NBA Eastern Conference Finals Preview: Celtics vs. Heat
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // May 27, 2012 // Feature, NBA, News // No comments
Eastern Conference Finals Preview
Match-Up: Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics
Breakdown: The Miami Heat has played 11 games in the post-season. The Boston Celtics have played 13. Those two games can and probably will make all of the difference in the world in this finals series.
Boston has been the veteran gladiators knocking off each of their foes with the kind of unrelenting desire that can drain a team both mentally and physically.
They have all of the pieces in place to take this series from the Heat but they are beat-up. They toyed with the Heat during the regular season but now in the post, their recent battles have taken too much from them.
Rajon Rondo had to put the entire team on his back for the last three minutes of Game 7 of the semis to squeak them into the conference finals.
This is not a diatribe against the Celtics. The trio of Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett is a group of living legends.
It’s just not very likely that after all that they have been through that they have another legendary performance left in them.
All of the LeBron James jokes on the internet will not change the fact that we saw him emerge as a true leader during the Heat’s series against the Pacers.
In lifting Dwyane Wade out of his funk, he was unselfish, unrelenting and to the Pacers unkind.
His numbers were remarkable but his character was even more so.
That makes him much more dangerous than he has ever been. Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem and maybe even a potentially returning Chris Bosh know how to strike up the band.
This post-season has been very telling for both of these teams and this series will be competitive but it will not be dramatic.
For the third year in a row the East will be decided by these two franchises. That in itself, for each group is to be celebrated. But…
Prediction: Heat in a triumphant five.
