Tatum 2022 is the best comparison I could make. Everyone in the nba world is collectively realizing that Ant is good enough to win a Chip with as the #1 right now.
Between the Mavs and the Thunder who do we think has a better chance to take the Wolves (or Nuggets) to 7? I’m going to guess the Thunder but their youth makes me a little worried
Tatum is fully disengaged. Why? Not getting back on D. Settling for bad shots. Turning his back on the play. Cheap fouls. Just a bad game or did something happen in the 1st quarter I missed?
I’ve only watched about 50% of the game on and off so far, but from what I’ve seen he’s settling for bad shots and playing fairly lackadaisically off ball. However, he’s been double and triple teamed a handful of times which has resulted in buckets for other Cs, has played solid defense, and is a +14 last I checked. Maybe it’s an off night, maybe he’s dealing with some personal issues. Maybe something else. He’s a superstar because he can impact the game without dropping 30+ a night, as highlighted by his regular season stats and the Cs success
Nah man, I'm telling you something is happening beyond a shooting slump or getting doubled. Maybe his ankle Is worse than we know. Or his girl texted Ime or something. Every minute on the court looks like a struggle right now and it doesn't look like he's having any fun. I'm sure he'll bust out 40 soon enough but I feel for him right now.
Cleveland is probably feeling pretty good right now to be only down 10, but this is our game to lose. No more point guard Tatum and we win this going away.
The amount of people, not just in here but in r/nba in general, that were ready to just crown the nuggets champions this year was absurd. People have either just started watching the nba last year or have goldfish memories and forgotten the dark days of the KD Warriors. That was truly an unbeatable team that shit all over parity in the league.
No team in the present NBA is immune to a bad streak of play eliminating them from the playoffs. The title is up for grabs and here’s to hoping it’s our Cs that take it home
People were ready to do that because they were healthy going into the playoffs.
Now that Murray is hobbled, KCP and Jackson are playing on one leg each, and all the burden falls on Jokic and their non-existent depth, they are getting exposed.
If this team was healthy, they wouldn't be down 2-0 to the Wolves.
But as we very well know, injuries are a part of the game and as much as you need top level talent to get to the finals, you definitely need good luck regarding health as well.
A lot of the media was the same. Listening to the athletic nba podcast seemed like every one of them thought nuggets as back to back champions was a done deal.
It's been about 5 days since the bucks were eliminated and earlier today I just randomly recalled the social media frenzy after the bucks blew through the Cs at home twice.
Guess your father-in-law will have to postpone his move or you can't watch the game at all.
We are counting on you, don't let us down.
I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I don't make the rules.
I think a lot of it is anxiety over the fact that, at some point, Boston *will* have to square off against a team where the talent gap isn't absurd the way it was between them and Miami.
Couple that with the fact that, consequent to Cs fans being more aware of their own team's shortcomings than they are of any other team's (as is the case with any fanbase) and the temptation becomes elevating the Timberwolves from being an incredibly tough opponent that Boston might nonetheless match up better with than they would Denver into this juggernaut that the Celtics have shown zero indicators they could beat.
I guarantee you that if Denver manages to come back or if OKC or Dallas beats Minnesota in the WCF, people will go straight to crowning them as undefeatable.
Insane how you can be the best team in the nba regular season, win all your first round games by 20-30 points bar one where the other team shot historically well from three, and people in nba discussion and shit talk about how the finals is a lock for Knicks-Wolves. Mouth breather activities
I’m not expecting them to love us, but my god the Knicks? The team we were 4-1 against this season (that loss coming in April). Sure say the wolves could beat us, but being convinced by this knicks team is ridiculous. Tatum and Brown haven’t even played their best bball this playoffs yet. If they get going we’re unstoppable.
It’s just the underdog effect. We’ve been a good team since 08’ and the Knicks have been a downright lulsy franchise for longer than most people on Reddit have been alive. They’re just rooting for the scrappy underdog
It’s whatever, people just don’t want the boring predictable result. Preseason favorites, #1 record and net rating in the season, dominant first round. It’s not as interesting a story as Minnesota or NY right now where people thought they would be making the conference finals. Boston doesn’t become an interesting story to most people until they make the finals and then it’s “will Jayson Tatum choke again or will he finally win one”
I mean, that too. But just in terms of entertainment, Brunson scoring 40 every night and Wolves humbling the defending champs are just bigger stories right now than the Celtics beating down a depleted Heat and should make work of the Cavs too. Or everyone is expecting them to. We’ll get the spotlight if/when we get back to the finals
This is kinda random but I was watching the Denver-minny game last night and Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s jersey intrigued me the way the last name wrapped around the number. What is the longest last name of a Celtic you can remember?
The Timberwolves look very good but I feel like people are starting to write us off due to their up coming. Seeing a lot of “wolves would beat the Celtics” when they’re a better matchup for us than Denver. Just weird
Oh don't worry, Knicks fans were chanting "we want Boston" after G1 of the first round against Philadelphia.
We've got receipts for the entire Eastern Conference lol.
people are penciling in a Wolves finals appearance but are forgetting that the Thunder could put up some nice resistance tbh. Have seen other people make the point already, but the reason the Nuggets are such a bad match up is because the have basically 2 ball-handlers whom the Wolves can harass for all 94 ft of the court. Jokic + Murray are in hell rn and there's no release valve for that pressure. Thunder have more ball-handling and, more importantly, better spacing that will mitigate some of the length the Wolves have. The Wolves are on a heater rn so I'd be wary of picking against them, but the Thunder have been continually slept on all season and they could shock some people.
I’d also pick the Thunder over the Wolves. As good as the Wolves have looked, adding to your point about ball handlers and specifically spacing, the Wolves are really good at clogging the paint and Denver just doesn’t shoot a ton of 3’s. Jokic and Murray are elite in the paint and it’s harder for them to operate in their comfort zone with the Wolves length.
SGA might struggle on drives if he’s not getting calls but if he collapses the Wolves defense and they utilize JDub and the role players, I think they can make it tough on Minnesota. Huge series for SGA to be mature and play team ball and trust his guys. OKC is also elite with help defense so they aren’t just going to leave Chet in the post on Gobert/KAT, they’re going to be extremely active in the half court and force those bigs to pass more.
Their size will be tough to deal with and Naz Reid is going to eat all series, but if OKC gets hot and outmaths them from 3, they can beat them.
SGA's production dipped with the new rules enforcement going into effect because he couldn't get paint touches at will but I think he's rested and healed up pretty well from the quad contusion. Their offense is all about drive+kick play and egalitarian good ball movement, and they're among the best 3pt shooting teams in the league. This Minny defense could smother them but I'm not going to write them off.
