Paul Pierce is a top ten scorer in the playoffs in the history of the NBA. It'll take much more than just Pierce for the Celtics to defeat the Pacers today or in the series as a whole. Pierce averaged 27.1 ppg in last years playoffs, but he had great contributions from Antoine Walker, Walter McCarty, and Tony Delk to help him out. This year, the nine new guys speckle the roster, only one of whom (Chucky Atkins) plays a major role and has playoff experience. The Celtics will be relying on Pierce, Atkins, McCarty, and Mark Blount to provide a calming influence as the rest of the roster adjusts to the playoff atmosphere. Among the rest of the Celtics, Ricky Davis has been playing like he always should have been and has been shooting over 50% in his last seven games. These Pacers are pretty much the same bunch as last season's crew that lost to the Celtics in six games in the first round. Gone are Brad Miller and awful coach Isiah Thomas. Rick Carslile is a welcomed addition to the Pacer bench. While Carslile is a superior coach to Thomas, let us not forget that the last time the Celtics and Carslile's team met in the playoffs, it was our boys in green who reigned supreme. However, this is a different team. The Pacers can defend with Ron Artest, arguably the league's best defender, and many big men behind him including all-star Jermaine O'Neal, super sixth-man Al Harrington, and Jeff Foster. What will be interesting to see is how the Pacers react to the playoffs under Rick Carslile as well as how the new Celtics react to the playoffs as a whole. If the Pacers issue is disappearing (as Jermaine O'Neal has been accused of), then the Celtics should not be counted out of this series against a superior team. However, if the Pacers issue was Isiah Thomas' odd substitutions, then the Celtics could be in for a long four games. The key to this series could well be Chris Mihm's ability to play and stay out of foul trouble so that he and Blount can stick with the Pacers many big men.
