4/11 - Who will the Knicks play?
- Thread starter DeadlySplitter
- Start date
Maybe it won't matter one bit, but I'm not sure heading into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak would be ideal.
They were fortunate they played in the ECF last year as they were down 2-3 to Philly and had to win G6 on the road to avoid elimination. They were better than Philly and better than Miami, but...
There was no denying they were immensely physically talented, but it wasn't enough. This year's team is a fucking freight train and I have high expectations, but I also have legit concerns on their maturity. And I understand if others don't share those concerns.
All I'm saying is if you want to do this glorified scrimmage/shell drill/ walk through, do it vs the dregs of the league, the ones you're finishing your season up against. I'm not sure falling to two playoff opponents in the last week is important or unimportant (it most likely isn't), but falling behind big in both is a bad look. I just don't agree with the way they decided which games to rest and which to play.
Whatever. It is what it is as someone once said. Everything about the Tatum/Brown era makes me paranoid and all disturbances, small and large, real, imagined, are an upturned teacup with leaves to be parsed.
Whatever. It is what it is as someone once said. Everything about the Tatum/Brown era makes me paranoid and all disturbances, small and large, real, imagined, are an upturned teacup with leaves to be parsed.
Haven’t been watching, but saw the score and checked to see who was playing. Surely none of our starters… oops
Reminder as Light-Tower said, if the starters don't play 20+ minutes on a national game, without a legit injury reason, they get fined. Thanks NBA!
Blame the league. These are 2 marque matchups and I’m pretty sure the FO has been in communication with Wyc about it.
So, as an alternative, they show up putting in dogshit effort in a game that doesn’t matter.
Honestly I thought they acquitted themselves pretty well over the past month. They’ve been playing exhibition games for weeks now and for the most part still put in a solid effort. Can’t blame them for letting go of the rope at this point when they haven’t had anything to play for since early March. They know their season doesn’t start for another week.
Only one team wins the title every year.. the idea that the only reason they lose is because of 'maturity'? Jaylen and Tatum have won a shit-ton of playoff games together, but no titles.. there are a ton of 'mature' teams that don't have anywhere close to even that kind of track record.
The last 3 games have been pretty shitty effort wise. They beat Portland, but Portland really outworked them. I don't take anything away from it. I don't really think not playing hard in April meaningless regular season games will tell us anything about what happens in the playoffs beyond priming some narratives.
The Mazzulla press conference will be interesting.
The Mazzulla press conference will be interesting.
They were up in by 4 pts with 4 mins to go, ready ato take a 3-1 lead in the '22 Finals. Instead they lost their composure to a tough veteran GSW team and lost that game by 10 and never won another game in that series. Last year we discussed, but it was a fucking crime they were down 0-3 to a depleted injured 8 seed like Miami. But Miami was a tougher veteran very well coached team. I've noted this teams challenges in OT and close games that a team this good shouldn't have. I have concerns, whether we call it maturity or toughness or killer instinct, doesn't matter. Th
I understand you have a different take.
I think the thing that comforts me is this team is very different from previous versions.
- Last year they seemed to play down to their competition - this year they crushed bad teams.
- Last year they were a really poor 3rd quarter team - so improved this year.
- Defensively, they are improved.
- Offensively, they are improved.
- They've won big (50+), won tight, and have never lost more than 2 games in a row.
Honestly curious - if the 2022 GSW and Cs played 10 series, how many times do you think the Cs win?
I think the Cs win maybe 3 times.
I don't know which team has more "talent" but I think 2022 Finals and the 2023 playoffs showed that BOS, while good, had one flaw that could be exploited - defenders could sag off Smart and Horford and muck up the driving lanes for JT and JB, which bogged the offense down. Brogdon was supposed to help address that - which he did in the ATL and PHI series - but once he got hurt, the Cs were, in POBOBS's words, "Too easy to guard."
Shouldn't be the case this year.
To me, that's not maturity or clutchness or preparation or what-not - that's just basketball. The Cs had to get better. Which they did. Let's hope that they got better enough.