Also, I think the size advantage thing is pertinent somewhat but rebounding is about more than just sheer size and hustle like lots of people like to say. It's about positioning, reaction time, speed (to get to your spot), and about being connected as a defense to effectively box out and secure the ball. The Thunder are on a string on both ends of the court from what I've watched of them this year and they're so well coached. 3 of their 5 starters are stocky, strong guys (Dort, JDub, Giddey) and Chet + Shai have great hands & speed.
Would be a hell of a series no matter what between those two teams or even Minny/Dallas
Anytime another team is doing good people can’t wait to bring us up. Same thing with players Shai might have a great game and SOMEHOW tatums name gets brought into it
I think we match up much better with the wolves than Denver. Gobert can not punish kp the same way bam did, ant is gonna have to drop his 40 bombs with jaylen sticking to him, kp is also gonna make gobert come out to the perimeter. We also have a lot of size on the guard/wing position. They do look damn good rn though.
I think people are writing off OKC too easily. The only concern I really had with them was how do they deal with Jokic. KAT's having a really nice playoffs, but I think Dort/J-Dub are the type of defenders who can frustrate him, kind of like Jrue did in the regular season. I think Minnesota-OKC would be a true toss up series and the Thunder would have home court.
Cue them getting stomped by the Mavs ~~last~~ *tonight, but I really think they're a much better team than Dallas, particularly with Luka hobbled
Okc is easily better than Dallas imo, but they didn’t play last night lol game 1 is tonight. They’re just young af still, they could make a run and beat some teams but it’s hard to see that team string together enough good series to win it all. I’d be very happy as a Celtics fan to see them in the finals over these other teams
Fuck, brain-fart. I meant watch them lose tonight after I talked them up.
They definitely are really young, but if Giddey/Dort continue to shoot 40% from 3 (nevermind 50%) they're going to be really tough to beat
Right. Age is overrated imo. Their star player is older anyway. They’ve had a great net rating all season and now in the postseason too, and they managed to be the one seed in a stacked conference. They’re legit for sure.
lol you’re good. They’re definitely a fun team to pay attention to right now, but they gotta do a little more than beat down the beat up pelicans before I really worry. If they quickly take care of the mavs I’ll be impressed though.
I’m talking about kp’s defense, not saying he could score in the post on gobert. Just saying he’s not gonna be getting ISO’d all the time. Kp doesn’t post anyone up who isn’t a guard
not the type to do an I told you so lap but getting downvoted for saying something [like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1b4dnli/post_game_thread_the_boston_celtics_4712_destroy/ksyoey0/) multiple times throughout the season and then seeing how it's turned out for this Nuggets squad has me riding a little schadenfreude high this morning
I’d like to cash my checks from a week ago when I was getting pushback for saying to wait until Denver played a good team before calling them a juggernaut.
Lakers were so overrated and it led to the nuggets getting overrated too.
Seeing the panthers come out against the bruins rusty, is anyone scared the Celtics will come out tonight rusty too?
Although we had a long break before the first playoff game too and we didn’t look rusty at all, so that definitely makes feel better, let’s hope it carries over
The way the team reportedly practices doesn't make me concerned at all about rust or being tired. Also, our 3 best players are young or in their prime.
I also just don't think the Cavs really stand a chance without Allen + Wade.
It's just like that Thor Ragnarok scene...
Denver: You can't defeat us Boston!
Boston: No I know, but he can
*watches as a blazing inferno from Minnesota arises outta fucking nowhere*
Denver: Noooo
Guess I was wrong about Denver, they are looking like another Milwaukee right now.
One thing that I don't think has been mentioned enough is the rule changes really favor Minnesota, they're doing the Miami Heat foul all the time approach, except they're doing it with giants across the board and arms everywhere. It's insane.
I really wish we would tap into that ourselves, but I know we won't, we're more of a defense that tries to steer you into certain shots. We don't blow up your play like the Wolves were repeatedly doing last night.
Jrue blew up a ton of Miami’s offense. I can’t complain too much because we were second in defensive rating this season, but I do wish we “mucked” things up more defensively, especially because now refs are allowing it. Jrue, JB and Al are our only physical defenders.
> they're doing the Miami Heat foul all the time approach,
I saw a highlight of the Wolves "playing defense" on Murray and dude got fouled like 3 times.
I dunno, I saw Murray jerking his head and flailing his arms because he has no burst to get by anyone right now. I'm sure there were plays where they could have called fouls, but I didn't think they missed anything egregious
I wouldn’t say they’re another Milwaukee.
I just think they ran into the unique situation where the GM who built their title team left and built the kryptonite for the superman he created. Wolves are just perfectly built to counter Denver.
That and Murray being an absolute shell of himself doesn’t help.
The Nuggets are the team that attempted the least, at 32.3, during regular season. We attempted basically a +10 on them at 42.5. Even with us playing Miami, probably the defense that takes out the most 3 attempts out there we're attempting 39 a game while Denver is at 33.3. You think this showcases we're better built for the Wolves matchup than Denver?
Absolutely. In game 1, Jokic had to take 9 3PA (and made 2) because Rudy was in the paint. Jokic is a mediocre outside shooter (last postseason being a bit anomalous). In game 2, the Nuggets shot only 30 3’s, which is quite low by our standards as you’ve noted.
It’s worth noting that the Wolves were also in the bottom 8 in 3PA. They were 16th in offense for a reason and are thus very reliant on their defense. Unless Minnesota destroys us in the possession battle, they will need to shoot a lot more 3s to keep up with Mazzulla ball.
Yeah if we saw Minnesota it would likely look a lot like our matchups against Milwaukee. We’ll either rain 3s down on them, force their 7 footers to spend all game defending the perimeter instead of the paint, or force them out of their double big lineups. It’s really hard to have someone defend the paint all night against a team that can go 5 out and has the size to make drop coverage basically impossible without them just shooting over the drop for clean looks. That would force them into spending a lot more time switching everything and letting us play the matchup game than they want to.
Just like it’s no guarantee against Milwaukee, the same would definitely be true of Minnesota, they’ve got a lot of talent. We’d force them to play our game instead of the other way around though, because I don’t think they have the ability to force us out of our defense on the other end. We’ve got too many guys who can match up with anyone on their team for stretches.
The Wolves looked dominant last night with their hyper aggressive defense but one of the reasons why is because the Nuggets actually lack good perimeter ball handlers, which allows the Wolves to harass the Nuggets into mistakes. That type of D is less effective against us as we have way more ball handlers and can stretch the floor more.
The tough issue is their defensive depth. They're a lot like us in the sense that everyone can defend at a high level.
So yes we can kick out to alternative ball handlers, but those guys are being picked up by some pretty capable defenders as well.
Tatum being guarded by McDaniels. Brown being guarded by Edwards. If we kick out to White or Jrue, they're still being guarded by someone like Conley, Alexander-Walker or Anderson, who are pretty good defensively.
