The Miami Heat has home court advantage in this series but the Celtics beat them 3 out of 4 games this year and they aren’t scared to play on the road.  This could be an epic series and here’s how I see the matchups:

POINT GUARD:  Mike Bibby started in the first playoff series against the Sixers but he’s on thin ice.  He played in 5 games (all starts) in the series against the Sixers and he averaged 19.8 minutes, 3.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  Bibby only shot 6 of 28 (21.4%) from three-point range in the first round of the playoffs.  Mario Chalmers will likely see a lot of P.T. in this series.

Rajon Rondo is going to cause big matchup problems for the Heat.  He played in 4 games (all starts) against the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 42.0 minutes, 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, 12.0 assists and 1.0 steal per game.  Rondo is too physical for the point guards of the Heat.

EDGE:  HUGE FOR CELTICS

SHOOTING GUARD:  Dwyane Wade is the best player on the Miami Heat, because he’s not scared to take a big shot.  He played in 5 games (all starts) against the Sixers and he averaged 38.0 minutes, 22.2 points, 8.4 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.o blocked shots per game.  D-Wade has a history of stepping up when pushed, so I look for him to have a good series against the Celtics.

Ray Allen is the ice man for the Celtics.  He hit an amazing 17 of 26 (65.4%) shots from three point range against the Knicks as he appears locked in.  Allen played in 4 games (all starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 40.0 minutes, 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  Allen will likely have to work harder for points against the Heat, but he will get his fair share.

EDGE:  HEAT

SMALL FORWARD:  Last season, LeBron James mysteriously hurt his elbow against the Celtics in the playoffs, but the many MRIs he had showed no problems.  I think the Celtics are in James’ head and it certainly doesn’t help that Delonte West (very, very good friends with LeBron’s mom) will be coming off the bench for Boston.  James played in 5 games (all starts) against the 76ers in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 42.2 minutes, 24.2 points, 10.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game.  The Heat can’t win this series without James playing big….which I think he won’t.  When the pressure really gets amped up, James has disappeared in his NBA career.

Paul Pierce is Mr. Clutch for the Celtics.  He also plays very well usually against LeBron James.  Pierce played in 4 games (all starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 39.0 minutes, 22.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.  Pierce is also red hot from three point range as he hit 10 of 20 shots (50%) from three point range against the Knicks.

EDGE:  EVEN

POWER FORWARD:  Chris Bosh played well in the first two games and the last game against the Sixers.  In the Game #3 and #4 he relapsed into the soft player he has been most of the year.  Bosh needs to step up in this series, because it’s going to be very physical under the basket.  Bosh played in 5 games (all starts) against the Sixers in the first round of the playoffs and he averaged 19.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  Bosh, like James, has never been much of a clutch player in the playoffs.

Kevin Garnett looked outstanding in the first round of the playoffs as he clearly outplayed Amare Stoudemire.  Garnett played in 4 games (all starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 34.0 minutes, 15.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals per game.  Garnett is going to likely be pushing Bosh around in this series and I look for him to levy some hard fouls on LeBron James and D-Wade if they come into his neighborhood in the paint.

EDGE:  CELTICS

CENTER:  Zydrunas Ilgauskas has been starting at center, but not playing a whole lot.  I look for that to continue in this series.  Ilgauskas played in 5 games (all starts) against the Sixers and he averaged 13.4 minutes, 5.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  It’s going to be rough under the basket in this series, so I expect that Joel Anthony will place more than Big Z in this series.

Jermaine O’Neal has been amping up the D during the playoffs.  He also would probably like to stick it to the Heat, who didn’t want him back this year.  O’Neal played in 4 games (all starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 23.0 minutes, 5.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.5 blocked shots per game. 

