Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics: Comparing the Three Titans of the East (Part 2)
Miami Heat
The main strength of Miami is their three brilliant superstars LeBron James Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. James is the second best offensive player in the league at the moment and has contributed with an average of 27.7 points per
game along with 7.0 assist and 7.1 rebounds per game. Wade is on the fourth spot in the offensive leaders list, his career average is 25.5 points per game while his assists and boards average is not bad either 4.6 and 6.4 respectively. Bosh scored points with
an average of 18.7 in his career; he is more active in grabbing the rebounds as his average shows 8.3 rebounds per game.
Besides the trio Eddie House is a good long-range shooter who has the ability to shoot well from the three-point range, and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, despite his careless nature, can get destructive from the charity strip when he needs
to. Mike Bibby has now become an improved point guard as his teammates now made his passes count.
The weakness of Miami includes, James’ defensive posture that is little too heavy, as he usually gets burned down by rival speedsters. He is more interested in providing assist passes. Even though Bosh is good at block shots, but
he is a weakling on defence. The Heat will face the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round of the play offs on Saturday.
Boston Celtics
The Massachusetts based franchise Boston Celtics are currently sitting at the number three spot in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics have bagged the National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship on 11 occasions and eight
in a row. Their seventeen NBA Championships are the most by any NBA franchise. Boston was the top team of the league during 50s and in the mid 80s.
The Celtics made it to the playoffs with 56 wins out of their 82 games. The major portion of their victories came at home, as they possess a good home record (33-8) in comparison to their road record (23-18). During the season
they lost 26 games, but they succeeded in finishing the season with a win.
One of their strengths is the offensive area, as they make early scores or in the mid-way. Rajon Rondo prompts both the elements and when Rondo is in full swing, he looks like a top player in terms of his impact on the game. Having
players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett in their line-up shows the strength of their attack. Kevin, who has a career average of 14.9 points per game and Paul, has an average of 18.9. Defensively they were the most well-balanced squad, but with the exclusion
of Kendrick Perkins they had lost much of their interior defence. However, they still follow the system of communication and help and Kevin Garnett remains their focal point.
Besides, Ray Allen rest of the team struggles when it comes to jump shooting. So against top teams it’ll be difficult for them to score if the rivals blocked or restricted Allen in the paint. Other than jump shot, Boston can be
easily forced to give away turnovers, which is the biggest crack in their defence.
Despite these problems the Boston still look better than the New York Knicks, who will meet them in the first round of the playoffs on Sunday evening.
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