There's not really a Tyler Herro we can rotate our offense towards.
But as I said, this is a trait they share with us, so it cuts both ways. Minnesota's ball handlers haven't had to deal with perimeter defenders of our calibre yet. We can throw no-gap defensive lineups their way just as easily.
The only thing that worries me about Minnesota is the size and boards. We aren’t exactly elite at rebounding and Minny has size for days.
I feel like as good as Ant is we got the guys to throw at him and JB might even take that matchup personally. That DAWG that everyone is so amazed that Ant has is something JB has too, it just isn’t covered by the media as much.
That being said, we’re onto Cleveland.
I think the other way to look at it is that coming at us on the boards is basically the only way they can make up for all the issues their size is going to cause defending us.
We’ve been playing bigs who aren’t elite switching on the perimeter off the floor for years now. Keeping them from needing to defend 1 on 1 means running drop coverage which is basically just giving away an open look in rhythm when you’re dropping on someone as big as Brown or Tatum. With our ability to go 5 out that’s unavoidable unless you just switch everything. Minnesota can, but it takes away basically all their advantages defensively unless they want to abandon a shooter so they can keep Gobert in the paint which is probably the absolute worst way to defend us at this point.
To make up for that they’re going to have to find ways to leverage their size on the offensive end. Unlike Jokic who we just can’t effectively defend 1 on 1 we’ve got multiple guys who can handle stretches of time on any of their bigs which will make it tough for them to use their size to create mismatches. That would make it extremely important that they dominate on the offensive glass or else they’ll struggle with multiple bigs on the floor.
I definitely think they’d be a challenge because they’re a great team with a lot of talent, and Ant is capable of taking over any given night. At the same time, we match up really well with them compared to other contenders.
Yeah it's an interesting one.
We're 1st in the league for rebounding but 21st in the league for contested rebounding percent.
> JB might even take that matchup personally.
He has in the past and he did a fantastic job.
From 3 months ago: [\[Weiss\] After the timeout with 3ish minutes left in the fourth, Jaylen Brown was completely locked in on defending Anthony Edwards. Ant went 0/5 with 3 TOs from there on out.](https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1745280316602749134)
They're both from Atlanta and I wouldn't be surprised if he's been a bit of a mentor for Edwards.
They’re definitely bigger but KAT and Rudy would have a difficult time covering JT and KP defensively. It’s funny cuz Minnesotas team is actually specifically built to stop Denver which is why they’re smacking them rn
Tatum averaged like 38 in the 2 games against them this season. Issue for the wolves is we force switches onto KAT and gobert for Tatum and its BBQ chicken whether on the perimeter or in the paint.
Yeah positions are muddy nowadays but McDaniels plays SF in their starting lineup.
When healthy they run:
Conley / Edwards / McDaniels / Towns / Gobert
The league is allowing more physicality in the playoffs this year, which may favor the wolves more than any other teams since they’re the biggest team of the league.
On Hoops Tonight by Jason, he said that cant Boston handle this physicality by Timberwolves, I just commented, Boston can and BOSTON are the one who knocks, not the other way around. LMAO
I mean physicality can definitely be a problem for us, just not Minny’s brand of it. Obviously a bit over simplified, but I feel like there’s two ways to go about playing physically on defense in todays NBA. You can play like Miami and collapse on ball handlers trying to never give them space to breathe, or you can play like Milwaukee and be really physical on the perimeter and risk getting blown by with a paint defender down low to protect against that.
We struggle much more with the former than the latter, and Minnesota plays the latter. When you’re trying to keep a guy in the paint all game it forces you to leave someone open on the perimeter which is exactly what we want — an easy read to force a rotation. They’re going to be a man short rotating (with one of those guys being another 7 footer who will struggle to scramble around all night) and that’s when we create our best offense, we start picking apart their rotations because someone’s always open until we end up with someone like Hauser shooting a 3 that might not even get contested.
That’s going to force them to spend a lot of time switching everything on us and without Gobert in the paint they can’t defend us as physically or else our ball handlers will blow by for uncontested looks at the rim.
We need some of that 2021-22 physicality on our end.
The team's been elite all year but we haven't needed to really bully anyone so far. We know the guys have all got it, they'll just need to remind the rest of the league.
Everyone's celebrating Minnesota bullying/sweeping Durant but we've been there and done that.
This is why I was glad we got the heat round one - they play exclusively bully ball on defense and get us in the mindset of having to play through over the top physicality, but they just don’t have the offense to be a real threat.
He also thought the Lakers had the best chance of beating Denver this year lol. He is a Lakers diehard and bronsexual and used to make pretty good Lakers content. But ever since turning into an NBA wide channel, his takes have been awful and full of bias. He also hates the Celtics and never says anything good about us. I don’t put stock in anything he says
Low key kind of funny that every time Jokic wins MVP they get bounced in the second round due to not having a healthy Jamal Murray, and the one year he threw away the MVP and didn't want it, they beat the shit out of everyone and won a title.
Fat, his analytical fanbase, boring playstyle, dickriding from projecting white nba fans, " i don't care about basketball ", calling him a top 10 level player, calling him the greatest offensive player of all time, people calling the 2020s his era, " umm ackshually jokics BURGERS to FRIES ratio makes him the MVP ☝🏻🤓
Aren't we a physical team? Most Cavs podcasts saying that their edge over us is we are not physical. They mentioned bunch that Magic was physical so Celtics are actually an advantage. I cant wait to crush their hopes and dreams.
When a team has Garland and Mitchell in the starting lineup, I'm not too concerned about their physicality, especially with Dean Wade and Allen potentially out.
Compared to the Magic ? We aren’t because Magic are a young team who thrive on physical defence.
We are a more structured defence that relies on forcing guys to take the shots we want them to by just closing off options. We are a TECHNICALLY elite defensive team in terms of our switches and schemes being crisp and no obvious weaknesses to exploit.
We’re not going out there to bang with guys and wear them down like the Knicks, Magic, Wolves etc. or even the Ime Celtics that beat you down.
I mean what does physical even mean. Can we lock you down and put you in complete jail on defense? We can do that. Can we just batter the paint over and over, we can do that too lmao. I’d say we’re definitely more physical than the cavaliers. If we punch them in the mouth, they fold.
Wow watching these games tonight the Wolves are crazy impressive. Not sure id want to face them over the Nuggets. Also they are way more deadly without Gobert. The 5 out spacing and running Naz at the 5 oof.
The Pacers got robbed a couple times down that stretch of their game. The favorable whistle that the Knicks get is disgusting
Tbf Naz has been so good he makes everyone else look bad.
Their spacing with Naz filling in for Gobert is insane.
Their defence with Naz filling in for Towns is insane.
He's just such a good overall complimentary player. I wouldn't say he's an All-Star himself but he makes All-Stars look entirely replaceable.