EDGE:  EVEN

BENCH:  Point guard Mario Chalmers might have a big role in this series for the Heat as Mike Bibby is likely going to get abused by Rajon Rondo.  Chalmers played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Sixers and he averaged 24.6 minutes, 7.4 points, 1.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Joel Anthony will probably get the most P.T. at center for the Heat  in this series as it’s going to be very physical in the paint.  Anthony played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Sixers and he averaged 31.0 minutes, 3.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.2 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game.  SG/SF James Jones will be the long range assassin for the Heat in this series.  He played in 5 games (0 starts) against the Sixers and he averaged 24.4 minutes, 7.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. 

Forward Glen “Big Baby” Davis is one of the best backup bigs in the NBA and he’s going to get a lot of work in this series.  Davis played in 4 games (0 starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 24.8 minutes, 6.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.0 assist.  I think Davis is going to top those numbers in this series.  Forward Jeff Green will also likely get his fair share of P.T. in this series.  Green played in 4 games (0 starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 16.8 minutes, 6.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.  PG/SG Delonte West will be the Celtics’ #3 guard in this series and he will likely have LeBron’s mothers full attention from court side.  West played in 4 games (0 starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 13.5 minutes, 2.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  Center Nenad Krstic will also likely see a small bump in P.T.  Krstic played in 4 games (0 starts) against the Knicks and he averaged 5.8 minutes, 1.0 point, 2.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.

EDGE:  SLIGHT FOR CELTICS

COACHING:  Erik Spoelstra looks like he finally has the faith of the Heat players as he led them to a 4-1 series win over the Sixers.  He is still a little wet behind the ears as far as coaching in the playoffs as his career record is now 8-9 (47.1%). 

Doc Rivers is one of the best big game coaches in the NBA today.  He led his team to a sweep of the Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.  Rivers is now 45-30 (60%) for the Celtics in the playoffs  during his career there.

EDGE:  CELTICS

PREDICTION:  The Celtics are just the better “team” in this series.  The NBA probably wants the Heat to win this series, but it ain’t gonna happen.  I like the Celtics to win this series in 6 games!

The Miami Heat had to fight hard to hold off the pesky 76ers last night.  Dwyane Wade led the way for the Heat last night with 26 points, 11 rebounds, 7 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.  Chris Bosh (22 points, 11 rebounds and 1 steal) and Mario Chalmers (20 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal in 31 minutes on the floor) also had very solid games for the Heat last night.  LeBron James pitched in with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists and 1 steal last night.  The Heat beat the Sixers 4-1 in this series but things get much tougher in the next round against the Boston Celtics.

The Heat only shot 38.5% from the floor and they were outrebounded 49-41 today which really hurt.  But, the Heat went cold while playing awful defense at the end of this game as the Sixers scored the last 10 points of the game.  LeBron James led the way for the Heat in this game with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal and 1 blocked shot.  Dwyane Wade also had a very good game with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocked shots.  Chris Bosh only shot 5 of 12 from the floor as he finished up with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocked shots.  The Heat are still up 3-1 in this series.

The Miami Heat outrebounded the Sixers 50-34 last night which was a big reason for the nice road win over the pesky 76ers.  Dwyane Wade exploded last night as he led the way for the Heat with 32 points, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocked shots.  LeBron James had another outstanding game with 24 points, 15 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal last night.  Chris Bosh (19 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots) and Zydrunas Ilgauskas (10 points, 8 rebounds and 1 blocked shot in 16 minutes on the floor) handled the tough stuff around the basket.  The Heat are now up 3-0 on the 76ers in this series.

Power forward Chris Bosh is really stepping up for the Heat against the Sixers so far in this series.  Bosh has played in 2 games (both starts) for the Heat so far in this series and he is averaging 37.0 minutes, 23.0 points, 11.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.5 steals per game.  Bosh is shooting 56.7% from the floor as he is officially on fire for pretty much the first time of the 2010-11 season for the Heat.  He’s been fearless in this series just like he was with the Raptors earlier in his career.  The Heat need Bosh to keep up the good work.

The Miami Heat held the Sixers to 34.2% shooting from the floor and it was a big reason for the rather easy victory last night.LeBron James led the way for the Heat last night with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.  Chris Bosh had another very impressive game with 21 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals and 1 blocked shot last night.  Dwyane Wade only shot 4 of 11 from the floor as he finished up with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot.  The Heat are now up 2-0 in this series.