I think the Celts win 4 or 5 of the 10. I thought it was a toss-up type series going in, GSW slight favorites but I had bought into the Celts as a legit championship team during the regular season. But for that series GSW had veteran smarts, been there before, Kerr, and home court, so Celts were u-dogs in my mind, but maybe with a happy to be here concern. Still IMO u-dogs with a real chance for an upset series win. And IIRC the Celts might have been the only team with a winning record against GSW. They matched up pretty well.
Now two questions for you.
Honestly curious
- if the 2022 GSW and Cs played 10 series, and the Celts are up 2-1 and have a late 4th qtr lead at home, how many times do you think the Cs win?
-if the 2023 Heat (no Herro or Oladipo) and Cs played 10 series, how many times do you think the Cs win?
I think the Cs have been the most talented team in the NBA the past 2 years and my expectations have been high. I still believe if they play the way they should: D/transition, push the ball /spread the floor/pace and pass and attack there is no team that can stand up to that onslaught for 7-games. There will be some games they can't hit their 3 balls, but I think it unlikely it will happen 4 of 7 games, because if they move the ball and play aggressively, they should generate a lot of great looks.
And I still believe the only team that can beat the Celts in a 7-gamer (with one possible exception) is the Celts.
But I agree they got better from last year and lets hope its enough.
First question - I think GSW wins 7 out of 10.
Second question - MIA won because they had an outlier series, as we discussed ad nauseam. It happens. I'm not sure how much of it was in BOS's control. But I will say that the BOS team in the MIA series was not the most talented team in the NBA and they likely would have lost to DEN - not having Brogdon really really hurt them and by that time TL was basically a shell of himself. And frankly, I'm not sure missing Herro was a negative to MIA - they certainly didn't miss his shooting and played much better defense without him.
Yes BOS last year was a good team with lots of talent and yes they had the top NRtg but I can't say that they were the clear most talented team in the league. They had relatively good injury luck and they were still just one of 6 teams to win 50+ games. DEN probably had as much talent and their pieces fit better. Most importantly, they had little margin for error to win games against good teams.
This year's team is waaay more talented and has a much larger margin of error. Still, it's going to take some luck to win it all - sort of like Kawhi's multiple-bounce shot against PHI when TOR won it all or Steph going supernova against BOS.
They are due some good luck. Hope the leprechaun has been resting up!
I certainly hope it doesn't come to something like that with this team. But of course, I'll take it.
Help me answer your hypothetical: Do we get 100% Tatum, or worn-down-by-a-long-season Tatum?
Do we get fully healthy TimeLord from January to May 2022, or the one who missed playoff games with knee soreness, got pretty hobbled in Game 7 vs the Heat, and was visibly <80% of himself in the Finals?
What about reigning DPOY Marcus Smart, and the foot injury that kept him out of two ECF games?
See, this is my issue with the narrative-based conclusions about how Boston's 2022 season ended. I'd favor a fully healthy 2022 Celtics squad over GSW maybe to the tune of 7 out of 10. Probably the same for the 2023 Celtics vs the Heat - crazy hot 3-point shooting or no, if we have Brogdon with two good arms and Jaylen with no wrist problems, not to mention Tatum not having a freak ankle problem one minute into Game 7, I like our chances just as much. But at that point in the season, a lot of this is decided by who is healthier. And then the media play it up into a morality story, or something about "clutchness" or "who wanted it more".
And that is a lesson that, blessedly, Celtics management has taken to heart this season, giving our two weak points the equivalent of a part-time workload, and really only driving Tatum hard. Our secret weapon the next 2 months is going to be all the rest that we've banked.
The hypo I was asking took the teams as they were going into the series so you get worn-down Tatum and hobbled Time Lord for GSW and no Brogdon for MIA.
But overall I agree with your point. In both of those series, the way I see it, the Cs lost because of very basketball specific reasons - not great health plus they had a very exploitable flaw. I just don't see the Cs of the last two years in the playoffs as this juggernaut that were the most talented but just didn't have "it" when it came down to "winning time."
This year's team is way more talented than the last two Cs teams. Let's hope that will get them over the hump.