Heat vs. Celtics Reactions

I think it's safe to say that we learned a lot about both the Celtics and the Heat last night. Let's start with the Celtics.

The Celtic's door to an 18th NBA Championship slammed shut last night and will probably stay that way for a few years. This series showed that the Celtics were not a Championship caliber team when they entered the playoffs. Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal, and Rondo were all banged up. KG was expending so much energy on the defensive end defending Miami's big three that he wasn't able to contribute much on offense. Even Glen "Big Baby" Davis, who has been reliable in the playoffs in years past, was nowhere to be found. The second half of the season showed that trading away Perkins and Nate Robinson was a fatal mistake for this year's team. The collective age of the Celtics showed as they collapsed in the fourth quarter in multiple games. They were helpless to do anything but watch as Lebron scored the last ten points of the game. While the "big 3" will be back next year they will need to make some changes if they want to contend for a title again.

Miami's beat down of the Celtics sent a message loud and clear to the remaining playoff teams. We all knew that their early season woes wouldn't matter once the playoffs started, and it looks like the Heat have put it all together at just the right time. "King James" finally got his revenge on the Celtics as he "put the team on his back"  and scored the last ten points of the game to eliminate the Celtics.

When it came down to it, Lebron was the guy with the ball in his hands, not Dwayne Wade or Chris Bosh. While it may be Dwayne Wade's team, Lebron James showed us what he's capable of doing. Until this point, he's never given us a moment where we could say, wow that was greatness.  This was Lebron silencing his critics, a big middle finger to everyone who said he gave up against the Celtics, and a glimpse of justification for leaving Cleveland that might be coming in the form of an NBA championship ring. Even after it was over, Lebron finally offered up an apology to the people of Cleveland. He said, "I apologize for the way it happened, but i knew that this opportunity was once in a lifetime." While this apology is almost a year too late, it showed maturity and the humbleness that we've never seen from him. Combining those traits with the flashes of greatness and motivation we saw last night, I would not want to bet against the Miami Heat in the postseason.