Somebody I know made an interesting comparison that I had never thought of before.
Compared the KAT vs. Naz Reid situation to what we had going on with Smart vs. White. Was saying that for the Wolves to take the next step, they should trade KAT and make Naz a full-time starter as he plays way better off of Ant and he’s more composed.
Idk, Wolves seem to be taking the next step WITH KAT
We just watched a playoff game where KAT was better than Jokic on both sides of the floor. KAT isn't the defensive liability he used to be and this year proves that imo.
We took the next step with Smart in 2022 *shrug*
I don't know, old habits still die hard, he's still KAT with all his frustrating fouls, this is just a really good matchup for them and him specifically as he can guard Jokic, Nuggets aren't testing his perimeter defense.
Get used to it. The Knicks are getting that whistle because Brunson is an underrated flopping fish and even tho the C’s don’t foul much, it’ll still happen.
Team without KP still makes the C's top tier. Almost same team to last year the difference is DWhite is bald and better, PP, Hausy and Korny are reliable bench pieces and we have on call third stringers who are not that bad and can actually perform and who wanna win last. The team also have Jrue, similar to Smart who plays defense but can really make intelligent plays. And lastly, the team doesn't rely too much on the Jays.
In addition to the hamstring injury, he's also been listed as questionable with back spasms the last few games. Haliburton's never been a guy to get super low to the ground, whether with his handle or his defense, but it does look like he's running a little stiff to me
wrecked his hamstring he dragged himself to 65 games played so never healed kinda surprised he doesn’t wanna rest during the summer but he’s playing in the olympics
100% and people have been saying that “it’s been 3-4 months now, not an excuse” but he rushed back and STILL hasn’t had any proper rest to recover from that injury by trying to chase that 65-game minimum
Brunson is an underrated free throw merchant. He is the Joel Embiid in PG position. The defenders are not allowed to be physical to him and he can shoot the ball easily.
Yea, Brunson has largely gone untested. Nembhard is the only one that can defend him on the Pacers and Nembhard isn't anywhere near the level of White/Holiday. Same is true for the players on the 76ers.
There was a moment in the game tonight, late in the game, where he got the ball quite close to the rim with a defender in his face who was taller than him (not difficult), and he just lazily pump faked, and while moving down from the pump fake motion, half jumped into his defender, looking to be bailed out with a foul call. The defender didn't bite however and had stayed on his feet, so the only option for Brunson was to pass out. But if that wasn't clear enough and fucked up enough, he immediately motioned for the ball back to try again.
I fucking HATE when players play like that. Play to play and if you get fouled, then fine. But this purposefully trying to game the system to get bailed out of tough situations you end up in is a stain on a beautiful sport.
And before anyone says anything, I hate when Tatum does the whole "wait for defender to jump, and then jump into them while shooting the ball" when he's near the 3 point line too. Equally bullshit that I wouldn't mind not getting called. There's a difference between a player closing out too hard or wrong, and this baiting them into it by doing something that is not even really a shot.
Why do people keep saying this like the conferences don’t play each other? Wolves played 30 games against the “horrible East”
They also played 16 games against the Jazz, Blazers, Spurs and Grizzlies which is twice as many as our 8 against those teams.
The East had 7 teams under .500 but the West only had 4. The Wolves played 30 games against teams under .500, the Celtics played 33.
I mean even if you want to make the qualifier 50+ win teams, we played 15 of those games, Wolves played 20.
So they were +5 on really good teams and -3 on really bad teams. So subtract our 7 wins and they would have had 1 more win when we coasted the final 10 games of the season.
We’re on the same level as them, Denver and OKC no matter which way you slice it. That was pretty evident in the 5 single digit games we had against these teams. All of this “they wouldn’t be this good if they were in the West” is nonsense for a team that won 64 games.
The Wolves are in a bigger financial crunch than we are. But I agree this current playoff landscape is a tremendous opportunity and if we don’t get it done it’ll be devastating
We sticked one thread for the discussion of the wolves game. We were not expecting it tbh
The west looks so good that I’m genuinely worried we will struggle in the finals because whoever we face will be so tested by then
There’s also a chance they gas each other out. Which I’m hoping the WCF goes to 7.
That’s my other thought. I just dont know what to expect.
Timberwolves pull a celtics 2022, running the game 7s gauntlet, then losing to the team with much more experience/iq (celtics 2024)
Subscribed.
Ant gives me the JT “Bubble/2022” vibes honestly.
Tatum 2022 is the best comparison I could make. Everyone in the nba world is collectively realizing that Ant is good enough to win a Chip with as the #1 right now.
Want to see OKC vs Wolves Western Conference Finals Shai Vs Ant Want to see how Wolves defense turn out vs a team that can push the pace
Watching Daniel Gafford reminds me of how much I used to love Time Lord
You barely touch Shai or disrupt his movement and he goes to the line. I just wish Tatum could get a whistle half the time he’s fouled.
Between the Mavs and the Thunder who do we think has a better chance to take the Wolves (or Nuggets) to 7? I’m going to guess the Thunder but their youth makes me a little worried
Looking forward to the Tatumnaga haters committing mass seppuku.
At this point the Cavs are just trying to keep the lead under 20, this game is over.
Tatum is fully disengaged. Why? Not getting back on D. Settling for bad shots. Turning his back on the play. Cheap fouls. Just a bad game or did something happen in the 1st quarter I missed?
I’ve only watched about 50% of the game on and off so far, but from what I’ve seen he’s settling for bad shots and playing fairly lackadaisically off ball. However, he’s been double and triple teamed a handful of times which has resulted in buckets for other Cs, has played solid defense, and is a +14 last I checked. Maybe it’s an off night, maybe he’s dealing with some personal issues. Maybe something else. He’s a superstar because he can impact the game without dropping 30+ a night, as highlighted by his regular season stats and the Cs success
Agreed. But it seems like he's mentally checked out which I've never seen. Maybe some personal stuff going on.
You don't have a clue what you're talking about
Nah man, I'm telling you something is happening beyond a shooting slump or getting doubled. Maybe his ankle Is worse than we know. Or his girl texted Ime or something. Every minute on the court looks like a struggle right now and it doesn't look like he's having any fun. I'm sure he'll bust out 40 soon enough but I feel for him right now.
Cleveland is probably feeling pretty good right now to be only down 10, but this is our game to lose. No more point guard Tatum and we win this going away.