The Heat outrebounded the Sixers 52-39 yesterday but they really had to pick it up late in the 4th quarter after the pesky Sixers cut their lead to 1 point.  Chris Bosh really stepped up for the Heat with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 1 assist yesterday.  LeBron James stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocked shots.  Dwyane Wade pitched in with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 blocked shot.  The rest of the Heat players only pitched in with 34 combined points.  The Heat are now up 1-0 on the Sixers.

This is going to be a really interesting series as the Sixers play team basketball while the Heat ride the Big Three.  Neither coach (Doug Collins or Erik Spoelstra) have had much success coaching in the playoffs, which gives this series even more spice.  Here’s a look at the matchups in this series:

POINT GUARD:  Second year point guard Jrue Holiday really stepped up his game for the Sixers this year.  He played in 82 games (all starts) for the Sixers this year and he averaged 35.4 minutes, 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  Holiday should be able to do pretty much whatever he wants to against Mike Bibby.

Mike Bibby can still nail an open three pointer but that’s about all the Heat let him do.  Bibby played in 22 games (12 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 7.3 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.  He is going to have a hard time containing Jrue Holiday, so don’t be surprised if Mario Chalmers gets a lot of P.T. in this series.

EDGE:  BIG FOR THE SIXERS

SHOOTING GUARD:  Jodie Meeks’ whole game is shooting the basketball as he doesn’t like to pass, play defense or rebound.  Meeks played in 74 games (64 starts) for the Sixers this year and he averaged 27.9 minutes, 10.5 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. 

Dwyane Wade is likely going to abuse the Sixers in this series.  D-Wade played in 76 games (all starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 37.1 minutes, 25.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocked shots per game.  I think he’s going to improve on those numbers in this series as the Sixers are going to have big time trouble trying to defend him. 

EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE HEAT

SMALL FORWARD:  Andre Iguodala will have to have a big series offensively to make LeBron James work hard on the defensive end of the court, or the Sixers will be in some trouble.  Iguodala played in 67 games (all starts) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 36.9 minutes, 14.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game.  He will need to post better numbers than that in this series if the Sixers are going to be truly competitive in this series.

LeBron James seems to play his best basketball in the first round of the playoffs, so he might explode in this series.  James played in 79 games (all starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 38.8 minutes, 26.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.6 steals per game.  Iguodala is a tad gimpy coming into this series, so look for James to take advantage of that.

EDGE:  HEAT

POWER FORWARD:  Elton Brand had a good rebound year for the Sixers in 2010-11.  Brand played in 81 games (all starts) for the Sixers this year and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 15.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocked shots per game.  Brand will need to really step up in this series to keep Chris Bosh away from the paint.

Chris Bosh had a so-so year for the Heat.  But, he can change all of that by stepping up in the playoffs.  Bosh played in 77 games (all starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 36.3 minutes, 18.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  Bosh will need to get tough in the playoffs and get his fair share of the rebounds.

EDGE:  SLIGHT FOR THE HEAT

CENTER:  Spencer Hawes is not the classic type center.  He is a good long range shooter but he’s not a muscle man at either end of the court.  Hawes played in 81 games (all starts) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 21.2 minutes, 7.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.  The Sixers would benefit if Hawes played closer to the basket in this series.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas is back in the starting lineup for the Heat at center.  He played in 72 games (51 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 15.9 minutes, 5.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Ilgauskas could have a decent series as his game is very similar to Hawes’ game.

