The Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and San Antonio Spurs are the four best teams in the NBA. It is time to look at each team's outlook heading into the post-season.
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are the defending NBA Champions. They currently sit 2nd in the Eastern Conference, 2.5 games back of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They are led by the big three of Paul Pierce (20.3 PPG), Ray Allen (18.5 PPG), and Kevin Garnett (16.3 PPG). Garnett is currently out with an injury but they expect him back within a week. In his absence, fellow bigs Kendrick Perkins, Leon Powe, and Glen Davis have stepped up and played well. Boston made two significant additions with Mikki Moore and Stephon Marbury. These moves were questionable as Moore has been a journeyman his whole career, and Marbury had not played all season and has never been a winning player.. They have had very little impact to this point. They really miss James Posey and P.J. Brown, two unsung heroes from their Championship team last year.
Outlook: Home court was huge for Boston in the playoffs last year as the home team won every game in their first two playoff rounds. They likely will not have it this year against Cleveland in the Conference Finals and may not even have it in the 2nd round against Orlando, which will make it very unlikely that they will get back to the Finals.
