of course, is could that Rocket team beat the Heat, OKC, the Spurs etc ?

Other than Houston having a top 3 player in the game in a 31 year old Hakeem they are similar... wait... hahahahahahahahahahahaha

KG is Otis Thorpe, Pierce Elie and Green like Horry only our 3 guys are all a little better. Thorpe remember was a 14.5/10.5 guy on the '94 Rockets at age 31, his impact stats wise was the same 

So its pretty even.... EXCEPT FOR HAKEEM.... hahahahahaha

We have nothing, NOTHING, in common with the '94 rockets. They had the best player in the game at that time (arguably on both ends on the floor) and a phyisical banger like Otis Thorpe at the 4. They had 2 old school PGs, we have (after Rondo went down) no PG at all.

Hack, we have more in common (that doesn't mean a lot in common) with the '95 rockets. At least they had that year houston had an over the hill Drexler at the 2-3 spot like we have in PP and they played a shooter on the 4 (Horry). But still had Hakeem who destroyed the reigning MVP (or was that the year before) one on one.

And the most important: BB is no socker, it is all about matchups not about the average skill of the team. They had Hakeem in the post and played inside out, we play only only from the outside. They had tons of open looks from outside, we have, well just look at the stats.

 

In response to Gasthoerer's comment:

Good analysis. I argue that Garnett is a better shooter than Olajuwan and could avg 26 ppg in the playoffs if he had a mind to do it. It means getting beat up though and saving himself via zone defense. That would be rough over 7 games.

K.G. can demand a double team for 8 wins on road to a championship. We could probably win the first round without him in the low post so much.

I would also like to do more of Pierce and Green in the low post taking it to the rack or hitting K.G. for a jumper when doubled or a 3 point shooter in the corner.

In response to DaCeltics' comment:

Wasn't the "Glyde" part of that team and played a lot of games averaging about 20 points..or did he get injured? I might be thinking of another year..

C's def much more like the '95 Rockets that had Drexler and no Otis Thorpe. Thorpe was a 14/10 banger in '94 and when they traded him for Drexler the experts new it was an even swap orf talent despite clyde having the bigger name.

Drexler was THREE YEARS younger than PP in the '95 playoffs and put up a 20/7/5... I guess we can expect that from Pierce this playoffs?

Horry and Green matchup well. Horry was a 13/7 who shot 40% from 3 in playoffs, Green needs to be like a 17/5 shooting 40% from 3 for us to make any playoff noise.

Terry = Kenny Smith (11/4), that Jet (Kenny) wasn't even 30 yet though and our Jet is 36.

Lee and Williams would be like Elie and Maxwell for the reg season, then Maxwell was out for the playoffs and replaced by Chucky Brown, together Elie and Bronw gave 13/6/3... Lee and Williams can def give that and more

Avery would be Cassell, not a pure PG, but a bigger guard and AB would have to be our 3rd-4th leading scoring and really come into his own. Cassell was only an 11 and 4 w/ 1 steal, avg defense and 40% from 3... if AB were to score 15-19 a game, dish 5-6 per, terrorize Wade and others on D and get 2-3 steals and a block per... that would go a long way towards evening out the Hakeem advantage.

KG will not have ONE GAME... ONE, where he goes 42 mins and gets 33 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks. Hakeem AVERAGED that for the ENTIRE 1995 playoffs. GOOD LORD.

So yes while the '13 Celtics are NOTHING like the '94 Rockets, they are definitely SOMEWHAT like the '95 Rockets except Hakeem was twice ad dominant as KG can possibly be. The only way to make up for that would be to have both Green and avery play 30-50% better than 3rd and 4th best players Horry and Cassell did on those teams. 

Give me these numbers from our guys in the playoffs:

Pierce - 22 pts-7 rebs-5 ast under 3 TO's per game, 50%/45%/95% shooting

KG - 17-11-5-3ast-2blk-1stl, taking 5+ FT's a game, 65%/85% shooting

Green - 18-6-2-2-2, taking 2-3 3's a game at 40%, FG/FT's at 55/85, a monster dunk each game and intense D... these types of games 4 out of every 5, with a 25 point game 1 out of every 3

Avery - 16-5-5-3st-1blk, ELITE defense and a 20+ game every 3-4 games, not one game where he scores under 8, dishes under 3 or doesn't shutdown/hold to way below typical #'s an opposing guard

Terry or Lee - one of these guys hits three 3's in every playoff game at 40% while playing their role in 16-20 mins perfecttly

Bass - 10/5 in 20 mins, 45%

Wilcox - 8/7 in 20 mins, 60%

THEN we can start talking comparisons to former championship teams

In response to Gasthoerer's comment:

Yes Clyde was on  the 95 team not 93/94 . That old 32 year over the hill Drexler lit up Orlando for 20.5pts/5a and 7rbs in 22 games. Hope Paul can do the same for the Celtics.