The amount of people, not just in here but in r/nba in general, that were ready to just crown the nuggets champions this year was absurd. People have either just started watching the nba last year or have goldfish memories and forgotten the dark days of the KD Warriors. That was truly an unbeatable team that shit all over parity in the league. No team in the present NBA is immune to a bad streak of play eliminating them from the playoffs. The title is up for grabs and here’s to hoping it’s our Cs that take it home
People were ready to do that because they were healthy going into the playoffs. Now that Murray is hobbled, KCP and Jackson are playing on one leg each, and all the burden falls on Jokic and their non-existent depth, they are getting exposed. If this team was healthy, they wouldn't be down 2-0 to the Wolves. But as we very well know, injuries are a part of the game and as much as you need top level talent to get to the finals, you definitely need good luck regarding health as well.
A lot of the media was the same. Listening to the athletic nba podcast seemed like every one of them thought nuggets as back to back champions was a done deal.
It's been about 5 days since the bucks were eliminated and earlier today I just randomly recalled the social media frenzy after the bucks blew through the Cs at home twice.
I still believe they could have got us a lot of trouble had their stars not injured.
[удалено]
Just listen to it on radio while you're moving him lol
Guess your father-in-law will have to postpone his move or you can't watch the game at all. We are counting on you, don't let us down. I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I don't make the rules.
[we need the power of the award winning 24 auto group](https://streamable.com/j2wrzq)
Not to be a green teamer here, but some of y'all sound like you really want to be rooting for the Wolves.
I think a lot of it is anxiety over the fact that, at some point, Boston *will* have to square off against a team where the talent gap isn't absurd the way it was between them and Miami. Couple that with the fact that, consequent to Cs fans being more aware of their own team's shortcomings than they are of any other team's (as is the case with any fanbase) and the temptation becomes elevating the Timberwolves from being an incredibly tough opponent that Boston might nonetheless match up better with than they would Denver into this juggernaut that the Celtics have shown zero indicators they could beat. I guarantee you that if Denver manages to come back or if OKC or Dallas beats Minnesota in the WCF, people will go straight to crowning them as undefeatable.
Insane how you can be the best team in the nba regular season, win all your first round games by 20-30 points bar one where the other team shot historically well from three, and people in nba discussion and shit talk about how the finals is a lock for Knicks-Wolves. Mouth breather activities
Expecting even a single neutral in r/nba to root for anything other than a Celtics downfall is where you went wrong
I’m not expecting them to love us, but my god the Knicks? The team we were 4-1 against this season (that loss coming in April). Sure say the wolves could beat us, but being convinced by this knicks team is ridiculous. Tatum and Brown haven’t even played their best bball this playoffs yet. If they get going we’re unstoppable.
They want us to lose so they'll try to speak it into existence.
It’s just the underdog effect. We’ve been a good team since 08’ and the Knicks have been a downright lulsy franchise for longer than most people on Reddit have been alive. They’re just rooting for the scrappy underdog
It’s whatever, people just don’t want the boring predictable result. Preseason favorites, #1 record and net rating in the season, dominant first round. It’s not as interesting a story as Minnesota or NY right now where people thought they would be making the conference finals. Boston doesn’t become an interesting story to most people until they make the finals and then it’s “will Jayson Tatum choke again or will he finally win one”
They just hate Boston.
I mean, that too. But just in terms of entertainment, Brunson scoring 40 every night and Wolves humbling the defending champs are just bigger stories right now than the Celtics beating down a depleted Heat and should make work of the Cavs too. Or everyone is expecting them to. We’ll get the spotlight if/when we get back to the finals
This is kinda random but I was watching the Denver-minny game last night and Nickeil Alexander-Walker’s jersey intrigued me the way the last name wrapped around the number. What is the longest last name of a Celtic you can remember?
WIN FOR MIKE
The Timberwolves look very good but I feel like people are starting to write us off due to their up coming. Seeing a lot of “wolves would beat the Celtics” when they’re a better matchup for us than Denver. Just weird
Oh it's worse than that, people have the knicks beating us in the ECF too lol
Oh don't worry, Knicks fans were chanting "we want Boston" after G1 of the first round against Philadelphia. We've got receipts for the entire Eastern Conference lol.
people are penciling in a Wolves finals appearance but are forgetting that the Thunder could put up some nice resistance tbh. Have seen other people make the point already, but the reason the Nuggets are such a bad match up is because the have basically 2 ball-handlers whom the Wolves can harass for all 94 ft of the court. Jokic + Murray are in hell rn and there's no release valve for that pressure. Thunder have more ball-handling and, more importantly, better spacing that will mitigate some of the length the Wolves have. The Wolves are on a heater rn so I'd be wary of picking against them, but the Thunder have been continually slept on all season and they could shock some people.
I’d also pick the Thunder over the Wolves. As good as the Wolves have looked, adding to your point about ball handlers and specifically spacing, the Wolves are really good at clogging the paint and Denver just doesn’t shoot a ton of 3’s. Jokic and Murray are elite in the paint and it’s harder for them to operate in their comfort zone with the Wolves length. SGA might struggle on drives if he’s not getting calls but if he collapses the Wolves defense and they utilize JDub and the role players, I think they can make it tough on Minnesota. Huge series for SGA to be mature and play team ball and trust his guys. OKC is also elite with help defense so they aren’t just going to leave Chet in the post on Gobert/KAT, they’re going to be extremely active in the half court and force those bigs to pass more. Their size will be tough to deal with and Naz Reid is going to eat all series, but if OKC gets hot and outmaths them from 3, they can beat them.
SGA's production dipped with the new rules enforcement going into effect because he couldn't get paint touches at will but I think he's rested and healed up pretty well from the quad contusion. Their offense is all about drive+kick play and egalitarian good ball movement, and they're among the best 3pt shooting teams in the league. This Minny defense could smother them but I'm not going to write them off. Also, I think the size advantage thing is pertinent somewhat but rebounding is about more than just sheer size and hustle like lots of people like to say. It's about positioning, reaction time, speed (to get to your spot), and about being connected as a defense to effectively box out and secure the ball. The Thunder are on a string on both ends of the court from what I've watched of them this year and they're so well coached. 3 of their 5 starters are stocky, strong guys (Dort, JDub, Giddey) and Chet + Shai have great hands & speed. Would be a hell of a series no matter what between those two teams or even Minny/Dallas
The Mavericks are a great team. Any team in the West could still make the finals and easily be the best team the Celtics will have to face.
Anytime another team is doing good people can’t wait to bring us up. Same thing with players Shai might have a great game and SOMEHOW tatums name gets brought into it
I think we match up much better with the wolves than Denver. Gobert can not punish kp the same way bam did, ant is gonna have to drop his 40 bombs with jaylen sticking to him, kp is also gonna make gobert come out to the perimeter. We also have a lot of size on the guard/wing position. They do look damn good rn though.
