Boston Celtics vs. Miami Heat: Eastern Conference Finals between two legacies all set to begin on Monday
The Eastern Conference Finals will the 2nd seeded Miami Heat take on the 4th seeded Boston Celtics in the best possible matchup for the conference. These teams met in the conference semi finals last year with
Miami winning 4-1.
However in the regular season series this year, Boston have held the edge 3-1 with the last one being played with most of the regular starters taking rest.
Miami have gotten to this point by defeating the New York Knicks in five games in the first round and then coming out winners in an intensely physical 6 games series against the Indiana Pacers in second round. On the other hand,
Boston played 6 games against Atlanta in the first round and had a seven game series against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.
One thing that can be expected from both teams is that they will be out there competing for everything they have got till the final whistle. The interesting matchup would be to see how a Chris Bosh less Miami team responds to the
challenge of guarding Kevin Garnett down in the post who has been the forefront in Boston`s playoff run so far.
The likes of Joel Anthony and Udonis Haslem will have their work cut out for them as they are undersized against Garnett. Another thing in this task that would be interesting to see is how much time Erik Spoelstra is going to ask
LeBron James to take this responsibility for.
There is no doubt that James is one of the best defenders in the league, however with the Heat lacking the offensive productivity, will James be taking up the scoring or get deemed with the responsibility of handling Garnett down
in the post, at least for the opening few games, till Chris Bosh makes a return.
James who has played 18 games against the Celtics in the playoffs in his career knows the Boston team too well and is hoping to continue this rivalry.
"I wouldn't have it no other way, personally," James said. "It's really the only team I'm accustomed to playing in the playoffs. No matter where I go, I find a way to play Boston. ... We've got a lot of history."
From a Boston point of view, they would have their best chance at running their offence through Rajon Rondo who at the moment is probably one of the best point guards in the league and has been very consistent with his play in
the regular season. He was also very instrumental in the decider game against the Sixers, posting a triple double.
This Boston team will also need Ray Allen to continue to knock down big shots the same way he did in the fourth quarter of game-7 against the Sixers. Another player they would need a lot of stepping up form is Brandon Bass.
Game 1 is scheduled for Monday at the American Airlines Arena in Miami and both sides have agreed on point that it going to be a very tough series.
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