Celtics Ray Allen on Miami: We’re still the better team

The Boston Celtics are the defending Eastern Conference champions. Miami, if you want that crown you are going to have to fight them for it.

Ray Allen -- who made it official yesterday inking his deal to stay a Celtic -- said he and his teammates are ready to show Miami what team basketball looks like (as reported by the Boston Herald).

“We look forward to playing (Miami),” he said. “We feel like we’re the better team - the team to beat in the East. We definitely look forward to that matchup.”

Of course, when Boston first got Allen -- the same year they got Kevin Garnett also to pair with Paul Pierce and form “the big three” -- it was the year they won the NBA championship. And with all due respect to Boston, the combination of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh has more raw talent.

So how is this different?

“But the question is whether they’re ready to sacrifice - make the ultimate sacrifice. It’s not about numbers. It’s not about accolades. When we did this in `07 that’s what we all knew and what we all said. It didn’t matter. The question that was posed to us was who was going to take the last shot. We all said the guy who’s open. When you go through it you get so used to it. That first year I wouldn’t say was frustrating - it was an adjustment we all had to make.’'

We’ll see if the big egos in Miami are ready to do the same (they did sacrifice money, but that is different). If not, Boston will remain the better team.