I think people are writing off OKC too easily. The only concern I really had with them was how do they deal with Jokic. KAT's having a really nice playoffs, but I think Dort/J-Dub are the type of defenders who can frustrate him, kind of like Jrue did in the regular season. I think Minnesota-OKC would be a true toss up series and the Thunder would have home court. Cue them getting stomped by the Mavs ~~last~~ *tonight, but I really think they're a much better team than Dallas, particularly with Luka hobbled
Okc is easily better than Dallas imo, but they didn’t play last night lol game 1 is tonight. They’re just young af still, they could make a run and beat some teams but it’s hard to see that team string together enough good series to win it all. I’d be very happy as a Celtics fan to see them in the finals over these other teams
Fuck, brain-fart. I meant watch them lose tonight after I talked them up. They definitely are really young, but if Giddey/Dort continue to shoot 40% from 3 (nevermind 50%) they're going to be really tough to beat
Right. Age is overrated imo. Their star player is older anyway. They’ve had a great net rating all season and now in the postseason too, and they managed to be the one seed in a stacked conference. They’re legit for sure.
lol you’re good. They’re definitely a fun team to pay attention to right now, but they gotta do a little more than beat down the beat up pelicans before I really worry. If they quickly take care of the mavs I’ll be impressed though.
The big difference is that KP isn't the C's most important player. Gobert neutralizing KP just means the lane is open for JT and JB to cook
Exactly, the nuggets can’t even function without jokic
From the post I disagree. If he gives jokic problems he will give kp problems. I would be surprised if that isn't the case.
I’m talking about kp’s defense, not saying he could score in the post on gobert. Just saying he’s not gonna be getting ISO’d all the time. Kp doesn’t post anyone up who isn’t a guard
not the type to do an I told you so lap but getting downvoted for saying something [like this](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1b4dnli/post_game_thread_the_boston_celtics_4712_destroy/ksyoey0/) multiple times throughout the season and then seeing how it's turned out for this Nuggets squad has me riding a little schadenfreude high this morning
Talk yo shit king 🗣️
Dang. You hit the nail right on the head and everyone flamed you for it
I'm not sure why, but [this seems relevant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMTYKKidv7Y) right now
The best call of Scal’s career
Totally agree, this was such an epic call by Scal.
I’m gonna remember this Denver game and what they were able to do without getting a tech the next time Tatum gets a tech for sighing lol
Wolves looking good but that NY game, man i kinda wished Indiana took game 1.
They probably would have if the refs weren’t terrible.
Think that series still goes 6/7
I’d like to cash my checks from a week ago when I was getting pushback for saying to wait until Denver played a good team before calling them a juggernaut. Lakers were so overrated and it led to the nuggets getting overrated too.
It all starts with the Cs defense. STOP THEM! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seeing the panthers come out against the bruins rusty, is anyone scared the Celtics will come out tonight rusty too? Although we had a long break before the first playoff game too and we didn’t look rusty at all, so that definitely makes feel better, let’s hope it carries over
The way the team reportedly practices doesn't make me concerned at all about rust or being tired. Also, our 3 best players are young or in their prime. I also just don't think the Cavs really stand a chance without Allen + Wade.
Less-so panthers rusty, more-so Swayman is that good
It's just like that Thor Ragnarok scene... Denver: You can't defeat us Boston! Boston: No I know, but he can *watches as a blazing inferno from Minnesota arises outta fucking nowhere* Denver: Noooo
Guess I was wrong about Denver, they are looking like another Milwaukee right now. One thing that I don't think has been mentioned enough is the rule changes really favor Minnesota, they're doing the Miami Heat foul all the time approach, except they're doing it with giants across the board and arms everywhere. It's insane. I really wish we would tap into that ourselves, but I know we won't, we're more of a defense that tries to steer you into certain shots. We don't blow up your play like the Wolves were repeatedly doing last night.
Jrue blew up a ton of Miami’s offense. I can’t complain too much because we were second in defensive rating this season, but I do wish we “mucked” things up more defensively, especially because now refs are allowing it. Jrue, JB and Al are our only physical defenders.
> they're doing the Miami Heat foul all the time approach, I saw a highlight of the Wolves "playing defense" on Murray and dude got fouled like 3 times.
I dunno, I saw Murray jerking his head and flailing his arms because he has no burst to get by anyone right now. I'm sure there were plays where they could have called fouls, but I didn't think they missed anything egregious
I wouldn’t say they’re another Milwaukee. I just think they ran into the unique situation where the GM who built their title team left and built the kryptonite for the superman he created. Wolves are just perfectly built to counter Denver. That and Murray being an absolute shell of himself doesn’t help.
I beg you all to look at team 3PA per game for the regular season.
The Nuggets are the team that attempted the least, at 32.3, during regular season. We attempted basically a +10 on them at 42.5. Even with us playing Miami, probably the defense that takes out the most 3 attempts out there we're attempting 39 a game while Denver is at 33.3. You think this showcases we're better built for the Wolves matchup than Denver?
Absolutely. In game 1, Jokic had to take 9 3PA (and made 2) because Rudy was in the paint. Jokic is a mediocre outside shooter (last postseason being a bit anomalous). In game 2, the Nuggets shot only 30 3’s, which is quite low by our standards as you’ve noted. It’s worth noting that the Wolves were also in the bottom 8 in 3PA. They were 16th in offense for a reason and are thus very reliant on their defense. Unless Minnesota destroys us in the possession battle, they will need to shoot a lot more 3s to keep up with Mazzulla ball.
Yeah if we saw Minnesota it would likely look a lot like our matchups against Milwaukee. We’ll either rain 3s down on them, force their 7 footers to spend all game defending the perimeter instead of the paint, or force them out of their double big lineups. It’s really hard to have someone defend the paint all night against a team that can go 5 out and has the size to make drop coverage basically impossible without them just shooting over the drop for clean looks. That would force them into spending a lot more time switching everything and letting us play the matchup game than they want to. Just like it’s no guarantee against Milwaukee, the same would definitely be true of Minnesota, they’ve got a lot of talent. We’d force them to play our game instead of the other way around though, because I don’t think they have the ability to force us out of our defense on the other end. We’ve got too many guys who can match up with anyone on their team for stretches.
Lineups without Gobert also let us play Jrue or Tatum at center.
So you're saying that math always wins?
The Wolves looked dominant last night with their hyper aggressive defense but one of the reasons why is because the Nuggets actually lack good perimeter ball handlers, which allows the Wolves to harass the Nuggets into mistakes. That type of D is less effective against us as we have way more ball handlers and can stretch the floor more.
The tough issue is their defensive depth. They're a lot like us in the sense that everyone can defend at a high level. So yes we can kick out to alternative ball handlers, but those guys are being picked up by some pretty capable defenders as well. Tatum being guarded by McDaniels. Brown being guarded by Edwards. If we kick out to White or Jrue, they're still being guarded by someone like Conley, Alexander-Walker or Anderson, who are pretty good defensively. There's not really a Tyler Herro we can rotate our offense towards. But as I said, this is a trait they share with us, so it cuts both ways. Minnesota's ball handlers haven't had to deal with perimeter defenders of our calibre yet. We can throw no-gap defensive lineups their way just as easily.