EDGE:  SLIGHT FOR 76ERS

BENCH:  The Sixers’ bench was a big key to the overall success of the team, and Doug Collins is going to use these guys a lot.  SG/PG Lou Williams gives the Sixers instant offense off the bench.  He played in 75 games (0 starts) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 23.3 minutes, 13.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.  SF Thaddeus Young is a very solid basketball player and he will likely get a lot of P.T. to hassle LeBron James.  Young played in 82 games (1 starts) for the 76ers last year and he averaged 26.0 minutes, 12.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.1 steals per game.  Rookie SG Evan Turner is likely going to get to challenge D-Wade a lot in this series.  Turner played in 78 games (14 starts) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 23.0 minutes, 7.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  SF Andres Nocioni hustles when he’s on the court and that will likely get him some minutes in this series.  He played in 54 games (17 starts) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 17.2 minutes, 6.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game.  PF/C Marreese Speights gets into the Dog House quite a bit but the Sixers are going to need him in this series.  Speights played in 64 games (1 start) for the 76ers this year and he averaged 11.5 minutes, 5.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.

The Heat generally don’t use the bench much, but that could change a little bit in this series.  PG Mario Chalmers will likely get his fair share of P.T. in this series to help with defending Jrue Holiday.  Chalmers played in 70 games (28 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 22.6 minutes, 6.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game.  SG/SF Mike Miller was counted on to be a force off the bench but it just didn’t happen this year.  Miller played in 41 games (2 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 20.4 minutes, 5.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.  The Heat will need the Miller they expected to get when they signed him to show up in this series.  C/PF Joel Anthony will likely be used to help out defensively in this series.  Anthony played in 75 games (11 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 19.5 minutes, 2.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.2 blocked shots per game.  SG/SF James Jones will likely get some P.T. in this series.  He played in 81 games (8 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 19.1 minutes, 5.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.  SG Eddie House dropped 35 points into the basket in the season finale, but he likely won’t have a big role in this series.  House played in 56 games (1 start) for the Heat this year and he averaged 17.5 minutes, 6.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  Center Erick Dampier played in 51 games (22 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 16.0 minutes, 2.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  Dampier will likely get some P.T. in this series for the Heat.  PF Juwan Howard played in 57 games (0 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 10.4 minutes, 2.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.  He won’t likely get on the court unless the game is a blowout.  That’s also the case with center Jamaal Magloire who played in 18 games (0 starts) in which he averaged 8.8 minutes, 1.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.  PF Udonis Haslem has vowed to play in this series but I have my doubts about that.  He played in 13 games (0 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 8.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.

EDGE:  76ERS

COACHING:  Doug Collins led his troops to the playoffs this year, beating the odds.  Collins has a 373-328 (53.2%) career record during the regular season and he is 15-23 (39.5%) during the post-season.  Whenever I think of Doug Collins though, I always think that he’s the guy who couldn’t win anything with Michael Jordan.

Erik Spoelstra took a lot of heat early this year when the Heat were struggling.  But, he righted the ship as the Heat finished up with a 58-24 record.  He now has a 148-98 (60.2%) record during the regular season and he is 4-8 (33.3%) in the post-season. 

EDGE:  EVEN

PREDICTION:  The Miami Heat will likely take one game off in this series.  I have the Heat winning this series in five games.

23-year old center Dexter Pittman is a big man at 6’11″, 308 pounds.  He only got to play in 2 games (0 starts) for the Heat this year and he averaged 5.5 minutes, 1.0 point and 1.5 rebounds per game.  He also played in 22 games (all starts) with the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBDL and he averaged 27.7 minutes, 14.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.7 blocked shots per game.  I have a feeling that Pittman might have a small role off the bench for the Heat in 2011-12.

The Heat decided to give the “Big Three” the night off last night.  The rest of the Heat responded big time last night as they outscored the Raptors 27-10 in the 4th quarter to surge to victory.  They also outrebounded the Raptors 40-33 last night.  Eddie House was on fire last night as he led the way for the Heat with 35 points and 1 assist.  Juwan Howard (18 points and 6 rebounds) and James Jones (12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal) also had solid games for the Heat last night.  Jamaal Magloire (8 points, 19 rebounds and 2 steals) and Mario Chalmers (5 points, 2 rebounds, 13 assists, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot) also pitched in for the Heat last night.  The Heat finished the 2010-2011 regular season with a 58-24 record.