BOSTON -- Who needs rest when you have momentum?
With just a day in between closing out the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers and starting the next round against the Miami Heat, the Boston Celtics are looking forward to a quick turnaround.
The Celtics won Game 7 against the 76ers on Saturday evening. They will fly to Miami Sunday morning and play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Monday night.
Its a quick turnaround, but I kind of like it that way, Pierce said following the Celtics clinching 85-75 win. It keeps us in rhythm, it keeps us playing. Were an older team so we dont want to sit around for too long. You know we like the fact that we usually go right into it. We have tomorrow off, well probably watch some film, go over scouting reports, shootaround on Monday, and thats it.
The Heat have not played since Thursday, when they knocked out the Indiana Pacers in Game 6. They have had time to return home, get settled in, and begin preparations for the next round.
It is a luxury the Celtics dont have -- and they dont mind.
I prefer it myself, said Ray Allen. We get back to business. We have a day to rest and then were back out there playing. At this point, everybodys going to be what theyre going to be. Youre going to be tired or youre going to be fatigued or whatever it is. We have to continue to take the rhythm that we have and now we have to change it and reconfigure how we think defensively and what we run offensively. The series changes. We dont have a lot of time, but we have veteran players that know how to adjust to a new series.