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Eastern Conference finals |
Magic (3) def. Cavaliers (1) 4-2 |
“We can play against anyone in the league,” said Magic guard J.J. Redick. “They’re playing great right now … but we feel we can compete with them.”
“It’s going to be a lot harder and we just have to be ready for it,” said Magic center Dwight Howard, who will be the main attraction in this series alongside LeBron. “Our main thing is playing hard for 48 minutes and playing with great intensity. That’s the only way to beat Cleveland.”
While the Magic were spinning things forward, the Celtics were busy applying footnotes, addendums and asterisks to the end of their title defense.
Yes, Kevin Garnett was missed. No doubt he would have made a difference in this series, the previous one and — if Boston’s luck had held — the next two. But given that the real Kevin Garnett has been with a knee injury since February 21 (we’re not counting the hobbled one who was a shell of the actual KG), “what ifs” were a little hollow.
Asked how Boston would have done in the playoffs with Garnett, Rivers said, “No, I won’t go there.”
Then he went there.
“You know, before he went down, we were the second best team in basketball record-wise. But I didn’t think it was just Kevin, I think it was a combination of Kevin and (injured power forward Leon Powe). Obviously, we missed Kevin. He was the defensive player of the year last year. I thought the combination of those two, that was a big blow for us. We feel like we can beat anybody at full strength. But we’re not.”
Pierce believed the loss of Garnett was a global concern. “Of course we think that especially after a loss and you ponder the season and the playoffs, that’s something that people around the world think about. But you can’t cry over spilled milk and unfortunately we didn’t have the big fella for this run. … Honestly, I believe we are the best team in the NBA still when we have a healthy group of guys.”
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