Miami I guess I fear just because I've never actually thought they could beat Boston in the playoffs and yet they have....but, if we are all being logical here, it has to be Milwaukee
I don't think it's crazy to think
Is it a recent swoon? Isn’t Milwaukee 18-20 on the road? (Not sure if that’s since doc took over or for the season)
I'm trying to give Giannis and Dame their credit as top players, but I think you're not crazy at all.
I mean I’d obv prefer the Knicks, Pacers or Bulls and Milwaukee I’d place below Cleveland but only the Heat would make me buckle up and cringe. That entire team rallies around the pressure Playoff Jimmy puts on the defenses.
Concern about somebody beating the Celtics in a series by any means. If the Celtics bring their “A” game consistently and remain healthy, they’re in very good shape of making another finals. But they’re not unbeatable so the question is which team can bring the worst out of the Celtics or their own BS luck (obviously the latter is impossible to forecast).
Still very reasonably priced at -145 which has slowly ticked up from -110 of 3-4 weeks ago.
Disagree. Nobody is unbeatable. Shit happens in the playoffs. Last year should have taught us this lesson. I do think the odds of another Miami series are lower now that the Celtics are better but you just never know. Somebody will stretch this team to 6 or 7 games. The playoffs are almost never a cakewalk.
What exactly have people seen to cause that change lol. Boston has played lights out, while other contenders have gotten injured.
Yeah Spo is such a genius. Telling his guys to just hit everyone on the arms until the refs get tired of calling fouls. Genius stuff.
The concern is at what %ile of Heat performance lead to Celtics defeat, compared to %ile of the Bucks.
Heat just feel like they don't care at all about the regular season and then they show up in the playoffs and are annoying. Never know what to expect with that team.
Unless what little remains of my mind has deserted me, HRB is saying that the odds have been moving TOWARDS the Celtics more the past couple weeks, and they are now bigger favorites than they were.
I see this again and again, am I the only one that remembers that the Heat were the 1 seed in the East two years ago? They cared about the regular season then, what happened? They were better 2 years ago (and 4 years ago), and they made a miracle run to the finals last year on the back of unsustainably hot shooting (and Jimmy Butler having by far the best playoff series of his career). I am not remotely worried about this trash Heat team. Maybe Heat culture really is just not trying in the regular season and expecting to flip the switch in the playoffs, but I think if last year's ECF were played ten times, Miami would have been lucky to win twice. Now Boston is better, and Miami looks basically the same.
You’re probably right.. maybe it’s more that Butler seems disinterested.. but I also think load management has changed a lot over the past couple years. Maybe it’s too easy to say they don’t care and more that they just care about getting in since their ‘style’ of defense is geared to the playoffs when refs swallow their whistles.
Anything is possible, but is Butler disinterested? Or is he just a 34 year old who has suffered a bunch of nagging injuries this year? Maybe he turns it on in the playoffs (and his on/off numbers are still excellent), but I think the Heat essentially had everything land perfectly for them in the EC playoffs last year (including the injury to Herro, which opened the door for better defenders who happened to get red hot from 3). If they do something similar this year, we may as well just toss out the regular season entirely.
Anything is possible, but is Butler disinterested? Or is he just a 34 year old who has suffered a bunch of nagging injuries this year? Maybe he turns it on in the playoffs (and his on/off numbers are still excellent), but I think the Heat essentially had everything land perfectly for them in the EC playoffs last year (including the injury to Herro, which opened the door for better defenders who happened to get red hot from 3). If they do something similar this year, we may as well just toss out the regular season entirely.
Yeah.. you’re prob right again. Last year was totally fluky and this year’s Celtics seem to be able to play against anything.. including Miami’s dreaded zone.
Well put.
So you’re mocking the guy who is the consensus 1-2 coach with Pop over the last two decades bc you don’t like how his teams play effectively? Awesome take.
Seriously? More with less, in-game strategy & adjustments, etc etc. He’s one of the few NBA coaches who are true difference makers and why Pat Riley signed him to a $120m contract.
Yes, seriously.. I guess I’m asking because Kerr has a .687 win percentage and 4 titles.. Spoelstra .588 with 2.. 11 years ago when he had LeBron and Wade. His teams do well in the playoffs, but they’ve also finished at or below .500 3 of the last ten years. At what point does actually winning the championship matter vs getting to the finals or ECF and losing?
It goes much much deeper than wins and losses. A NBA coach is judged by how his team performs based off personnel expectations and the strength of his in-game adjustments. The Heat have overachieved their personnel on a consistent basis for many years and counting while his in-game coaching has been raves about by many over that same time frame. KC Jones made the Finals every year in Boston….the Sonics quickly found out how much value that carries.
