Everything was going good for Boston. They had Kevin Garnett still and they were heading into the playoffs and looks to easily beat the Bulls in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. But then...Then what? Disaster struck. Doc Rivers announced Thursday that Kevin Garnett is "out." And right he was. But how will Boston respond. Could Derrick Rose and the Bulls actually beat Boston? Questions had to be answered. But I got it right for you. It won't be bad, it will be worse. Another way to say it is this one word: "horrible." It not just effect the D, or defense, but it will effect more. But not really. The offense actually has done better in scoring and other things. Is it bad or horrible? Bad: And here is why: The Celtics have a winning percentage of .772 with Garnett in the line-up. But with the 25 games he has missed this year, it went down to .720. Oh so sad. It wasn't so bad, though. But it did have an effect, big time. Also, with Garnett in the line-up, the Celtics beat their opponents by an average of nine points every game. But then without Garnett in the line-up, he Celtics beat their opponents by an average up to four points every game. So as you see, it's the defense that is the problem. And, of course, the 2007-2008 Defensive Player of the Year and anchor of the best defense in the league will truly be missed. The Celtics did finish this year with the second-best defensive rating, trailing behind the Orlando Magic. Then, according to ESPN, the Celtics with Garnett allowed 100.8 points per 100 possessions. That was better than Magic's 103. But then with Garnett out, it went to 109.6! Flew up big. According to another source, it shows that the Celtics missed his defense in pretty much every area. And here is the proof: Opponents shot better on regular shots, three-pointers, made more rebounds, and less turnovers. But biggest hole in the defense, surprisingly, was forcing turnovers which isn't entirely Garnett's thing. The Celtics have went up and down in that category. With Garnett in, they forced almost 15 percent of their turnovers on possessions with him, which was in the top five in the NBA. Then without Garnett, they forced 12 percent of their turnovers with him, which was worst five in the NBA. But besides defense, Boston has been way better on offense with Garnett's absence. With him, they have made 111 points per game. Without him, they have went up to 115 points per game. With the "Big Three" out of order, Paul Pierce has become the star of the team. He has used almost 28 percent of the team's possessions, right next to Garnett's 24 percent. Despite taking more of the load like Danny Granger does with the Pacers, his average points scored that is close to 19 went up to 24! Rajon Rando has done the same thing, but not more of the load. He is scoring more than helping his teammates do with his efficient passing skills. His usage of scoring has gone up slightly. His scoring percentage has gone from 53 percent and up to 57 percent. But without Garnett, Boston can still attack the Bulls. They haven't done so well in their defense, being ranked 18th in the defensive rating category. The Bulls also have been worse in the defensive rebounding, ranking 28th in the league in that category. But without Garnett, their defensive rebounding has been pretty amazing, ranking in the top five. "Big Baby" Davis and Kendrick Perkins have been averaging more than five defensive rebounds per game. But the Bulls can bother the Celtics, too. Kirk Hinrich has been bothering Ray Allen defensively in the past, according to some sources and I have seen myself. Putting Hinrich on the court could effect the game of Ben Gordon and Derrick Rose. And Rando can attack the Bulls on defense as the Bulls back-court defense has been poor against the point guards, especially ones like the mule-headed Rando. But now with John Salmons and Brad Miller, they could bring pain to the Celtics' defense. But probably without Garnett, Boston's defense is, truthfully, better than the Bulls. If the Celtics pass the Bulls and they could get Garnett back, let's see if they can get past the Cavaliers and Magic for another NBA title. Here's an expert from ESPN's Stephen Oh on the game with Garnett out: TOUGHER BATTLE Without Kevin Garnett, AccuScore's simulations show that the C's won't have nearly as easy a time of dispatching the Bulls. Celtics No KG With KG Diff. (pct. pts.) Win Series 79% 93% -14 Win in 4 Gms 13% 27% -14 Win in 5 Gms 28% 38% -10 Win in 6 Gms 17% 16% 1 Win in 7 Gms 21% 13% 8 --Stephen Oh So what can happen if Garnett's out? Fans, what do you think. Let your voice be heard!
We can take Orlando without KG. I doubt we would have a chance against Cleveland, but we could easily win all of our home games in a series against the Magic.
I agree, Orlando is definitely beatable. But let's not get ahead of ourselves! Please Celtics, beat the Bulls already! Ray Allen needs to find his touch! Cleveland... hmmmmmm... well. If the Celtics play great and as a team, beating Cleveland is not an impossible task. I'm more afraid of Cleveland than the Lakers. If Celtics get past Cleveland, it would almost be a sure championship.
I have a feeling Boston is gonna come out strong right out of the gates tonight. This is gonna get heated, it'll either be a blowout over the Bulls or another tightly contested game.
