The rest is history
The Celtics’ sweep of the Knicks in the first round of this year’s playoffs was the first playoff sweep in the era of the New Big Three, and it gives them seven days off before their first game with the Miami Heat Sunday. In four postseasons, the Celtics have never had this much time off between series.
Below is a brief look at the results of series the Celtics have played in the last four seasons, the amount of rest the Celtics had between series, and the resulting score for Game 1 of the following series.
2008:
May 4: Celtics eliminate Hawks in Game 7, 99-65
May 6: Celtics beat Cavaliers in Game 1, 76-72
One day of rest, four-point win
May 18: Celtics eliminate Cavaliers in Game 7, 97-92
May 20: Celtics beat Pistons in Game 1, 88-79
One day of rest, eight-point win
May 30: Celtics eliminate Pistons in Game 6, 89-81
June 5: Celtics beat Lakers in Game 1, 98-88
Five days rest, 10-point win
2009:
May 2: Celtics eliminate Bulls in Game 7, 109-99
May 4: Celtics lose to Magic in Game 1, 95-90
One day of rest, five-point loss
2010:
April 27: Celtics eliminate Heat in Game 5, 96-86
May 1: Celtics lose to Cavaliers in Game 1, 101-93
Three days rest, eight-point loss
May 13: Celtics eliminate Cavs in Game 6, 94-85
May 16: Celtics beat Magic in Game 1, 92-88
Two days rest, four-point win
May 28: Celtics eliminate Magic in game 6, 96-84
June 3: Celtics lose to Lakers in Game 1, 102-89
Five days rest, 13-point loss
What conclusions can be drawn from this? Pretty much none. The Celtics went to seven games in the first two series before winning the title in 2008. They had three fairly speedy series last season and then fell to the Lakers in seven games. One thing to note is that the Celtics are 7-0 when they win Game 1 of a series, and 2-2 when they lose Game 1.
Stepping away from the numbers — which can only go so far in basketball — rest would seem like a good thing for a Celtics team whose key contributors were considered “old” in 2008. Rest is also good for a player coming off a knee injury (Jermaine O’Neal), a player trying to come back from a leg injury (Shaq), and a player who played a good deal of basketball this summer with Team USA after leading the Celtics to Game 7 of the Finals (Rajon Rondo).
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