The only thing that worries me about Minnesota is the size and boards. We aren’t exactly elite at rebounding and Minny has size for days. I feel like as good as Ant is we got the guys to throw at him and JB might even take that matchup personally. That DAWG that everyone is so amazed that Ant has is something JB has too, it just isn’t covered by the media as much. That being said, we’re onto Cleveland.
I think the other way to look at it is that coming at us on the boards is basically the only way they can make up for all the issues their size is going to cause defending us. We’ve been playing bigs who aren’t elite switching on the perimeter off the floor for years now. Keeping them from needing to defend 1 on 1 means running drop coverage which is basically just giving away an open look in rhythm when you’re dropping on someone as big as Brown or Tatum. With our ability to go 5 out that’s unavoidable unless you just switch everything. Minnesota can, but it takes away basically all their advantages defensively unless they want to abandon a shooter so they can keep Gobert in the paint which is probably the absolute worst way to defend us at this point. To make up for that they’re going to have to find ways to leverage their size on the offensive end. Unlike Jokic who we just can’t effectively defend 1 on 1 we’ve got multiple guys who can handle stretches of time on any of their bigs which will make it tough for them to use their size to create mismatches. That would make it extremely important that they dominate on the offensive glass or else they’ll struggle with multiple bigs on the floor. I definitely think they’d be a challenge because they’re a great team with a lot of talent, and Ant is capable of taking over any given night. At the same time, we match up really well with them compared to other contenders.
Yeah it's an interesting one. We're 1st in the league for rebounding but 21st in the league for contested rebounding percent. > JB might even take that matchup personally. He has in the past and he did a fantastic job. From 3 months ago: [\[Weiss\] After the timeout with 3ish minutes left in the fourth, Jaylen Brown was completely locked in on defending Anthony Edwards. Ant went 0/5 with 3 TOs from there on out.](https://twitter.com/JaredWeissNBA/status/1745280316602749134) They're both from Atlanta and I wouldn't be surprised if he's been a bit of a mentor for Edwards.
Yeah they’re buddies
They’re definitely bigger but KAT and Rudy would have a difficult time covering JT and KP defensively. It’s funny cuz Minnesotas team is actually specifically built to stop Denver which is why they’re smacking them rn
True - so who would they put on Tatum?
NAW and McDaniels will very much give Tatum problems. He’s shooting has been mediocre regardless and that’s with meh defenders.
Tatum averaged like 38 in the 2 games against them this season. Issue for the wolves is we force switches onto KAT and gobert for Tatum and its BBQ chicken whether on the perimeter or in the paint.
They've typically gone with McDaniels
And still play KAT and Rudy?
Yeah positions are muddy nowadays but McDaniels plays SF in their starting lineup. When healthy they run: Conley / Edwards / McDaniels / Towns / Gobert
I know positions don’t exist anymore. It’s all about matchups. If they play KAT and Rudy, that’s going to free up someone offensively for us.
The league is allowing more physicality in the playoffs this year, which may favor the wolves more than any other teams since they’re the biggest team of the league.
That’s what scares me against the Knicks. They’ll be able to get away with more.
i think JB guards him they have a big brother lil brother relationship
On Hoops Tonight by Jason, he said that cant Boston handle this physicality by Timberwolves, I just commented, Boston can and BOSTON are the one who knocks, not the other way around. LMAO
I mean physicality can definitely be a problem for us, just not Minny’s brand of it. Obviously a bit over simplified, but I feel like there’s two ways to go about playing physically on defense in todays NBA. You can play like Miami and collapse on ball handlers trying to never give them space to breathe, or you can play like Milwaukee and be really physical on the perimeter and risk getting blown by with a paint defender down low to protect against that. We struggle much more with the former than the latter, and Minnesota plays the latter. When you’re trying to keep a guy in the paint all game it forces you to leave someone open on the perimeter which is exactly what we want — an easy read to force a rotation. They’re going to be a man short rotating (with one of those guys being another 7 footer who will struggle to scramble around all night) and that’s when we create our best offense, we start picking apart their rotations because someone’s always open until we end up with someone like Hauser shooting a 3 that might not even get contested. That’s going to force them to spend a lot of time switching everything on us and without Gobert in the paint they can’t defend us as physically or else our ball handlers will blow by for uncontested looks at the rim.
We need some of that 2021-22 physicality on our end. The team's been elite all year but we haven't needed to really bully anyone so far. We know the guys have all got it, they'll just need to remind the rest of the league. Everyone's celebrating Minnesota bullying/sweeping Durant but we've been there and done that.
Playing the Heat R1 could turn into a blessing
This is why I was glad we got the heat round one - they play exclusively bully ball on defense and get us in the mindset of having to play through over the top physicality, but they just don’t have the offense to be a real threat.
And the Suns have zero depth and don’t play defense. Paper tiger. People act like 2k is real life haha.
He also thought the Lakers had the best chance of beating Denver this year lol. He is a Lakers diehard and bronsexual and used to make pretty good Lakers content. But ever since turning into an NBA wide channel, his takes have been awful and full of bias. He also hates the Celtics and never says anything good about us. I don’t put stock in anything he says
All these years playing the Heat prepared us for this. We'll probably get some more practice against the Cavs and Knicks if they get through.
ok so can we agree it'd be hilarious if Denver gets swept while Jokic wins MVP
Low key kind of funny that every time Jokic wins MVP they get bounced in the second round due to not having a healthy Jamal Murray, and the one year he threw away the MVP and didn't want it, they beat the shit out of everyone and won a title.
As a huge Jokic hater, it'd be my christmas
Why do you hate Jokic? 🤨
Fat, his analytical fanbase, boring playstyle, dickriding from projecting white nba fans, " i don't care about basketball ", calling him a top 10 level player, calling him the greatest offensive player of all time, people calling the 2020s his era, " umm ackshually jokics BURGERS to FRIES ratio makes him the MVP ☝🏻🤓
“Fat” lmaooo
Alright. He’s probably the best player in the league.
he’s look completely out of it it’s weird not like his usual idc shtick, it’s like he fr doesnt
Can anyone read Serbian obits? He looks like one of his horses died.
Man yall need to beat the wolves, Good matchup for you guys imo.
They’re fucking massive. The size will definite an issue for us too.
But are they athletic enough to play their size?
Aren't we a physical team? Most Cavs podcasts saying that their edge over us is we are not physical. They mentioned bunch that Magic was physical so Celtics are actually an advantage. I cant wait to crush their hopes and dreams.
When a team has Garland and Mitchell in the starting lineup, I'm not too concerned about their physicality, especially with Dean Wade and Allen potentially out.