Just caught your whole post.

In response to heirplain's comment:

I thought it was a 4 game sweep? They played 22 against Orlando?

Mentioned Drexler's age comapred to Pierce and playoff #'s above... I feel Paul can still bring a 20/7/5 this year though, Drexler aged fast, he was about the same as PP is now by 1995.

I like it Rame. We've got to get Jeff, Bradley,Lee,Williams, Crawford and White to be aggressive offensively EVERY game leading up to the playoffs. I'm not worried about Bass,Terry,Pierce,K.G., or Wilcox.

They know how to score on this team. It's the the young guys that I would be riding hard to play solid D and go after it offensively. Don't be shy. Do what you do best on offense. Don't OVERPASS!

This team would win a championship if it had 1998-2008 Kevin Garnett on it, regardless of PP's age or lack of another rebounding big man. He wasn't quite Hakeem 1991-1995, but over those 10 years KG was 90% as dominant as Hakeem was in his 5 best seasons. But thats what the Rockets had that we don't.

So Kevin is now a shadow of his former self, its not as bad as watching the early 90's Bird/McHale... but it doesn't make you think for one second he has 11-13 games in him where he gets 24+ pts and 13+ boards , which is what we need to get a title. And he'd need to have FOUR of those games vs. the Heat alone... while at the same time PP would likley need FOUR 22-8-5 games. All while the whistles call an even game. Not going to happen. I am 90% sure of it.

And I just don't think our guys have it in them, but sure they will go down fighting, and yes the young guys will have to step it up and carry us to some wins... like CARRY US... like Avery holding Wade to 3-14 and 12 points while scoring 20 (two or three times) and Green dropping 25 on a night LeBron gets his 24-29 while shooting a terrible 8-23. Crawford (and Terry who we forget about) will need to win 1-2 quarters per playoff series by getting white hot, going like 5-8 from the floor, 3-5 on 3's, hitting 2 FT's and dropping 15. Lee will have to play outstanding D every second he is on the floor and make 55% of his wide-open left alone 3's. Williams will have to win quarters by being a beast at both ends who make a J, a dunk, a steal, a block, 2-3 defensive stops and 2-3 great dimes. Wilcox needs to avg 7 boards and have 5-6 playoff games where he gets 11-12.

So many guys will have to come up huge.

In response to rameakap's comment:

Comparing players of different eras is fun but unlikely to yield reliable results. The Dream has always been one of my favorites.  

As far as KG is concerned, last year, the Celtics came within one half of game seven of winning against the Heat. The whole team ran of gas without a bench. Bradley went down, so that he could not guard Wade. and we did not have Green to guard Lebron.

KG plays limited minutes in the reguar season so his regular season game to, but when he plays extended minutes in the play-offs, he still looks pretty good, and puts up good stats. Yes, he can no longer guard ones and twos anymore, and there are even a few threes he has trouble guarding; however he is great against fours and fives. 

For his time, there was no quicker 5 than the Dream. However, I doubt that he would score in the high twenties against KG.  KG is one of the few players ever to really play all five positions, and guard all five positiions. it is also unlikely that the Dream could use his size to out muscle KG. Hakeem was listed at 7'0" and 255 lbs.. KG is 7'1" with greater length, and he now weighs 253 lbs, not 220 like he did as a rookie.

There was no player like the Dream when he played. Shaq and Ewing were traditional centers. KG is not. My view is that the Dream would have a much tougher time againist KG, The Dream was very quick, but KG is also still very quick. While KG is a pass first player and the Drean was the focus of the Rockets offense, KG's abiltiy to draw the Dream out of the paint would open the game for others. 

The Celts defense and wide open offense would have made for an intersteing game between the two teams I am not sure who would win, but I would have enjoyed the game..

That 1994 Rockets team averaged 43.2 rebounds per game, 10th in the league. 

The Celts are averaging 39.93 rebounds per game, just 28th in the league, this season. 

Clearly this year's Celts are nowhere near the level of that 1994 Rockets team because the Celts are not a good rebounding team.

 

KG will not command a double team because when he gets the ball 10 feet from the basket, he ends up shooting it 16 feet away. 

When Olajuwon got the ball 10 feet away from the basket, he usually ends up 1 or 2 feet away from the basket when he's about to shoot it.

 

And there's no way KG will average 20 points per game in the playoffs relying on jump shots.