Heat Vs. Celtics Predictions: No One Can Stop Rajon Rondo

By Jeff Clark of CelticsBlog, SB Nation's Celtics blog.

Rajon Rondo will average a triple-double for the series. Rajon already came close to accomplishing this feat against the Bulls a couple of years ago and the Miami Heat simply have no reasonable answer for him. Mario Chalmers can’t keep in front of him and Mike Bibby won’t even try. Rotating LeBron James on him will only open up Paul Pierce and as Mike Prada pointed out, switching Dwyane Wade onto him isn’t a much better idea either. Between the extra days of rest, game planning, and natural matchup advantages, Rajon Rondo has the potential for a historically great series.

Close games will go to the Celtics more often than not. While I think too much is made about the supposed lack of results by the Heat in close games (any team with Wade and James has the potential to win with a buzzer beater) there might not be enough being made about the Celtics end of game execution. Doc Rivers and his veterans have such a familiarity and cohesion that they don’t just draw up plays, they have sets that have three or four options to choose from. Like a quarterback Rondo checks down on his first, second, third options and goes with the best option available.

Previously hurt players will have a major impact in this series. It might not be till Game 3 or 4, but Shaq will make his presence felt at some point before the end of the series. The same goes for Udonis Haslem. Neither one will be 100 percent but that won’t keep either one from finding their way onto the court in this critical matchup.

Bonus Predictions: Ray Allen will hit at least one game-winner (naturally), Pierce will make a game clinching defensive stop, Kevin Garnett will fake-fight someone (no punches thrown of course), LeBron will win one game all by himself, Chris Bosh will be the story for one or two games (then disappear for the others), and Rondo will get the MVP of the series.

Celtics in 6.

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