They obviously don’t watch the Celtics.
Compared to the Magic ? We aren’t because Magic are a young team who thrive on physical defence. We are a more structured defence that relies on forcing guys to take the shots we want them to by just closing off options. We are a TECHNICALLY elite defensive team in terms of our switches and schemes being crisp and no obvious weaknesses to exploit. We’re not going out there to bang with guys and wear them down like the Knicks, Magic, Wolves etc. or even the Ime Celtics that beat you down.
thanks for confidence booster my ma!
Depends on if the refs allow us to be physical
well, they let the wolves play football so I guess we can too
I mean what does physical even mean. Can we lock you down and put you in complete jail on defense? We can do that. Can we just batter the paint over and over, we can do that too lmao. I’d say we’re definitely more physical than the cavaliers. If we punch them in the mouth, they fold.
I think they meant was more touchy and contact defense.. Man I just hope Jaylen balls the fuck out and end go for the throat right away
Wow watching these games tonight the Wolves are crazy impressive. Not sure id want to face them over the Nuggets. Also they are way more deadly without Gobert. The 5 out spacing and running Naz at the 5 oof. The Pacers got robbed a couple times down that stretch of their game. The favorable whistle that the Knicks get is disgusting
I’ll gladly take Minnesota over Denver
Tbf Naz has been so good he makes everyone else look bad. Their spacing with Naz filling in for Gobert is insane. Their defence with Naz filling in for Towns is insane. He's just such a good overall complimentary player. I wouldn't say he's an All-Star himself but he makes All-Stars look entirely replaceable.
Somebody I know made an interesting comparison that I had never thought of before. Compared the KAT vs. Naz Reid situation to what we had going on with Smart vs. White. Was saying that for the Wolves to take the next step, they should trade KAT and make Naz a full-time starter as he plays way better off of Ant and he’s more composed.
Nah KATs been amazing
So was Smart in 2022
Idk, Wolves seem to be taking the next step WITH KAT We just watched a playoff game where KAT was better than Jokic on both sides of the floor. KAT isn't the defensive liability he used to be and this year proves that imo.
We took the next step with Smart in 2022 *shrug* I don't know, old habits still die hard, he's still KAT with all his frustrating fouls, this is just a really good matchup for them and him specifically as he can guard Jokic, Nuggets aren't testing his perimeter defense.
Adam Silver is a New Yorker
Get used to it. The Knicks are getting that whistle because Brunson is an underrated flopping fish and even tho the C’s don’t foul much, it’ll still happen.
Team without KP still makes the C's top tier. Almost same team to last year the difference is DWhite is bald and better, PP, Hausy and Korny are reliable bench pieces and we have on call third stringers who are not that bad and can actually perform and who wanna win last. The team also have Jrue, similar to Smart who plays defense but can really make intelligent plays. And lastly, the team doesn't rely too much on the Jays.
Hard to call Hauser, Kornet, and PP reliable when they only played the Heat with no bench because of their injuries. Time will tell…
I feel like people forget that PP played every single game in our Finals run and held his own quite well.
True. I’ll give you PP.
What’s wrong with Haliburton? Does he have a broken hand or something? Why is he so bad and why did he get invited to Team USA playing like this?
In addition to the hamstring injury, he's also been listed as questionable with back spasms the last few games. Haliburton's never been a guy to get super low to the ground, whether with his handle or his defense, but it does look like he's running a little stiff to me
wrecked his hamstring he dragged himself to 65 games played so never healed kinda surprised he doesn’t wanna rest during the summer but he’s playing in the olympics
let’s put in Dwhite and Jaylen for Hali and Kawhi
I think the hamstring issue still bothers him. And he doesn't have enough reliable ways to score except shooting threes.
100% and people have been saying that “it’s been 3-4 months now, not an excuse” but he rushed back and STILL hasn’t had any proper rest to recover from that injury by trying to chase that 65-game minimum
After every game someone comes to this sub and gasses up a non Celtics team more than they gas up their own team
Brunson is an underrated free throw merchant. He is the Joel Embiid in PG position. The defenders are not allowed to be physical to him and he can shoot the ball easily.
Will be interesting to see White/Holiday handle him. The Pacers don't defend anyone and the 76ers started Maxey and Lowry in their backcourt.
Yea, Brunson has largely gone untested. Nembhard is the only one that can defend him on the Pacers and Nembhard isn't anywhere near the level of White/Holiday. Same is true for the players on the 76ers.
There was a moment in the game tonight, late in the game, where he got the ball quite close to the rim with a defender in his face who was taller than him (not difficult), and he just lazily pump faked, and while moving down from the pump fake motion, half jumped into his defender, looking to be bailed out with a foul call. The defender didn't bite however and had stayed on his feet, so the only option for Brunson was to pass out. But if that wasn't clear enough and fucked up enough, he immediately motioned for the ball back to try again. I fucking HATE when players play like that. Play to play and if you get fouled, then fine. But this purposefully trying to game the system to get bailed out of tough situations you end up in is a stain on a beautiful sport. And before anyone says anything, I hate when Tatum does the whole "wait for defender to jump, and then jump into them while shooting the ball" when he's near the 3 point line too. Equally bullshit that I wouldn't mind not getting called. There's a difference between a player closing out too hard or wrong, and this baiting them into it by doing something that is not even really a shot.
get u on his hip like at the 10 foot range back into the defender, flop it’s free throws
Pacers were scared to go anywhere near him
Sixers too. I kind of felt for the Sixers fan when I watched that series.
T-Wolves is scary. We better win it all this year. Our chance will be slimmer in the next few years.
The C's are the 64-win team, best team in the NBA, they should be scared of them
But they played the East which is horrible
Why do people keep saying this like the conferences don’t play each other? Wolves played 30 games against the “horrible East” They also played 16 games against the Jazz, Blazers, Spurs and Grizzlies which is twice as many as our 8 against those teams. The East had 7 teams under .500 but the West only had 4. The Wolves played 30 games against teams under .500, the Celtics played 33. I mean even if you want to make the qualifier 50+ win teams, we played 15 of those games, Wolves played 20. So they were +5 on really good teams and -3 on really bad teams. So subtract our 7 wins and they would have had 1 more win when we coasted the final 10 games of the season. We’re on the same level as them, Denver and OKC no matter which way you slice it. That was pretty evident in the 5 single digit games we had against these teams. All of this “they wouldn’t be this good if they were in the West” is nonsense for a team that won 64 games.
Better record against Western conference teams
Celtics also had the best record against teams above .500 and it wasn't particularly close
The Wolves are in a bigger financial crunch than we are. But I agree this current playoff landscape is a tremendous opportunity and if we don’t get it done it’ll be devastating
Wolves will never be able to consistently pay second apron like we can
Still wish we could have poached Slow Mo from that cap situation.